A Good Seed Day

Have been having that strong gathering feeling that comes with fall, and got to "feed the need" a bit today, while we were out and about. It's not quite time to start collecting nuts, but it will be soon.

Today, collected:

Lilac, from house in town

From Mom's:

Amaranthus, Intense Purple
Various Lilies/Iris
Buckeyes
Peonies (white, from divisions from our house)
Hibiscus, white
Hedgeapple
Ash(?)

Cone from a beautiful spruce in town with draping branches

From herb bed:

Motherwort? (need to check identity)
Oregano
Hyssop
Yarrow
Lemon balm
St. John's wort (check identity)

Also from home:

Chicory
Red clover (check to identify; may be a runner?)

Also bought a table (at the house with the beautiful spruces) with lovely trays designed to hold typeset. I'm thinking they could be used somehow in my seed sorting/drying. If not, there are a million other uses for them, I'm sure.

All in all, a nice day...but I still have my mental sights on that mossycup oak by the bridge outside of town...

Gathering

I love to gather seeds. Everything about the process makes me happy, from browsing a vine for ripe seedpods, to rolling and tapping those pods, or the stem of a dried flower head, between my fingers, watching dark seeds pour out onto a white dish, then sifting those seeds with my hands, letting the chaff be picked up and carried away by a breeze. I go into my head, and am perfectly content. Sensory bliss.

Have you ever reached down into a bag of wheat? Thousands of cool, smooth grains pressing, surrounding your hand; you lift your hand, and they pour out of your palm, dry, but moving like water.

So I'm nuts. But I like seeds (and nuts count, too)!