We had a delightful family outing on Sunday at the Craigshead House in Carlisle, PA! We were enchanted with Margaret Young’, also known as the Falconry Girl’s, presentation! She became immersed in falconry after seeing a presentation with raptors, and then a short time later, she read the book My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craigshead George. The section on Jean’s brother Sam Craigshead and his falcon “Frightful” led her to explore falconry with her dad.  She acquired her first bird at fourteen years of age -  an American kestrel named Millennium.

More people attended the presentation than expected and it was very hot day. It was obvious that her falcon was shy and reluctant to perform for the audience, but in spite of that, she entertained and educated with flair. She explained the of history falconry, her journey  and experience as an apprentice and the extensive testing required to obtain a license. At the end of her presentation she answered questions. 

Her current “Ambassador Team” of raptors include a Harris’s Hawk, Gyrfalcon hybrid, her Peregrine Falcon, Lanor Falcon and Great Horned Owl. We were able to view them very closely. 

When Margaret isn’t sharing her love of falconry, she is pursuing her career in as a stringed instrument repair tech and musical instrument and syles teacher at Meadowbrook Music in Blandon, PA. She teaches violin/fiddle, piano, bodram, hardingfele, and bagpipe, She is currently learning Uilleiann pipes.  In 2024 she came in second at the Scottish  Fiddling Revival US National Championship! 

Plan to make several wreaths to share with friends!

I've been painting luna moths for years but began in earnest when the pandamic broke out in 2020. The luna moth inspires us to have faith as we move through the dark hours of our lives. I painted this luna tile for my youngest daughter and she recently had it inserted when she had cement poured on her porch. 
You can read more about the luna and it's symbolism on my scrap book pages below.

If you've ever seen a luna moth, you know what a sacred thrill it is! Sighting are rare as their life spans are very short. They have no mouths and are unable to eat, living only seven to ten days. Their sole purpose is to reproduce. They are nocturnal and most often sighted between 10 pm and 2 am. in the eastern half of North America. 
There are both male and female luna moths. The color of the males is more vibrant, they have a thinner abdomen and their antennae are wider and more feathery. The females have a more bloated as they carry between 400 and 600 unfertilized eggs. They lay them on the underside of leaves in small groups of less than ten, preferring birch, sweet gum, walnut and hickory trees.
Whether you see a luna in it's natural environment, or a reproduction, may you be guided to trust your inner wisdom to lead you to the light!

Brown Trout on Granite, 10” x 4.5” x 1”, $150.00 + shipping, e -mail [email protected] for more info

Beneath the surface of our springs and streams, brown trout move through waters that have shaped our community for generations. Their presence speaks to the enduring relationship between land, water, and those who call this place, our Big Spring in Newville, PA, home.

Recently, I completed this painting of a brown trout on a piece of exquisite brown-flecked granite. As I worked, I found myself thinking not only about the beauty of this remarkable fish but also about the symbolism it carries.
Brown trout are often associated with resilience, adaptability, and wisdom gained through experience. Brown trout are known for their ability to navigate changing environments while remaining deeply connected to the cold, flowing waters they call home.
For centuries, trout have appeared in folklore and storytelling as symbols of knowledge, intuition, and life's journey. The brown trout, in particular, seems to embody the spirit of the seasoned traveler—one who has learned the currents, weathered challenges, and discovered where to find shelter when waters run rough.
Anglers often speak of brown trout with a special respect. They are cautious, clever, and elusive. A large brown trout is rarely caught by accident. It survives through awareness and experience. In this way, the brown trout reminds us that wisdom is often quiet rather than loud.
Living in Pennsylvania, I have long appreciated our cold springs, streams, and rivers. Healthy trout populations are signs of healthy waters. Brown trout depend upon clean, well-oxygenated streams and rivers, making them ambassadors for the places they inhabit. Their presence reminds us that the health of our waterways is connected to the health of our communities.
As I painted this trout on granite, I was struck by the partnership between fish and stone. The granite speaks of permanence and endurance.  The trout represents movement, adaptation, and life's continual flow. Together they tell a story about balancing strength with flexibility—a lesson nature teaches again and again.
Perhaps that is why the brown trout continues to capture our imagination. It invites us to move through life with patience and to trust the wisdom gathered along the journey. Like the trout swimming beneath the surface, some of life's greatest treasures are found not in rushing forward, but in learning to move gracefully with the current.​

In April of 2011, my beloved cabin by the Yellow Breeches flooded after ten years, Several months later I moved to Baltimore. I began taking, and teaching, courses for lifelong learners at the Renaissance Institute through the Notre Dame University of Maryland. One of my most popular courses was Enhancing Your Life with Herbs which I taught six times over the next decade. I painted about 200 watercolors of herbs to illustrate my course and my blog was focused on herbal illustrations and folklore. 

In July of 2021, following the pandemic, my daughters convinced me to move back to central Pennsylvania. Since then, I have begun working with the Coalition to Save the Big Spring. My blog will continue to feature herbs and botanical treasures but will expand to include ecosystems, fish, insects, birds, and more. Story, nature and stewardship will meet. 

I will include information from Penn State Extension, research from my  Seeds, Roots and Routes course, as well as information, comments and quotes from local experts on the conservation of our beloved Big Spring, Yellow Breeches and Susquehanna River.

​Even though I’ll include information on local watersheds, the threats to our ecosystems is relative all over the world. Warehouses and data centers are a threat to all of us if they are placed in areas where they will effect the quality of our local water supplies. Education is power and if we are to preserve our natural resourses, we need to be educated and aware. 

You’ll continue to find my illustrations, folklore and seasonal updates. It will admittedly be a mix of entertainment and education. Environmental conversations will still leave room for beauty, mystery, and hope. I’m hoping you’ll continue to join me. 

The spectacular iris flower comes in almost every color of the rainbow. For that reason, she is named after the Iris, the Greek Goddess of the Rainbow.

The goddess Iris was considered to be the messenger between the sea and sky. Thaumus the Wonderous, her father, was associated with the sea, and her mother, Elektra the Amber, was a nymph of the clouds. The goddess is credited with carrying water from the sea to fill the clouds, and she carried messages between the gods and goddesses in the heavens, particularly Hera, to the people on earth. She had golden wings, and it is said iris flowers spring up every time her feet touch the earth. Eiris, another word very similar to iris, means messenger. She represents both. 

Deep purple iris are often planted on the graves of women. Seeing the the flowers, Iris would accompany the women’s souls  from earth to heaven. 

The colors of the iris send messages based on the language of flowers (scroll down to find color symbolism in the violet and rose blog posts) and her petals and sepals are also symbolic. The three petals, or standards, of the iris reach upward and represent wisdom, faith and courage. The three sepals, pointing downward, symbolize faith, hope and love. 

The Iris was highly prized in Egypt, in particular by King Thutmose III,  considered by many to be the greatest ruler of ancient Egypt. He was an enthusiastic gardener, and when Egypt conquered Syria, he found them growing in abundance. He brought them back to Egypt and they came to be associated with the renewal of life. He was said to have coveted the iris the way some people coveted gold. 

Some of the most popular iris are bearded, dwarf, Japanese, Siberian, Louisiana and Dutch. Do you have a favorite? I hope you’ll enjoy the many types and colors of iris this spring. 

My grandmother grew tulips in many colors of the rainbow next to her wrap around porch on her farm in Greencastle, Indiana. She passed years ago, but this poem by Lisa Schroeder reminds me of her.

As a child, tulips reminded me of my grandmother and the promise of spring! The varieties are delightful from the huge Emperor tulips, classic Dutch, double tulips, fringed, flared, parrot and more. All colors from pristine white to deep black, and every color in between are available, with some having two or more colors!  Tulips planted around a home were thought to provide protection from curses and evil spirits, and bring prosperity and luck.

They originated in Central Asia and Turkey, and were associated turbans and protection. I always thought they came from the Netherlands, but they didn’t arrive there until the 17th century, and were a symbol of wealth and status. There was a period during 1636 and 1637, called the Dutch Golden Age, when the prices for exotic and rare tulip varieties skyrocketed.  One of the most expensive bulbs was compared to the price of a brownstone home in New York City. The ‘mania’ was short lived and the collapse of the bubble  had economic repercussions long after the brief period of madness.  

Many of you know I research topics for my workshops and topics using the alphabet. When I got to H as I was researching tulips, I was surprised to learn of the Hunger Winter. Tulips were used as food in attempts to stay alive, but tens of thousands died, and many suffered long term health issues for the rest of their lives. Actress Audrey Hepburn was a teenager living in the Netherlands during the winder of 1944  - 1945. She suffered from malnutrition and hardships as a result of the famine. 

The deaths during the hunger winter resulted from a variety of factors. It was a harsh and brutal winter, and the Germans requisitioned food from the Netherlands to support their war efforts, depleting the food supply for the Dutch population. Allied forces implemented a blockade to German occupied territories, and bombings and military action in the area greatly impacted transporting food. ​

Magnolia grandifolia

Gender - Feminine
Planet - Venus
Element - Earth

“Blossoms on our magnolia ignite the morning with their murderous five days’ white.”
~ Robert Lowell, poet, from Man and Wife

When I lived in Lake Walker, in  Baltimore, my next door neighbor Bob was always kind enough to let me take a few blossoms to sketch. I haven’t found a source of magnolias in Newville, but if you have any you’d be willing to share, I’d be delighted! Some of my favorite memories in Baltimore were sketching on my front porch.

My fascination with the magnolia has always been its extraordinary beauty and eloquence, so short lived. Nature teaches us lessons, and my lesson from the magnolia is to live life to the fullest, as it is fleeting. Thankfully, we have more than five days! Aren’t we fortunate to have decades to bloom?

The first documentation of the magnolia’s discovery was in the West Indies and the flower was named after Pierre Magnol, the innovative botanist who devised a naming system for plant classifications, a century before Linnaeus. At that time, there was thought to be only one species. There are currently estimated to be two or three hundred varieties.The Magnolia grandiflora is the large, showy pink that most of us think of first. Buddhist monks favored the pure white Magnolia denudata, the Yulan magnolia, as a symbol of purity. The blossoms come in white, pink, magenta, purple, yellow and green. Do you have a favorite?

Since life on earth began, there have been five mass extinctions, ice ages, mountain formations, continental drifts and other changes in climate that have eliminated most plants and animals from those early years. Magnolia is one of the very few survivors. It arrived ninety-five million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, estimated to be almost twenty-seven million years before Tyrannosaurus rex.  Magnolias were here long before bees and were pollinated by a flightless beetle. Their petals are strong and durable to avoid damage from the beetles. This contributes to their strength and longevity. They are exemplary survivors: titans of resilience and adaptability. 

Herbalists define herbs as ‘any plant that is useful’. The magnolia’s beauty is useful enough for me, but they have other functions. They are edible, and the petals, if gathered as they first begin to bloom, can be eaten raw in salads. Their flavor is described as spicy, similar to a ginger and cardamon blend. I haven’t tried them yet, but I’ll let you know when I do! They are also dried and ground to flavor pastries and rice. The buds can be pickled or broiled. The entire flower can be dried and used for tea, to flavor miso, or they can be deep fried and dipped in sauces. The intensity of the flavor is related to their color. The light blossoms are mild and the darker ones are spicier. 

They have medicinal benefits as well. The bark and buds have been used to treat headaches, asthma, inflammation, depression, stress, fever, and digestive problems. Magnolias have also been used to improve heart health and treat stroke. 

This is just a brief overview of the magnolia’s many attributes. As always, I encourage you to continue to research and explore if this plant captures your interest!

​Send me an e-mail, [email protected], or answer in the comments below if you have stories or information you’d like to share! 

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you may recall I have a resident gardener squirrel. My second spring after moving here, I thought the girls had surprised me by planting a lovely spring garden by my kitchen door! It was filled with rose colored hyacinth, golden daffodils, and purple and lavender crocus. They denied the gift, and through some collective detective work, we realized a squirrel was responsible. He’s added some other spring bulbs on the property and I have since named him MacGregor. 
​
This year’s additions were in my Healing Garden. He has added four clumps of daffodils. I wonder if he realizes that daffodil bulbs contain galantamine, and have been used to treat Alzheimer’s? They have also been used to kill cancer cells, but be warned - all parts are poisonous. This is out of my league so I’ll simply be enjoying them in the garden or in bouquets. 

​Every year I share a post about Peter Barr, Daffodil King who has been credited with saving the daffodils from extinction in the 1890s.He was 72 when he set out on his world wide journey. His story is hilarious. Scroll down to read more!

Peter Barr, a Victorian era nurseryman, read Parkinson’s Paradisus in Sole, describing the varieties of daffodils and narcissus that grew in the British Isles in the 1600s. He was frustrated that they no longer existed locally and became obsessed with finding them and giving them a renaissance. 

Barr, a Scotsman, traveled through Europe in the mid 1800s, often on horseback, in search of these wildflowers.. At age seventy-two, Barr expanded his search worldwide, planning a five year trip which actually lasted for seven. He traveled to Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, islands in the  Pacific and the United States to locate and collect the daffodil bulbs. He only spoke Scottish English, so he used pictures to show the locals what he was hoping to find. He told of finding six thousand to seven thousand bulbs in certain areas, and one particularly successful quest resulted in nearly twelve thousand bulbs. All were collected, bagged and returned to  England. 

In 1890, he demonstrated the success of his travels with a four day daffodil festival, and in the years that followed, he put on annual displays of up to two million plants at his nurseries. As a result, the Gardener’s Chronicle, a British Horticulture periodical, gave him the distinguished and well deserved title of the Daffodil  King!

Barr, a modest man, credited Oscar Wilde’s love of yellow. Barr stated, “Wilde used to lecture on aesthetic colors, and to him we owe more than to anyone else the taste for yellow, to my mind the most beautiful color in nature. He took the sunflower, but that is too ‘lumpy,’ and the people soon got tired of sunflowers. Then my daffodils came, and they came to stay.” [Bendico Advertiser 1900]

I found this particularly amusing since Oscar Wilde was once arrested, and charged with gross indecency, for carrying a Yellow Book!  At the time, there were books with yellow covers that were considered scandalous and no decent person would openly carry a Yellow Book in public. But that’s a story for another time! 

It’s impossible to know if daffodils would have been completely obliterated if not for The Daffodil King’s efforts, but it is  likely they would not be as well known, revered and cherished as they are today. There is a wealth of information on Peter Barr, and if you are at all  intrigued, I highly recommend you check  out the links below. . His travel journals were my favorite, describing harrowing, and at times hilarious, adventures!  His writing style is delightful! Here’s an example!