New discoveries:)

I have, for a while now, wondered what kind of weeds we have growing around the place. I know that a lot of 'weeds' end up being useful herbs and wanted to see if we had anything useful growing around here. However, I really didn't know where to start to find out what these plants were, so this spring I've gone around and started tasting anything that looked like it might be edible (don't worry, I do know what the poison ivy, oak and such look like:). I know dandelion leaves are edible, so I started there. They are pretty bitter, but I think they should be cooked. I've tried a few others as well, but still don't know what they are.

Today my dd brought me a 'weed' and asked what I thought it was. The cats were eating it, and that is why she noticed it. So I smelled it and it smells like mint. I looked for a while on the Internet and found that it is either cat mint or catnip. Some sites say it's the same thing and some say they are a bit different. Both are from the mint family and perfectly safe for humans. Now to dig some of it up to put it in the garden so it is officially an herb and not a weed:)
I also saw the birds that I look for each spring. They don't stick around here long, but are really pretty and as we have very few trees, we don't get a lot of the pretty, colorful birds around here. Mostly we get prairie birds which sing beautifully, but don't have much color to them. I also looked these up and found them to be Yellow headed blackbirds. Not an original name:) And they are LOUD!!!

Here is our last discovery. I found this little one's momma while she was giving birth. She dropped her baby and walked away. I tried to get the momma to take some interest, but she had already let the first born die and didn't want to be anywhere near this one. I knew we couldn't keep it alive, but the other cats were a little too interested in the baby (which when wet and brand new looked much too like a dead mouse or rat), so I brought it in. Yes, the poor thing died, but we gave it love and care for as long as we could:( The poor little thing was so ugly that it was cute:)

That is all for now. I have several more pics of 'weeds' that I want to research to see if they are anything useful, I'll post what I find:)