Blueberries and Natural Dyes

With a dozen buckets of blueberry plants in tow, and an empty woven basket, begging to be filled with wild flowers, we made our way up the all familiar highway, into the Blue Hills.  Severe thunderstorms were predicted again overnight, so the trip was to be a short one. Most of the day was spent digging down through the grass, into the deep, rich, black soil.  We mixed in peat moss and mulch to get the ph balance just right, all the while, taking turns traveling around the neighbor's field and across the road to collect over 50 gallons of water from a small, shallow creek.  I wish I'd remembered to take a photo of the water collection, it was quite something.

Cole and I also snuck away for a few minutes of harvesting wildflowers and some precious one on one time{that is so rare with three boys}.  The fields are bursting with color and I forgot how deeply I miss foraging  for natural dyes during the long winter months.  This year I'm going to experiment with a variety of new and different plants and organic materials.  On this trip we harvested Yarrow,  Devil's Paint Brush, and Bird's Foot Trefoil.  

Back home again, the flowers have been added to a water bath and have been soaking in the sun.  The colors are beginning to release, so I'll show you how it looks tomorrow!