clover Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Lawn Up Close – Photo: L. Weikel

Day 282

Shout Out to Clover – Again

Back in June, I wrote a post about the appearance of a lovely tiny white blossom of nature spreading through our lawn.

These tiny white puffs caught my eye from the porch, as they’d seemingly appeared overnight. But their true beauty was revealed when I took the time to approach them with care, scootch down so I could see them up close, and focus my attention solely upon them.

That’s when I realized what a lovely addition clover is to my ‘lawn,’ and even took the time to publicly extoll its virtues. Ever since, I’ve made a point to acknowledge the patch, including the fact that it always seems to be sporting a few honeybees (yea!).

I enjoyed, then, seeing this little article online a few days ago.

And then my friend Ann posted this meme on FB, which I’m including in this post because the sentiment bears repeating! Certainly not a bad goal to aim toward.

And the most serendipitous occurrence today was that Ann’s meme appeared after I’d already walked behind our barn and encountered the stunning abundance of flowers, grasses, and trees that seemed to have exploded into a wild disarray while I was in North Carolina. The humidity and rain very obviously called to the wild living energy in to burst forth all over the place. The photo below doesn’t do justice to the fertility and abundance currently on display in our back yard.

Backyard beauty – Photo: L. Weikel

I’m nevertheless feeling an abundance of gratitude as I once again breathe in the sweetness of the air that the little white butterflies are prancing upon, bouncing from one clump of grasses and wildflowers to another.

More and more of our property is returning to the wild. It’s lovely.

Although…there always has to be enough lawn available for an impromptu game of Jarts!

(T-829)

Lawn From Afar – Photo: L. Weikel

Beauty Up Close

The first task on our agenda today was to mow the lawn. So many days this week were hot and muggy, when you added to that mix a day or two where more rain than usually falls in an entire month fell within a couple hours, you had the perfect recipe for some major growth.

I sat on our porch looking out upon the lawn in front of the barn. (We’re lucky enough to have both a ‘front’ lawn and what we euphemistically call ‘the back 40’ – a patch of grass and weeds, trees, bushes, and an overgrown something-or-other Karl used to call a garden – behind the barn.) The lawn looked different this week. A new patch of something was growing out there and I’m not sure why it apparently proliferated over the past two weeks, but it definitely had overtaken the green grass.

Lots of White, Much Less Green

Walking down to the barn to fetch the mower, I noticed that the sea of white heads in the grass were patches of what I believe is clover. I had to laugh; we are definitely into ‘au naturel’ lawns. Ours would never be acceptable to those who demand a thick, monotonous carpet of green.

Ours is anything but that. In fact, we often have a variety of plants, often referred to as weeds, having starring roles in our lawn productions. Dandelions, wild violets, crab grass, and these teeny, tiny little wild strawberries. And now, apparently, a major crop of clover.

As I was mowing, I started paying attention to what I was mowing through and cutting down to a trim and uniform size. I couldn’t help noticing that, the closer I looked and the more detail I allowed myself to notice, the more honest beauty revealed itself to me.

For instance, the top photo in this post is a shot of my lawn, as I was mowing it, ‘from afar.’

Lawn a Little Closer – Photo: L. Weikel

The second photo, just above, is simply paying closer attention and zooming in a bit more.

But the most beautiful photo is the one below. How easily (and routinely) do we ignore the rich, vibrant colors and many exquisite details in the tiny flowers that I had categorically dismissed as ‘stuff to mow’ only minutes earlier.

The miniature-like quality and detail to these ‘lawn weeds’ is profound. I’m so glad they asked to have their photos taken!

Next Chance You Get, Take a Deeper Look

Next time you have a chance to walk on your lawn, or beside the road, or sit beside a creek or just ‘be’ anywhere, I encourage you to stop and just take a deeper look. Really focus on the details of what’s sharing space right there with you. I guarantee you will be filled with wonder.

And right now, it feels especially important for all of us to seek out and appreciate the tiniest offerings of color, beauty, and goodness we can find.