Blossom Hunting: A Practice of Connecting with the Land

May is the perfect time for one of my favorite seasonal activities: blossom hunting. In this simple practice, you simply go outside and look for blooms. What flowers have opened their petals where you live? What scents do you smell on the fresh spring wind? What trees have exploded in color?

Spring can be a messy season, especially where I live in Canada. But whether I’m in the dry prairies, the wet West Coast, or the windy east, May brings flowers. And it’s usually warm enough to go for a long walk and see what’s blooming.

Where to Go Blossom Hunting

There are beautiful places you can visit to see the flowers, of course. Depending on where you live, there might be a conservation area, a mountain, a river valley, or a botanical garden nearby that you can visit. In some of these places you might even learn the names of the local flowers and a little information about them, including, perhaps, how they can be used as food or medicine.

But blossom hunting can be just as effective walking around your neighborhood. Notice what flowers have popped up in your garden, and your neighbor’s garden. Notice the dandelions in the grass at a park or poking up between slabs of concrete. When you see a pretty flower that doesn’t appear to belong to anyone, nestle your nose in its petals and see what it smells like. Take your time. What does the smell remind you of? How does it make you feel?

Getting to Know the Land You’re On

Once upon a time, the flowers and plants of the land we lived on were for more than just aesthetics. We knew which ones bore fruit and which ones could provide medicine. In the modern era, medicine is found at the pharmacy and our food often travels long distances to nourish us. In many ways that’s wonderful, but we’ve also lost our connection to the land, the place where we live and breathe. And that land continues to affect us on a day-to-day level (even if just in terms of seasonal allergies!).

We are all indigenous to somewhere, but many of us are very far removed from where our ancestors came from and have no connection to that land. The indigenous people who lived on the land I now occupy were colonized by people who look like me. I am a settler on this land, and I want to be aware of that and the dynamics that come with it. And yet, wherever we live, we are breathing the air, eating the food, and experiencing the seasons of that land. We are a part of it, too. Maybe part of healing wounds of the past could include being present with and respecting the land we live on, as well as taking active steps to learn about it.

How to Blossom Hunt

Gardening is a beautiful way to get to know the plants and flowers that thrive in your region, especially if some of your garden is edible. But even if you don’t have a green thumb, simply walking around your neighborhood and seeing what’s around can be a powerful practice of connecting to the land you live on.

However you decide to do it, go hunt blossoms! Take photos, sniff what you can, and let your eyes take in the beautiful colors. Wonder about the plants and flowers. Notice the birds and bugs around them. Maybe even spend a little time with some of them if there’s a nice area where you can sit down and be in their company. Listen to the wind moving through the bushes and hear the songs of the bees and birds that are enjoying their nectar. Let yourself be a part of the natural world around you simply by paying attention.

May is the perfect time to get outside and appreciate the land you live on, no matter what you know or don’t know about the region. This is a simple way to start cultivating your own personal relationship with the land; to remember yourself as a part of it and in relationship with it, wherever your ancestors came from. It may just have something to teach you.

Indigenous knowledge and connection to the land can help us heal.