kitty on the prowl.
in the east of wiesbaden lies a landscape that always reminds me very much of my homeland, the thuringian basin. soft hills with rolling fields of grain, orchard meadows & little villages dot this landscape called 'ländchen'. this little region is a historic territory that comprised 10 villages, some of which were bierstadt &, hessloch. for this muggy, sultry summer walk i chose a route between those two villages. i enjoyed the ripening fields of grains, all the wildflowers growing everywhere and occasionally i found cherry trees that i perused for their juicy red fruit, tainting my lips and tongue a deep cherry red. i was glad that the sun didn't shine and that there was rain in the air, because the temperatures were sweltering and the air humid. this was exactly what i loved about this walk, it made the nature around me brim with some sort of oppressed excitement, a waiting for a release. i barely encountered people on this walk, except for one guy with a dog who i exchanged some friendly words with. and that's how i love my walks the best, quiet and focussed on the nature around me, not on the hustle and bustle of man made chaos. eventually a few raindrops would fall, but the big release would not follow. i guess, better for me, probably wouldn't have been great to get into a big thunderstorm in the grain fields 😅
these crates are probably used for fruit picking labour, but to me it was a sculpture in the middle of nowhere.
this is bierstadt's water tower on the bingert hill ( built in 1957 ). it's 28 meters high and still functioning today.
i used the tower as an orientation point to get back to where i started. unfortunately i can't quite remember where that was, though 😂 i think it was more close to hessloch, but it's completely lost on me now 4 years later.
i do remember this chill dude though from when i passed by a small allotment. some would maybe say, it's a creeper, but i found him a rather funny guy!
field bindweed - often crawling all over the meadows and fields. a so-called creeper plant! but it's a beautiful one which opens during the day and closes up at night.
a view towards the taunus mountains. i think the mountain top you can see here belongs to the 'hohe wurzel', there is a telecommunication tower there. this mountain is 618 meters above sea level.
pears ripening beautifully. some fruit can already be harvested in july, these looked pretty close to perfect already! i visited the country in late june, so they probably still needed a bit of time for the perfect picking moment, but i am guessing this wasn't too far off anymore, maybe 1 or 2 weeks later?
oh, the combination of grain gold and cornflower blue is just the best colour combo in the summer 💛💙
don't you agree? throw in some various chamomile varieties and poppies and you have the perfect summer bouquet mix!
very pretty delicate cornflower blossom. you can use these as decorations in salads and desserts and they can be eaten also. if you want to dye something, it is said that the petals can be used as well. the cornflower has been used as a symbol for political movements, unfortunately often by conservative and even rightist parties. in germany, there is an interesting background attached to that. during the napoleonic war it was reported that queen louise of prussia hid with her children inside a cornflower field fleeing napoleon's forces and to keep them quiet she made flower wreaths for them ( and of course stories like that will be used as an allegory for resilience, perseverance & proudness by the conservative groups ). the uniform of the prussian army also had been this colour. i actually love the image of a woman hiding in a flower field full of fear of being found, weaving a wreath to protect herself and her children, it feels very cinematic, but alas, with this particular story there is of course a narrative attached for sometimes dubious political purposes.
maybe roman chamomile? it's super hard to identify and differentiate the various chamomiles that you can find in germany, especially by the looks alone. german chamomile flower petals seem a little less thick, though and are often separate from each other, so that helps a little. but the most distinct feature is their odour, as it of course is very aromatic and delicious-smelling. if your found chamomile doesn't have this characteristic smell, it's probably an inconsequential variety, sometimes even slightly toxic ( like the corn chamomile ). another way to find out if it's the real deal for culinary and medicinal kinds is to cut open the receptacle. it is hollow inside, a sure way to find out if your chamomile is ready to be used for your tea or other concoctions ;) by the way, roman chamomile and german chamomile are very closely related to each other and possess the same healing properties, so if you are unsure which kind you have, it might not be that important in the end. just make sure that you definitely smell the chamomile's characteristic smell ( because it's tricky again - the roman one has a marrowy receptacle ).
also, did you know that cornflowers were often worn by young men in love? it's said that if the flowers faded to quick, the love was probably not for eternity and perhaps unrequited.
a sweet horse friend close nearby the fields.
lots of barley everywhere!
barley always bows its head and you can identify it by its long awns, too!
let's add in another colour - yellow! these sunshiny flowers are dyer's chamomile.
these were and are commonly used for dyeing purposes, they end up an excellent warm yellow on textiles.
a prickly thistle! a nodding thistle to be exact. they are quite beautiful with their corona-like bracts and will have a dense pink purple florescence. in old times the thistle was sometimes used for maladies such as prostate disease, liver disease, malaria, constipation and kidney stones, but i think it's not proven it actually helps. i love thistles very much, they are of great beauty to me even though they are quite thistly ;) i guess it's this combination that makes them very enticing. being something lovely but at the same time having a feisty and brusque demeanor for self-protection!
ah, wild meadows, how i adore thee!
dead straight pathway.
these lovelies are brown knapweed, even though they bloom the sweetest pink ;)
can you spot the butt of the bee?
when love strikes... you gotta do it right where you are 😂 aren't these fiery red-headed cardinal beetles absolutely smashing? ( pardon the bad pun 😆 )
it seems super cozy on top of the creeping thistle ;) can you also spot the ladybug? the creeping thistle by the way is quite a powerful weed worldwide, and is non-desirable in many countries. it can oppress native plants quite fast, but with the right kind of control it can be kept in check. the blossoms are absolute attractors for all kinds of insects, though, which can be nice especially when you want pollinators in your garden like bees, butterflies and beetles.
some rain clouds approaching.
found a broken christmas tree ornament in the fields.
the golden beauty of grain fields 💛
fruit trees built a natural border between the meadows and the fields.
lots of cherries waited to be devoured. they had a dark violet colour and were super juicy and tinted everything purple.
obligatory fruit in hand picture! YUM!
dead tree falling apart.
the wood underneath the bark was kind of twisted and helixed. an absolute structure & and texture pleasure!
so pleasing to my eye! i am sorry, but i love wood and bark and moss and it gives me some sort of orgasmic pleasure looking and touching it 😂
i might have been a little obsessed with this tree 😅
it was just pure bliss to sit underneath these trees and look into the 'ländchen'. keen eyes can spot the rain front coming in!
the meeting of gold and blue again
spotting the bierstadt water tower again.
i particularly liked this little landscape, it brought a little varietation into the flat field mix.
and soft rain drops started to fall and shake up some delicate poppy blossoms.
of course the rain made me slowly head back, but it was a nice summer rain and very friendly droplets, so it was super enjoyable to stroll back.
saying hello to a different grain: wheat! it's usually harvested in high summer, basically july/august. that's why it doesn't look too ripe here yet, but well on its way!
looking pretty sturdy! i think it had been a good healthy grain year back then!
checking out the healthiness of hazelnuts, too! looking already very delicious.
these cherries were fed to my mouth as well, i couldn't pass by 😂 low hanging branches are very inviting.
oat grains! i almost encountered all the main grains you can find on this summer walk ;D
another gnarly dead tree. they fascinate me always!
blooming blackberry blossoms! i wait for the harvest season of these every year with great anticipation, which is august and september. we are very lucky here in germany to have lots of wildgrowing bushes everywhere!
field scabious is quite a little power plant, actually. loved by insects of all kinds and especially butterflies it is perfect for pollinator gardens. it also is edible, though it's best eaten when the leaves are young and tender. it fits well into salads but also when it gets processed into food like soups, herbed quark & burger patties. the flower is edible, too and is mild, whereas the plant itself is often bitter. people use it in desserts, but also on buttered bread and with vegetable meals. it also has medicinal values - in history it was used to treat scabies ( hence the name ) and other skin afflictions. it can be used as an antiseptic & astringent drug, often in infusions. these days it doesn't get used too often, but agriculture likes it as pasture for cattle, claiming it as a natural antibiotic.
i love learning about all the plants that surround me and what their value is, or what they can be used for. it's so interesting to me how often some are overlooked and even looked at as a useless weed, even though they most certainly always have some purpose. all of them do, and not always to the human's benefit but often more to animals and critters! which in my humble opinion is very important, too, because they, too, belong to the well-oiled cycle of nature.
and here i leave again, with a last image of my landmark guide: the bierstadt water tower - my signpost for this walk ;)
i end this with a little poem by jim waters ( about whom i couldn't find any info other than that this poem is probably from 1925 ).
summer rain
rain-woman,
grey-haired,
impatient,
you didn't stay long
with your cloud-herd
and your silver shawl.
you went towards the east,
flashing your whip
and thundering orders.
perhaps a thirsty cornfield
was calling you.
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