notes from a mostly media-free life :: free forage diy

Aug 24

forage. verb -to search about; seek; rummage; hunt: He went foraging in the attic for old mementos.

Also known to us as "treasure hunting," "walking the island," "hittin' the fields," or "heading up to to the attic." Sometimes we're looking for something specific, and most of the time it's a random score of unexpected eye candy. In this case, it's the latter, leading to the former.

Check out great-great Aunt Winnie's field guide, a gift for her 12th birthday from my boy's great-great grandmother, Ida. Given that we've been living in "Gram's" for the last two months, and Aunt Winnie just passed on to the heavenly realms, this find deserved some kind of new tradition.

Obviously, we'd need to leave the Flower Guide behind, lest it compost on path.

Oh, but the usefulness. And simplicity. {I find myself coveting all manner of vintage catalogues at this point...surely they must have things like this for covered bridges, sewing machines, shoes...}

Not for the kids, but simply for me, I posted these pipe mushrooms we found on Instagram, and @Shamanaflora promptly told me that they're not mushrooms, but parasitic plants that don't create chlorophyll, related to blueberries (heath family).

The dialogue begins...

Blueberries!! And then, oh, yes, they do feel like the parasitic plants I know from the Southeast Asia, clinging to every tree. And then...but wait, what are they feeding off of?

Enter this antique floral pocket encyclopedia: decayed leaves + dead trees.

I hope you all find these kinds of answers just as fulfilling as we do.