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Our Wild Garden
I love the gardens that the Lord grows – uncultivated fields containing a variety of wildflowers, grasses, and insects not usually seen in everyday vegetable plots or flowerbeds. There is a small strip of meadow at the north end of our garden that can best be described as “wild.” It’s filled to overflowing with milkweed, red clover, Queen Anne's lace, sunflowers (from a previous sunflower house project), and Daisy Fleabane (a plant with smaller flowers related to the Shasta Daisy). Wildflowers thrive in our wild garden and the only cultivation needed is the occasional yanking – roots and all – of an invasive type of goldenrod that would completely take over if we left it alone.
A few years ago, a single milkweed seed took hold in what was my husband's strawberry bed. More than likely it was dispersed from a weather-beaten pod in a nearby field. I’ve loved milkweed ever since I was a little girl, so I wasn’t about to evict the straggler. Three years later, however, this single plant has given birth to more than 60 offspring, all in very close quarters. It’s an impressive habitat and we’ve been fascinated with the insect life that the milkweed supports, but as you can imagine it’s getting harder to find the strawberries. A drawing I did last year of my beloved milkweed I’ve nicknamed my milkweed “The Prairie Lilac.” When visitors approach our patch, they’re surprised to smell a fragrance as lovely as lilacs. The scent is heavenly and it’s no surprise that it attracts a wide variety of insects. My husband commented the other day that he never knew milkweed smelled so good, and I believe that’s probably true for most people. I often wonder what kinds of moths are attracted to the sweet-smelling blossoms in the middle of the night. One of these evenings I will have to go up to the patch with a flashlight and find out. The milkweed patch is hallowed ground during the day. By mid-June, ants can be seen trying to sip nectar from the tight-fisted blossoms before the florets even open. Soon they are joined by bright red milkweed beetles searching for mates. Monarch butterflies flit and float among the broad green leaves, secretively laying their eggs, and honey bees perform a tap dance of sorts, gingerly pulling their legs off the sticky flowers as they, too, drink deeply of the succulent nectar. We have also seen milkweed bugs, black and yellow swallowtails, a Great Spangled Fritillary (butterfly), Hummingbird moths, earwigs (they like to sleep like crowded sardines in the folds of the leaves), ladybugs (the caterpillars and adults), yellow jackets, bumble bees, wasps, flies, and dragonflies. Great Spangled Fritillary Honey Bee Milkweed Beetle Black Swallowtail Monarch Caterpillar So far this year Eric has been the only family member to find two monarch caterpillars – a tiny one down in the field and a larger one right here in our own wild garden. It never ceases to amaze me how these tri-colored caterpillars delight the child in all of us. As in previous years, we immediately placed them in a ball jar with fresh milkweed leaves. We will feed them daily until they undergo the miraculous change – the anticipated moment when shimmering gold chrysalises wax transparent, revealing newly formed Monarch butterflies within. After their wings harden, we will release them on the summer breeze to soar high above our beloved milkweed patch…far beyond the border of our state…southward across unfamiliar territory…and over hundreds of miles of rough terrain to their wintering grounds in Mexico. Seeing them climb skyward will cause me to contemplate the path of life that I am on, and the beauty of a transformed soul. Yes, metamorphosis is the symbol of the Christian life – a journey across uncharted territory, over miles of rough terrain through life’s circumstances – the chrysalis of God’s transforming grace and mercy. And just as the milkweed flowers bloom in succession, so, too, our hearts are changed, not in an instant, but slowly over a lifetime as we look to our Creator for spiritual sustenance and the miracle of old things made new. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 “For I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20 11:18 AM - Jul. 15, 2006 - post comment
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 Jill Novak shares from her heart and the pages of her journal about God's faithfulness through life's everyday teachable moments.Jill encourages families to write and draw from life. She and her husband Robert have been married 28 years and are the parents of five children. Together her family has founded Remembrance Press, publishers of The Pebbly Brook Farm Series: Character Building Stories for Boys and Girls, Becoming Gods Naturalist, The Gift of Family Writing, and The Girlhood Home Companion. Home View my profile Archives Email Me   Categories Nature Journal Making Snowflakes On Gossamer Thread Drawing Hollyhocks Basic Supply List for Nature Journaling My Nature Journal - Swamp Milk Weed Becoming God's Naturalist - Make a Nature Specimen Library SketchBook Summer School - Write and Draw from life! Basic Supply list for nature journaling From My Nature Journal Blogging Dueling Bloggers Are you a words of Encouragement blogger? are you a physical touch blogger? Are you a Quality time blogger? Are you a gift giving blogger? Uninspired Know you audience Spiritual diary He Touched me! Art Road trip to Tasha's - part Three Road trip to Tasha's - part two Road trip to Tasha's - part one Drawing From life - Figure Drawing and the Homeschooler What if we threw away those coloring books? Growing Future Authors and Illustrators Growing Authors and Illustrators - Part 1 Journaling With childeren Writng with little childeren - shared journal entries, shared fun! Help childeren of all ages journal there life stories Family Two Letters The Gift of Words Putting your pen to paper Homeschooling Mommy take good care of your self, you belong to me significance Journaling For such a time as this Upon the white log-in with the lord Truth is Stranger then fiction Links The Gift of Family Writing The Girlhood Home Companion  The Pebbly Brook Farm Journal  Recent Entries - A Delightful and Profitable Way to Pass a Dreary Winters Day - A New Tradition - Over the River and Through the Wood to Sarah's - The Challenges and Disadvantages of Homeschooling - Gods Creation and The Tools of the Trade - Milkweed Monday - Drawing Hollyhocks - This Pile of Stuff on the Floor - Annas Amazing Discovery or How to Draw a Toad - Nature Journaling Interview - HSB's Promo Friends TOSPUBLISHER Tami tn3jcarter ByHisGraceInColorado parkwaymom EmptyNestMom spunkyjunior Academy252 BlogBoy WritingTips leebenvic Cornflower Mariel mom26kidz creativehsmom SBadgley DreweLlyn MaggieHogan DandelionSeeds Lilacs grownathome TEACHmagazine homeschoolhelp gracefuljourney Stacy EclecticBibliophile LittleEblingsAcademy KerriHopkins TammyC Bioluminescence elljazz joymommy Boltbabe cynthiarobin COMamabear mrskbrook gottsegnet Galatians69 Cre8iveMom MyChildrenAndMe Melkhi Juliestew Joyfulhrt iluvtheland Dell mctenpenny mistresninos Redeemed JoelKing BarbaraS dolphindancer quietcajun BooksandBairns dumspirospero mycrazylife ElCloud akabain JewelSea JeanaG Rebeca REInvestor deedeeuk Hagertroops7 Beverly Margaret MyLittleWomen Louscrew MorningLight rjdjohn316 Jocelyndixon SuperAngel JacqueDixonSoulRestES annointed kurjian4school theheartofthehome ExperimentalKid kcomom 4evrHischild homesweethomeschooler lolly01 InkTraveler PennyRaine tiredmom belovedbooks 4kiddos4me SongOfTheSagebrush YoungManInTraining SincerelyAmanda momma9x PricelessPurity mariah debbiecorley nancysnook moreofhim ChristineRead stampalot lahbluebonnet srostollan BreezyTulip RaspberryPixieMuffin |
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