A mix of photography, recipes, personal thoughts, faith, and lots of family stuff, but not necessarily in that order.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

We called it Honeysuckle

Went on a country drive yesterday and came across a few fields of purple clover
It brought back memories of the clover that grew near my home as a child, 
The minute I stepped out of my car the aroma took me back to my childhood
that sweet sweet smell...does anyone know what I'm talking about?

These fields actually looked like they were planted for a purpose, so I looked it up to see if this clover was used for something specific, here's what I found out.

Red Clover is used as Fodder which refers to food given to animals (cows, sheep, chickens and pigs) rather than that which they forage themselves. So this clover is harvested and fed to the animals along with hay, straw and silage instead of the animals grazing.
Another use is called Green Manure 
The clover is grown primarily to add nutrients & organic matter to the soil, so the clover is grown then plowed under and incorporated into the soil while still green.

So all that aside....
Here's what it was used for in our neighborhood. 
When we were kids we used to pull the individual flowers out and try to suck out the sweetness, 
I think we even chewed on it....mmmmm.  We called it "honeysuckle"

I love these little memories that pop into my head from days gone by.

F.Y.I.  Red clover has also been reported to be used for a variety of medicinal purposes, the one that caught my eye was this:  A large, well controlled study showed that
red clover extract supplements showed a modest reduction of hot flashes. HA HA
I might just have to plant me a crop  :)

My information was obtained from Wikipedia



5 comments:

  1. Haha, too funny about the hot flashes. I can't remember who, maybe it was you, that had me try sucking on those once or twice when I was little. Fun memories and fun facts about those flowers!

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  2. Where was that info when I needed it for hot flashes?

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  3. Oh, Jackie, I know exactly what you are talking about when you write of the sweet scent. This field is beautiful--what a wonderful discovery. And your shots, especially the close-up ones, are beautiful. Thanks for taking me back in time, to the country, on this Wednesday morning. P.S. I may need to plant a crop, too.

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  4. These are lovely pics. I love your new header too. I could almost smell the clover! I've never heard it referred to as honeysuckle. We had another plant growing up that we'd do the same thing with and I knew that as honeysuckle. :)

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  5. We just call it clover. You have enhanced my brain power for the day:)

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