Saturday is my usual day to head to our winter farmer’s market on the west side of Indianapolis. This past Saturday, I decided against it as Indy was hosting the Superbowl, and traffic was a NIGHTMARE! Instead, I took #1 & #2, along with my youngest sister to nearby Koteewi Park to help sort seeds of plants native to central Indiana. This park boasts great walking/riding trails, along with an educational center including tons of archeological & animal finds from the area. The boys LOVE it there!
When we arrived, a volunteer was waiting with bags of seed heads for us to work on separating. She informed us that the parks department saves $3000-$4000 on seeds when volunteers help to gather seed heads in the fall, then separate them over the long winter months. #2’s favorite plant to work with by far was the purple cone flower/echinacea (pictured above). He loved breaking through the prickly outside to reach the seeds!
My sister and I spent the most time on the common evening primrose. There were lots of those, and the boys tired quickly of the work involved to get to the tiny seeds.
We were also able to help with the royal catchfly, which was very similar to working with the common evening primrose. These are one of my favorite native plants.
While another volunteer worked on bundleflower seeds, the lady in charge showed #1 how to get the seeds out of the butterfly weed. This made his day… when he was in first grade they did a huge unit on monarch butterflies. It was fun to see him piece together the relationship between the plant and the monarchs!
After an hour of sorting and organizing seeds, the boys took notice of the other fun things around the classroom we were working in. While we finished up, #2 had a wonderful time playing with these prehistoric animals…
#1 spent his “fun time” working a huge floor puzzle with tons of different insects on it. When he tired of that, he went around the room trying to guess the different types of animal pelts. His favorite were the gigantic antlers… of course he had to cheese it up by having me take his picture to look like they were growing out of his head!
So, while hundreds of thousands of “normal” people were seeing the Superbowl sights of downtown Indy, we had a blast sorting seeds instead! We learned so much about the different plants native to our area. My favorite part (along with spending quality time with 2 of my boys!) was being given a variety of (FREE!) seeds to bring home for planting our own native garden! That, my friends, is the fun of Not Dabbling in the Normal!
What a great way to spend a Sunday!
This park is also close to me! I need to go visit & check out the programs they have.
If you go to Hamilton Co parks website, you can subscribe to their events calendar. We love to go there! Nice to know you’re close by! Do you eat locally?
I do my best! I garden in season, get our meat from our farmer friends north of Sheridan, and visit the Carmel farmer’s market to fill in the gaps.
Love the story Dee!! What s great day for you and the boys! Hugs
Thanks Auntie Franny:)
What a neat place. Looks and sounds like you all had a great time. Glad you boys enjoy it there as much as you do!