This weeks Nature Study is Queen Anne's Lace. We decided to talk a walk Sunday to see if we could still find any around. Well, we found two small spots that had a sprig or two. It is amazing that just a few weeks ago there were tons around but this week we had to really search to find what we did find.
We were interested to learn that it is also called a wild carrot. We pulled one flower up to compare it's roots to our domesticated carrots though and were sad to see they really didn't resemble them at all. However, we do now know that they are edible and are supposed to smell like carrots. Apparently the carrots we currently eat are in the same family as these "wild carrots". Another name for Queen Anne's Lace is Bird's Nest as the dead flowers resemble the nest of a bird.
Lily of course was anxious to pick it, I barely got a picture in before she had snatched up some of it. Lily adores all flowers and is always on the look-out for wild flowers. Luke on the other hand was not terribly impressed.We also found some animal tracks, which was interesting to all of us. They appear to be deer and we think bobcat tracks. Brian has been seeing lots of bobcats around lately. We were excited to see the tracks but also happy we didn't happen to run into any bobcats while out and about.
The grasshoppers were out in droves as well. At first we thought they were dragonflies or butterflies but soon realized those wings belonged to grasshoppers. Most that we saw had big and beautiful yellow-lined black wings. We did get a chance to see some other butterflies as well but well- I don't know how you happen to get a picture of a butterfly with 3 kids in tow.
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