20180424_120729

 

 

 

20180424_120729

 

i have hesitated with this.  Even though the photograph was taken some days ago,  i was hesitant.  I know a little of the Why now.  There is more of Why that i am yet to learn.  Part of why it's here today is my words of the last post.  I read them over and over and have sat with them, waiting for some understanding.  It's coming,  I need to be quiet.

I don't even know how to tell this.  Have spent already over 2 hours this morning,  from before first light,  trying to begin.

As Alyssia and i were working in the beds of the wall gardens,  pulling plants to make space,  we BEHELD a strange sight.  And Beheld is not an extravagant word for what was happening,  in the exposed soil,  right before our eyes.  Many.  Many things were MOVING.  It was startling….at first brain said they were some kind of strange insects,  unlike anything i'd ever seen, and really frightening in that there were so many and all moving in such a slow and deliberate way, hard to tell if they were coming up out of the Earth,  or going  back into it.  As we watched we made the connection.  These were the seeds of the very amazing plant,  Large plants we'd been watching, had identified as Storks Bill.  Erodium cicutarium.  We confused it at first with saying Crane's Bill.  But Storks Bill.   

Since the complaint of Frustration,  i have spent time reading about Storks Bill.   What we were seeing were many many of its seeds,  planting themselves.   "a drilling appendage that resembles a corkscrew that twists and untwists first clockwise and then counter clock wise in response to changing humidity.  I refer to plants as beings.  sometimes plant people.   And i am stricken by the brilliance of what i witnessed, by how little i really am aware of,  how little human beings are aware of.

as i said.  it's hard to talk about.  It's so surreal.   And then,  everyone was here yesterday,  Jenny's man, as usual was sheperding their dogs around,  training them around the chickens,  which i haven't said much about,  and suddenly called out,  a nest!  A hollow in the tall grasses,  just at the edge of the drivewayroad.  With EGGS.  10 of them.  His dogs flushing the chicken from where she was hiding to protect them…the chicken that had appeared a week or more ago,  just one morning, there,  outside the little chicken coop with the kids four hens,  then seeming to have disappeared for a couple days,  suddenly found to be still here,  a chicken,  who had come from somewhere,  and walked a distance,  like, acres,  from somewhere else to make a nest.

????

and i read that Storks Bill gives a green dye.  Needs no mordant.

 

 

 

 

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38 responses to “numinous”

  1. jude Avatar

    ha, where there is a will, there is a way.
    will be interesting to see green.

    Like

  2. beth Avatar

    Your desire to observe, understand, and know coupled with a new lush environment, I can only imagine what your days are like. My quick read about this unusual plant adds that it is edible and medicinal as well.

    Like

  3. jaime Avatar
    jaime

    Wow!

    Like

  4. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    Nature at its best … beautifully amazing … and having seen these pictures I totally now understand your frustration. No words could really have described what I could see in the pictures. Woohoo thank you Grace.

    Like

  5. Mo Crow Avatar

    our earth holds such deep magic when we just take the time to slow down and see, thank you (((Grace)))

    Like

  6. joanne Avatar
    joanne

    I am going to read about Stork’s Bill. But….what a chicken to have decided to move to your Hill. and to have so many eggs in her nest. I am wondering how long she has been in residence?

    Like

  7. Mo Crow Avatar

    I thought it looked familiar, it’s an invasive weed here in Australia but weeds are just plants growing in the wrong place like morning glory, prickly pear and Salvation Jane aka Paterson’s Curse, all pretty and useful plants when grown in their own place

    Like

  8. Peggy McG Avatar
    Peggy McG

    I often am amazed to be in the right place at the right time to observe such wonders. Mother earth teaches on. And to hold and feel that awe is very hard to describe as it is so personal to the moment. I am glad you had family to experience with.

    Like

  9. cynthia Avatar
    cynthia

    they are amazing plants in so many herbal ways..and they move across your landscape..surprising you..well they surprised me…that they seemed to travel as they wished..but oh to be able to watch and to see..what a wonder full thing to share…gentle day grace

    Like

  10. Deb G Avatar

    The word numinous is a wonderful word…love thinking of seeds drilling themselves into the earth. The persistence of it.

    Like

  11. Angie Avatar

    Wow!! And WOW again!! What a magnificent occurrence to be witness to! Simply magical! And to be wonderful for dyeing too!!

    Like

  12. Michele Avatar
    Michele

    If I were a chicken I would pick your hill upon which to lay my eggs.

    Like

  13. Victoria Davis Avatar

    You have a cat that joined you on your journey to the Hill, a chicken who walked Acres to join you, and now a plant screwing with you…..
    [please forgive me my silly humor]

    Like

  14. dee Avatar

    Truly amazing. Everywhere there are things to BEHOLD but not all of them inspire such awe. Is Tay better?

    Like

  15. grace Forrest Avatar

    i went to the Storage thing today…Monday…and climbed through it all, literally, unearthing the dye pots…or all except the beloved copper pot which remains buried.
    Tomorrow.

    Like

  16. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. it is all these things. and so IT begins.

    Like

  17. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. some Things NEED the pics. But that’s ok. Some things can have them. Will figure it out…

    Like

  18. grace Forrest Avatar

    it is opening here. Opening it’s Depth. Inviting.

    Like

  19. grace Forrest Avatar

    maybe you will try it for dye?

    Like

  20. grace Forrest Avatar

    it’s mind boggling. How she must have come to be here.
    Way, like WAY across this Hill and over the road and then up their acres…the closest chickens. But i have never heard of a hen to travel. It’s a magical thing. Am not sure
    how long it’s been since we first saw her. But she is laying an egg a day.

    Like

  21. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes…so personal and specific to the moment…
    it is a Marker between Alyssia and I, a Marker for
    the Going now

    Like

  22. grace Forrest Avatar

    today i find a small plant just near where we turn the water on and off for the Goats….this, far up the HILL from
    Campsite A. Flown on the Wind, brought on a dogs body,
    carried in the beak of a bird
    Gentle Gentle Everything to you, Cynthia

    Like

  23. grace Forrest Avatar

    with such gentle grace…just twirling

    Like

  24. grace Forrest Avatar

    tomorrow the dye pot

    Like

  25. grace Forrest Avatar

    i can’t belive we were given this opportunity…i am
    on my knees grateful.
    yes. Tomorrow is the last day of her medications..10 days.
    KNOCK ON WOOD again, she seems to have come through it
    without any lasting effects. We’ll see tho.

    Like

  26. Mo Crow Avatar

    my hands can’t deal with dyeing & just as well as so many people do it really well- there’s Glennis Dolce the indigo moon queen and Deb Lacativa for wild colour!

    Like

  27. grace Forrest Avatar

    this plant is, as i understand it so far, completely
    benevolent. Medicinal, edible.
    and yes…glennis, indigo and Deb, who almost all my
    Cloth work involves, is reliant on, really.
    but i am very looking forward to what might come from
    the plant people i live with here. I think they will
    give more than i may ever have imagined.

    Like

  28. Michelle Slater Avatar

    Ha! Laughed out loud.

    Like

  29. Dakotah Avatar

    Fascinating…both plant and chicken! What an amazing experience you are having there…so nice of you to share it. Maybe there will be chicks…how wonderful!

    Like

  30. grace Forrest Avatar

    or not. Today, Tuesday, Tay broke them all. She layed
    a new one anyway.

    Like

  31. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. getting screwed…i grin

    Like

  32. grace Forrest Avatar

    today, Tuesday, Tay broke all of them. None were fertile.
    Things don’t always go easy.

    Like

  33. saskia Avatar

    fascinating was my first thought too
    love to you all

    Like

  34. Martine Bos Avatar

    Yes its edible, but i didn’t know it would dye green. Must ask Yvette,she lives near the sea where this “Reigersbek” is growing in the dunes………….

    Like

  35. grace Forrest Avatar

    i love so much that it is EveryWhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

    Like

  36. Nancy Avatar

    HeeHee Good one!

    Like

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