Photo Contest Winner: How do you connect with nature in the Spring?

"This photo was taken on Memorial Day weekend, 2023, at home in my comfrey patch.

Every winter, I look forward to seeing the green stems of the comfrey emerge from the ground in the spring. Soon enough, with such a fast growing plant, the flowers will bud and bloom, enticing the natural world to take notice.

Some folks consider comfrey to be an invasive species, but everyone at my house has a use for comfrey. By "everyone" I mean humans, hummingbirds, bees, butterflies and even chickens and rabbits.

I make a healing salve with the comfrey leaves. It's beneficial for bruises and scratches because it helps speed wound healing. It also helps with sprains and pain from sore muscles and joints. Due to these properties, it's known as "knitbone."

My husband makes compost tea from the leaves and grows an amazing bounty of beautiful healthy vegetable plants, herbs, spices and flowers. When summer comes, we are so fortunate to have fresh and healthy foods grown from his spring plantings.

The birds, bees, butterflies and chickens are attracted to the pretty purple flowers that are filled with a sweet nectar (that's apparently delicious!). We've even had mother rabbits nest and raise their young in our lovely comfrey patch.

We're grateful for this plant not only for its beauty and its many uses, but also for bringing nature so close to us in the spring and beyond.

Thanks so much for the fun I had outdoors this weekend. I really enjoyed the opportunity to get out and take photographs of the springtime things that I feel bond me to nature."