Spring Ephemerals
Hello, and happy May, friend!
May is one of my favorite months, I’ve looked forward to it every year for most of my life. Largely because it’s my birthday month, but also because May is so strongly rooted in contagious springtime joys. Where I live, the rhythms of the natural world have fully shifted from the transitional time between late winter and early spring. Various shades of green are quickly painting over the dull, muted colors leftover from winter, and the wave of ephemeral spring blooms have begun to show off their colors of the season.
While my love of flowers is well known among those around me, something I’ve learned about myself (thanks to this newsletter) is the strong associations I’ve made between the local flowers and the milestones of spring. Last month I talked about my deep love of my favorite cheerfully yellow forsythias, and when I started thinking about what seasonal joys May brings, aside from my birthday and last frost dates, pink lady slippers are one of the things I look forward to most. A beloved woodland wild orchid with a short season that often begins to pop up around my birthday, the joy of their impending return adds another layer of charm and excitement to this month for me. It feels celebratory in it own way, and knowing that the blooms last for such a short time gives a meaning to my own life that I find impossible to put into words. They bring their own unique connection to my story, and I love that with each turn of the wheel, I continue to form deeper connections to the natural world, specifically to the plants of each season.
e•phem•er•al {adjective} lasting for a very short time
Reading up on spring ephemerals, and even the definition of the word “ephemeral” has me considering the ways that fixed, reliable things can still be considered ephemeral themselves. Because we humans are all ever changing, our experiences continuing to change our ideas and perspectives, and even our brain chemistry. I am so different from the person I was when I got married 11 years ago, when I had my first child 10 years ago, from the start of the covid-19 pandemic 5 years ago. We change with the seasons, the years, and with the short lived blooms of spring.
Beltane Season
With Beltane having just passed a few days ago, we are also fully immersed in the season! Samhain (which is directly across the wheel from Beltane, is the holiday celebrated in the Southern Hemisphere on May 1st) is most commonly associated with the magic of spirits and thinning of the veil but Beltane is also a time when the veil is thin and the fairy folk are abound. The last few years I taken this opportunity to lean into the magic of the fairies and childhood innocence with my kids to great success. We build fairy houses, and bake fairy cakes and decorate them with foraged spring flowers like violets and dandelions. We also watch vintage animated movies like Fern Gully and Thumbelina to bring the magic of the fairies into our Beltane festivities!
Due to the arrival of spring with the greenery and various blooms multiplying by the day, Beltane is also deeply associated with fertility, passion and abundance. It’s a good time to invest in romantic and self-love, in whatever way you feel most called to do.
A picnic and definitely some foraging are also favorite Beltane activities of mine. So many wild edibles are beginning to pop up or bloom and are often rejuvenating after winter because they are full of the vitamins and minerals that were lacking in winter diets in the days before global trade, and the availability of fruits and vegetable year round. Foraging for local wild foods also helps connect yourself to the land you live on and gives appreciation for the struggles, wisdom and adaptability for the generations who came before us.
A few common and easy to identify things to forage for in mid to late spring are:
dandelions (a perfect representation of the sun/fire!)
wild violets
ramps (wild leeks)
nettles
fiddleheads
* When foraging take care to be 100% sure you’ve correctly ID’d all plants. Also be aware of local foraging laws and of places that might spray pesticides or where local dogs might be using the bathroom.
This year the kids and I made a color changing potion as part of our small Beltane celebration, they had a blast foraging around our yard for wild violets and making lemonade from scratch!
Violet Lemonade
Ingredients:
~1 cup of foraged violets
3/4 cup water for violet tea, plus 2 cups for lemonade
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice and zest, from 4-5 lemons
Zest the lemons and mix into the sugar to infuse and draw out the oils, set aside.
Add washed violets to a small pan with about 3/4 cups of water and set over medium heat to bring to a boil. Once the tea begins to boil remove pan from heat and steep until cooled to room temperature. Strain out flowers, add any water back to the tea to make 3/4 cups and set aside.
Mix lemon juice with sugar in a pitcher and stir until dissolved, add 2 cups of water. Alternately you can make a lemon simple syrup with the lemon sugar and 3/4 cups of water. Once cooled combine with lemon juice and 1 1/4 cups cold water in the pitcher. Add a generous amount of ice to the pitcher, then pour over the violet tea and stir to make a lovely color changing potion. Sprinkle in violet blossoms to garnish and enjoy!
*note: You can add violet tea to your favorite lemonade recipe for the same effect. If you don’t have access to foraging wild violets, you can substitute 1 tablespoon dried butterfly pea flowers in place of the violets for a similar color changing effect! Steep about a tablespoon of butterfly peas in 3/4 cups of hot water for 5 minutes, strain and let cool before proceeding with the recipe! Watch the video here!
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I love all of this! We need to hop out to pick some violets!