We made a trip to the forest this weekend! We took the trail along the river.
We saw lots of trout lily leaves, spring beauties, hepatica acutiloba, and some other anemones, a couple of blood root (but their flowers weren't open), and some waterleaf.
The day was very nice and sunny, but with a chilly breeze, brrrr. The river was a dazzling, opaque baby green.
I went across the creek today and picked purple dead nettle. I made tea out of it! It wasnt the most delicious, and tasted grassy and like beets. 
But I kind of feel like I could taste the vitamins? Next time I'll probably add some lemon peel to the brew to make it a bit more palatable. While the taste of the tea wasn't my favorite, I have always loved the smell of purple dead nettle since I was a little kid. It's so earthy and sweet. And I loved how before the flowers burst open, they looked like tiny purple jewels.
All in all they were and still are magical to me! It's been fun trying to eat them in different ways! (Last week I had the leaves and flowers on a bagel which I liked much better :P)
I identified the spikey tree from our walk yesterday as osage orange! A tree whose fruit is very familiar. I also happened across some identities of the backlog of plants I have pictures of. I know it's just the way of research, but I swear the answers I really need always fall in my lap like from above. Being engaged in the natural world is like being engaged in a good conversation. 
♡
We went on a walk today beside our little creek. We wanted to walk further than we ever had before. The very last of the snow was barely hanging on in the mid-day sun; it felt like spring, with a stiff breeze.
Everything is so green beside the creek, and the garlic mustard is up and perfect for picking. I think I'll freeze a batch.
At the very end of the farthest we could go along the creek path, we found the biggest shelf mushrooms I've ever consciously seen; they were glowing in the sun, and it felt like a divine discovery. 
And on the way back we noticed some beautiful trees with thorns. It doesn't look like the honey locust species I'm familiar with, so I'm going to look into it more. Something about the pattern and look of the thorns were so striking and almost gothic looking, to me. I tried to take pictures but didn't do much justice. The smaller branches grew draped downward, and the thorns were about one inch, and not hollow. Where some of the bark had fallen off of the tree, I noticed an orange color.
So grateful for the sun and the world today. 
My dad died in September. Through the events that followed, my family was able to buy and live in a house for the first time in 10 years, like a gift from him.
Yesterday, I bought my mom the wildflower and grass seeds she wanted for her land. We are going to use all native plants, just like me and Dad would talk about.
I know he had some tree seeds that he had gotten online, black cherry, pawpaw, and I want to find them to use as well. I miss all the talking and dreaming we used to do; I'm going to try to make some of it real.
The seeds I ordered are:
Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis)
Tall Tickseed (Coreopsis tripteris)
Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii)
Hairy Beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus)
and
Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)
I'm so excited to start it all; I think they will all be well suited to her property, except maybe the hairy beardtongue, which I plan to put in pots so we can keep it drier.
Life begins again! 
