Chamomile and Calendula

We doubled up this month for our herb lesson due to our cancellation in June, but found that these two herbs work so well together for nature journaling!!!

While reading the Herb Fairy books published by Learning Herbs, we have so much fun learning about the botanical science of the plant as well as the medicinal properties from each herb!

In planning the lesson today, it worked out perfect that both these herbs are “disc and ray” flowers. We were able to talk about other flowers that have similar properties like daisies, sunflowers, and zinnia. This is a great website that explains this family of plants!

Students did a wonderful job following the nature journal prompts! I was able to bring calendula flowers from the garden so each family could observe carefully how the petals are arranged around the disc, and how the leaves are arranged on the stem.

Since it was so hot today, not all of the information I wanted to share during our journaling time made it into the lesson – some of the points that I do want to point out for future reference if any of my friends are curious, is the AMAZING smell of chamomile! It smells just like a sweet apple syrup! And it’s so interesting how the calendula flower has a stickiness to it! I had no idea when I first starting growing our calendula and was so excited to discover this after reading the Herb Fairy book! I get more excited about learning new things while homeschooling than my children do! LOL!

Combining both of these herbs in a treat to share was so easy to do! I found this recipe for calendula thyme shortbread cookies but easily substituted chamomile for the thyme and they turned out soooo yummy! Don’t try to substitute the honey though – I did and the second batch turned out too crumbly!

After our nature journal and treat, the children had a blast in the creek! Today was so hot so the shade and water was a welcome environment! Last year, we did a nature journaling lesson on crayfish and had the best time catching them in the creek! I brought more hotdogs and paperclips and Lara brought yarn and some cups for the kids! I missed my chance to sing “You get a line and I’ll get a pole, and we’ll go down to that crawdad hole!” I love how excited they get when they catch one!