Verona Strauss.comjust because life is fun! …

A bee enjoying some red clover

I went on a wild flower hunt. Unfortunately the famer behind us sprayed his field and when we got in there all the flowers had died.

I was very sad about it - all the pretty buttercups turned their heads to the ground and started to go brown and we missed out on some lovely flowers.

So we went to Flaxley where a man called Chris has bought lots of land and turned it all back into meadows.

Here’s what we saw:

• Buttercups
• Yellow Rattle - this actually rattles if you hold it up to your ear and shake it! And it helps to keep the grass down
• Clover - the bees love this
• Plantain, which was almost over
• Bird’s foot trefoil and lesser Bird’s foot trefoil
• Sorrel
• Self heal - this is wonderful for the skin and can be used for mouth ulcers or sore throats
• Daisy and ox eye daisy - Ox eye daisy is one of my favourites; I love their big, happy faces
• Corky-fruited water dropwort - this is rare and I was very lucky to see it
• Silver leaf
• Hawksbit
• Lesser Stitchwort
• Common Spotted orchid

So we saw lots of pretty flowers in the end. Chris got a net, swept along the flowers and there were loads and loads of insects, so he was very happy that all these insects had found his meadow and was enjoying it!

My Hapa Zome

I learned lots of new things last week! I went to a wild flower meadow and was lucky enough to see wild orchids and a rare dropwort flower.

I then had a go at the Japanese art of Hapa-Zome. It’s like superquick flower drying. Instead of drying flowers in a press and waiting for ages, you hammer them straight on to a natural material like cotton or muslin.

Hapa-zome means ‘leaf-dyeing’. You put a leaf or petal between two layers of fabric and hit with a hammer or mallet so the juice and colour from the plant material is transferred onto the fabric.

Then you let it dry, remove all the bits of plant and iron it to fix the dye.

You can use this technique to make tablecloths, handkerchief or napkins. Or you could cut a small piece of cloth and make a card from it.

A get well card for Granddad

I made this card for Granddad because he’s been unwell. it’s a picture of me,  Grandma and Granddad going for a walk in the country. I think it cheered him up!