Faith, Folklore, and Friends

We keep hummingbird feeders up from early April until late October.  We have seen hummingbirds all summer, but nothing like the crowds we have had in the last few days.  I know they are migrating, and that we better enjoy them now before they are all gone. Hub fills our three feeders everyday, and the hummingbirds empty them. Could it be that this fat fellow is just showing off his beautiful neck? I have learned to keep my distance from the feeders, as these ultra-aggressive little birds defend their nectar.  It is amazing to watch. The average hummingbird weighs about the same as three pennies.  Can you imagine how small their brain is? And yet, they are smart enough to fly safely over the Gulf to winter in Mexico, then find their way back to the same feeders next year.  How awesome is that?  Five sparrows are sold for two pennies, aren’t they? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.   Why, even all ...

Beautiful September! You bring us nights with raised windows, snuggling under quilts in the wee hours. You mark the time with morning glories  and turn the roadsides yellow. You remind the hummingbirds that it is time to migrate, to journey over a thousand miles to places with warm winters. They know they will have to be fat for the trip, so they fight for the feeders, flashing their ruby throats for our amusement. You sober us with the knowing--summer, the time for growing and gathering, for swimming and playing, for travel and iced tea, no matter how wonderful or fruitful it has been--summer always ends. September. So beautiful, you strengthen us during the transition, and help us face the winter that will surely come. To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.   Eccle...

Yesterday afternoon, Hub and I made our annual pilgrimage to Rock Spring to see hummingbirds.  Rock Spring is a nature trail on the Natchez Trace Parkway just north of the Tennessee River bridge. There is a large pond/lake that resulted from beaver dam construction; it seems to get larger every year.  It is a perfect place for wildlife.  We saw ducks, dragonflies, goldfinch, woodpeckers, turtles, and many, many hummingbirds. The water was absolutely still yesterday. The sides of the pond are covered with jewel weed, a favorite of hummingbirds.  They stop here every year when they start migrating to feed on the jewel weed. Hummingbirds are quick little rascals, and it is hard to get them to hold still for photos.  So, in the following shots, let's play "Find the Hummingbird". The male has the ruby throat; what's going on here?  Maybe an immature male?  I'm hoping one of my hummingbird expert friends can ans...

Morning Glories may be the flower I have known and loved the longest. My maternal grandmother, Mrs. Georgia Gean, was a great lover of morning glories. She lived in a little four-room house that had been converted from an old church/school house. The front porch, with boards for the floor and tin on the roof, was built across the front of the house, which faced directly west. Grandma had dug up beds running parallel with the porch, on each side of the front door. Each spring, she would plant these beds with morning glory seed she ordered from a seed catalog. Long before the little plants were ready to send out tendrils, she built a trellis for them to climb on. Grandma knew what days in early spring would yield the highest sap, and that is when we would go to collect young hickory trees. Gathering her grandchildren and her chopping ax, she would head to the woods to cut down hickory saplings that were bursting with sap. We would haul them home under our arms, even the sma...

Pineapple sage, Salvia elegans, has a very sweet scent that reminds you of pineapples.  The leaves are soft and velvety, and is so beautiful growing at the corner of my front porch.   In its native Mexico, pineapple sage is one of the three most-visited plant species by hummingbirds.  Unfortunately, by the time it blooms here, most of the hummingbirds have migrated.  This year, it didn't bloom until October.   Both the blossoms and leaves are edible.  I have used them for tea and to decorate cupcakes.   Pineapple sage has been used for the treatment of depression and high blood pressure in traditional medicine. Of course, a hot cup of good herbal tea is good for just about everything. I have never been successful in rooting cuttings, but the plant usually comes back every year from the roots.  I hope it stays around for a long, long time.    

Jewelweed is a wildflower that grows in most states. It appears more around creek bottoms and other low areas.  It's sap is used for a variety of medicinal purposes, the most popular being a cure for poison oak.   Hummingbirds absolutely love it.   These photos were made at Rock Springs, a park on the Natchez Trace Parkway.  Every year in September, migrating hummingbirds stop there for some nectar and refreshment.   Looking for wildflowers and hummingbirds may be the best way to spend a September Sunday afternoon.   Can you find the hummingbird in the one above?   The hummingbird below was playing hide-and-seek with me.   Jewelweed may not grow in my yard, but I have some seed and will try to grow some next year. If they grow, it is sure to increase my hummingbird population.