Weekend Outing - Cedar River (the courtyard)

I've been trying to squeeze in a tiny bit more *life* amongst trying to maintain my family/household and the ongoing busy-busy current work schedule. As part of that quest, last weekend some POBL friends and I spent a morning at the Cedar River Watershed Nature Center on a guided walk to discuss native herbs.

It is a gorgeous, slightly out-of-the-way location - with views of water and mountains (and can you believe that the vine maples are already showing some color? July feels too early for red leaves).

The center is a beautiful complex of buildings and boardwalks - all trying to integrate into their natural surroundings.

I loved these views of wild-things growing on the roofs of the various structures....

One of the coolest aspects of the courtyards were clusters of large, wooden drums they had scattered about nestled under the trees. Each drum had its own tiny, barely visible pipe that was dripping water from several feet above.

The drips must have been on computer timers or some other mechanism because they were varied and random, and the whole courtyard would echo with deep-throated percussiveness. Talk about magical and atmospheric! It was like something out of a Shakespearean fairy glen. (We discussed the possibilities of setting a similar thing up in our own backyards - but it seemed a bit beyond our capabilities).

Weekend Outing - Cedar River (the trails)

After noting and tasting many of the native plants just within the courtyards (Oregon grape, salal, huckleberries, etc...) we moved down the trails towards the lake. It's amazing how many things are edible, isn't it? This was particularly fun for me since my current quest for my yard is to have everything in it edible or medicinal. I have some strictly ornamental plants that were already here when we moved in four years ago, but everything I'm adding has to fit that criteria.

Beautiful cluster of Devil's Claw which grows in the understory of the woods here. Very prickly. Didn't get close enough to know if you could eat this one or not.

We've had an exceptionally rainy week or so here - especially for July in the Pacific Northwest where it rarely rains from July 4th through October. Things are very green and lush for July.

It was a warm day. Our assistant guide was attempting to stay shaded and cool. She looked like she belonged to my Celtic Tree People series. :-)

Another local plant, called Sea Foam - which it does resemble a bit when blooming and back-lit.

It was a gorgeous place and a lovely way to spend a morning. We got to taste more things than I would have thought were edible, and identified many, many more.

Now back to my own yard. There are still raspberries and blueberries and borage blossoms to be picked. And dream about additional edible additions....