8/10/2021 | This resource was created by Stewart Hallman and Kate Reilly.
Summertime will sizzle on the Duke Farms Distance Learning Portal through an eclectic array of environmental topics that feature the sights, sounds, and smells of this sensational season as was artistically captured in Dunbar’s historical work. We hope that you are inspired to find your own nature-based adventures and create reflections and memories to last a lifetime.
Summer in the South
The Oriole sings in the greening grove
As if he were half-way waiting,
The rosebuds peep from their hoods of green,
Timid, and hesitating.
The rain comes down in a torrent sweep
And the nights smell warm and pinety,
The garden thrives, but the tender shoots
Are yellow-green and tiny.
Then a flash of sun on a waiting hill,
Streams laugh that erst were quiet,
The sky smiles down with a dazzling blue
And the woods run mad with riot.
Paul Laurence Dunbar, born in 1872, is the author of numerous collections of poetry and prose.
He is one of the first African American poets to gain national recognition.
Do you know stinging nettle? This aptly-named plant is both loved and feated. For centuries, Native American tribes have utilized the therapeutic applications of stinging nettle, whether brewed into tea or cooked and eaten. Stinging nettle is touted as a preventative against heavy bleeding during childbirth, hay fever, and joint inflammation. On the other hand, uncooked stinging nettle plants deliver potent stings to exposed skin through the plant's needle-like trichones.