celebrating midsummer

with our monthly warriors group, we got to know elderflower and other plants through a sensory blindfold game where you could only use your sense of smell and touch. it brought the children into a quiet, mindful state and a natural flury of joyful exclamations and curious questions around the plants and little stories about their experience ensued once they regained their eyesight ~ this is nature connection in action.

there's been glut of elderflower this year ~ you can't help but notice the thousands of tiny white flowers clustered together like puffy white clouds in the hedgerows on the streets and in the fields. as you harvest them, you're meant to shake them so any bugs that have nestled into them fall away and we've been enjoying the silent bursts of yellow pollen that have happened every time we've done this! the butterflies and honey bees must be delighting in this magic powder.

the children have been enjoying these delectable flowers too. the warriors group then mixed up a batter and we made elderflower fritters dusted with a sprinkling of icing sugar. our weekday groups have been making non-alcoholic elderflower champagne and cordial which they are planning to drink this week to celebrate midsummer.

elderflower, with it's fragrant scent and floral taste, captures the essence of this time of year. it, along with the rose, oak, mistletoe, lavender and lemonbalm, is associated with the summer solstice and the point in the year where daylight hours are at their longest and where nature is at peak energy and abundance.

happy midsummer solstice!

find out more about our monthly warriors & wildlings groups here, weekly family groups here and seasonal gatherings here.