It feels like spring now that the dogwood is blooming! Our front garden is such a source of joy right now with it colors and textures. I spend far too much time gazing out the window at the beauty and sitting out on the steps just breathing it all in deeply. The birds and insects are visiting daily as they find different things to enjoy too…the bird bath, the blossoms with pollen to collect, or the seeds in the feeders.
Whether you enjoy the fragrance or the color of lavender…..you would be happy sitting in this part of the garden. The bees are buzzing again, stopping by many of the purple flowers many times before flying off again. I am anticipating the summer harvest of my lavender and creating many more sachets to give away to friends and family.
So this is the view from the top of the garden looking down from the top terrace. The yarrow is huge this year and already covered in flower buds. We weren’t sure about our pruning that was done last fall because we were worried we had trimmed it too far to the ground but now look at those mounds of yarrow! The lavender is filling in after being trimmed almost all the way back as well. I love using the internet and YouTube.com as a reference for my gardening tasks…there is a lot of practical advice out there. The butterfly bushes are going to be amazing this year and the poppies are showing their color (middle right of the photo).
Since the front yard is so low maintenance, we can focus our thoughts and energy on our vegetable garden now that the weather is warming up.
My husband and I are so very happy with our no-mow yard and enjoy having the neighbors stop by and tell us they love driving by and seeing all the different flowers. If you are interested in removing your lawn and switching over to drought tolerant plants and natives, I highly recommend a book I am reading from Timber Press: Beautiful No-Mow Yards by Evelyn J. Hadden. It claims to have fifty lawn alternatives…most of them are spectacular but yet not too complicated.
One thing I have learned about my own no-mow yard is that there is going to be a lot of color if you plan it right. No-mow yards are much more interesting and enjoyable to all the senses. You can see how our project started here: Frontyard Remodel.
Outdoor Hour Challenge: You can reference the Outdoor Hour Challenge for Frogs from the Summer Series for pages to read in the Handbook of Nature Study, observation ideas, and some follow-up activities. Pick and choose which ones are appropriate for your local area and weather. Please make sure to save this study in case you don’t have tadpoles or frogs to observe in person. This is a wonderful long-term study that your children will love.
This week’s free printable is one that even your older students will enjoy using along with a field guide. Pick a local frog to learn more about and record your findings for your nature journal using this free printable notebook page. Frog Field Guide Notebook Page Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #7. Take time to read through this challenge and contemplate how you could use your reptile and amphibian study to make a field guide of your local subjects. This could be a long term project that you add to as you come across new things to learn about.
We have been blessed with many lizard sightings in the past few weeks. Just this past Sunday we saw four lizards on our hike and on Monday we saw three! They are all the same kind of lizard, the Western Fence Lizard. They look like little alligators with really big feet. They are super fast when they want to get away but many times they will sit on a rock in the sun like a statue and pose for the camera. These lizards made a great subject for the start of our Reptile and Amphibian Grid Study.
Here are a few of our images from these encounters.
Love the feet!
I have been keeping my eyes open, looking on rocks as we walk.
Here is what I gleaned from our reptile field guide and recorded in my nature journal.
From the family, Iguanidae
They are often found on rocks, on logs, in wood piles, and on rails and rock fences (confirmed by our sightings).
Females lay up to 25 soft-shelled eggs anytime between mid-may to mid-July, hatching about two months later.
Dormant in winter.
Diet consists of beetles, flies, termites, ants, and spiders.
Throat and belly are blue. (We have not seen this so we need to try to take a closer look.)
Range is the length of the Sierra, primarily in the foothills.
For our Amphibian Study:
We also found a spot that has a lot of frogs eggs…a small pool of water alongside our walking trail. We will be watching and waiting for tadpoles to arrive.
Other Reptiles:
No snakes yet….I know the last time I said that here on the blog we saw a snake that very next day.
This was a great start to our Reptile and Amphibian Grid Study this month and I hope to continue finding interesting subjects to add to our journals.
Don’t forget to visit my blog sponsor and use the discount code “sweet” to receive a 30% discount on your order for any of her lovely products.
We had a chance to work on our garden boxes this past weekend….cleaning up the debris and tilling the soil. It is always a joy to see what is already sprouting and growing without much effort. We made some hard choices this year about which things to continue growing and which things to get rid of in each box.
Box number one is historically my box to plant and care for…I change it up every year. With the clean-up this weekend I realized that the Prairie Sunflowers are really going to fill the whole box up. I should probably thin the plants out but I will let them go one more year. They are great bird attractive plants and I have other boxes I can use for edibles.
Box number two has always been Mr. A’s box. He is a simple guy and enjoys his strawberries and dahlias. This is a no fuss kind of box. The berry plants are already growing like crazy and there are blossoms! There is one corner where all the strawberries died for some reason so we will be picking up some need seedlings next time we are at the garden nursery. He has both everbearing and June bearing plants in his box.
Box number three is Mr. B’s box. He is the herb man. This was where we made the executive decision to pull ALL the oregano from the box this year. Mr. B has lost interest in his herb garden so I am going to be using part of his box for my veggies. We left the lemon thyme and the garlic chives. There are also two small mystery plants that we will leave until we figure out what they are.
Box number four is Amanda’s box but she is off having the time of her life in Bolivia this year so I will be nurturing her box while she is gone. She has always had a cutting flower garden in her box….even after leaving home we still consider it her box. The coneflowers and daisies are looking healthy and I will be planting some zinnias and other colorful flowers to fill the box when it is time.
The rest of the yard is looking so spring-like. The climbing rose is dazzling yellow and there are so many promises in other parts of the garden as well. The roses are in bud, the butterfly bush and lavender are growing like crazy, the day lilies are all filling in….can’t wait for the show to begin. Something new this week- apple blossoms! Plans for Garden Boxes – 2013
Box 1 – Prairie Sunflowers, shade tolerant herbs (dill, cilantro)
Box 2 – Add more strawberries and add stakes for dahlias.
Box 3 – Existing herbs, zucchini and green beans
Box 4 – Coneflowers, daisies, zinnias
Other Areas:
Under Birdfeeder – Morning glories
Large bed in back – Sunflowers
Deck Containers – I am receiving and reviewing from Renee’s Garden the Easy to Grow – Container Kitchen Vegetable Garden collection which includes tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, chard, and basil. Excited to see how this goes this year!
I would totally love to add a blueberry bed in a different area of the garden. The spot where my current blueberries live is just not right…they are not thriving. I am trying to convince my husband to help me add a row of blueberries as an experiment…we shall see.
This month we tackled another of our big plastic uses…..trash bags. I love my convenient lovely trash bags with their nice easy to use handles. But, after taking a really good look at our consumption of these regular plastic trash bags…we felt that this was an area we could reduce the number of bags or to use a more environment-friendly alternative.
Enter the Google Search!
Normal plastic bags can take up to 1000 years to naturally breakdown.
Trash bags for our household trash – Pride Green Life Cycle Bags Who knew there were such easy to find alternatives? We had always purchased our trash bags from Costco in bulk but a quick Google Search and we had some options to look for on Amazon.com. We found an alternative to our regular plastic trash bag that is a biodegradable plastic that says it will breakdown in 18-36 months which sounds a whole lot better than 1000 years! We went with these bags from Pride Green because they had the best reviews online. We have used them for a little over a month now and I honestly have seen no change in durability and ease of use. They have quickly replaced our normal plastic trash bags.
Compost Bucket Bags- BioBag Food Waste Bags
We use a small under-the-counter compost bucket for collecting our kitchen wastes. We have switched to using BioBag Food Waste Bags which are completely compostable. They are made from starches and will be consumed by micro-organisms in our soil. No fussing with these bags…we can just remove the full bag and throw the whole thing in our compost bin! No one complains about taking the compost bucket to the composter anymore.
Just in case you want to know about our under the counter kitchen composter looks like. We have used this for many years and are very happy with the convenience of having it right there for kitchen clean-up and food preparation time. Any tips or suggestions for reusable produce bags?
Next month I will be sharing our experience with our reusable sandwich and snack bags. 🙂
Outdoor Hour Challenge: This month we will be using the Reptile and Amphibian Grid Study from the April Newsletter to help us learn more about this interesting topic. Feel free to cut your grid to fit your nature journal or to customize your journal to fit your interests. Don’t forget that you can save the grid study for a future date if you don’t have access to any reptiles or amphibians for this month’s nature study.
Free Printable Notebook Pages:Reptiles and Amphibians Use these pages to help get your family started with good working definitions of both reptiles and amphibians. They also have a place to write any interesting facts you want to remember about these topics.
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #2.Use your words to describe any reptiles or amphibians you observe this month. Learning new vocabulary is an important part of nature study and will help your children in their later study of any life science.
“A singing bird is one who enjoys life and spreads happiness.”
I am so very pleased to share with you April’s Blog Sponsor! Singing Bird Studios specializes in unique jewelry and other special handmade items that I know you be happy to know about. I was introduced to Singing Bird Studios at the BEECH Retreat back in January where I received a special key chain as a gift from Stephanie the owner and creator of Singing Bird Studios.
Here is a little introduction from Stephanie @ Singing Bird Studios:
I am a mom who works full time. I have been making jewelry for ten years and decided just last year to turn it into a business. Singing Bird Studios is my creative outlet. A singing bird is one who enjoys life and spreads happiness. That’s what I want to create for myself and those around me. I design many of the images you see, but I also use digital art, vintage papers, and scrapbook papers to achieve the look I want. I make all items by hand in my home studio. I am excited to launch a Wedding Party collection this summer so brides can thank their wedding party {in style}. I LOVE what I DO!
Stephanie graciously accepted my offer to be my blog sponsor and I will be sharing her work during the month of April. I love every piece she sent for my review…my favorite is this lovely Blue Butterfly necklace that has been worn on quite a few occasions lately. Everyone compliments me on the design and I love the way it feels and looks with the silver snake chain.
But this week I am going to be giving away one of the pieces from her Vintage Collection – This gorgeous orange butterfly with the pretty copper plated pendant and chain. Click over and see all the pieces in this collection. These are sure to be a favorite and I already am planning on purchasing one from this collection as a gift for a special friend.
Stay tuned for more giveaways this month and please take advantage of her generous special discount offer code for my readers: Enter “sweet” and receive 30% off your entire order!
We wrapped up our month-long mushroom, moss, and lichen study with a final hike last Friday. Guess what? We saw the first really nice mushroom of the month! I had pretty much given up hope that we would see any actual mushrooms and was resigned to completing our study in a future month when a specimen presented itself.
Well, we were able to complete the month with a great observation session of this big guy! I love the texture of the cap and the size was amazing…about six inches across. There were several smaller mushrooms nearby but we focused on the creamy brownish one.
I created a two page journal entry with March’s grid study (cut apart) and some photos of lichen, the mushroom, and a glorious fungus we found a couple of weeks ago. I love the bands of color and the way it looks like a colorful skirt…natural beauty is hard to beat.
Doing research about this fungus, which we identified as Turkey Tail, we learned it was being used in treating cancer patients. Who would have thought? There are amazing things to learn all the time when you really dig a little deeper.
Mushrooms, lichen, and moss were a fantastic focus for all of us….if you read the entries in the latest blog carnival I’m sure you realized that too. Looking forward to what April is going to bring with reptiles and amphibians.
We have arrived at a study of reptiles and amphibians just in time for perhaps some spring observations of tadpoles, peeping of spring peepers, and the awakening of our more cold-blooded nature friends. Whether this study is of real-life subjects or preparation for future observations, I am confident that your children will benefit from learning more about reptiles and amphibians using the Handbook of Nature Study and the Outdoor Hour Challenge.
Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:
4 encouraging articles to help with your study of reptiles and amphibians
Contributors from India, Australia, and England – such a privilege to hear from so many kindred spirits from around the world
April Study Grid to help your monthly nature study
Show and Tell from OHC Participants
Recommended study links and field guides
I have attached the newsletter download link to the bottom of my blog feed so if you are a subscriber you will receive the link to the latest newsletter at the bottom of every post for the month of April. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can still subscribe and receive the newsletter link in the next post that comes to your email box. You can subscribe to my blog by filling in your email address in the subscription box on my sidebar.
April Blog Sponsor
Note: You can download your newsletter from the link in two ways:
If your link is clickable, right click the link and then “save link as” to save the file on your computer.
If the link is not clickable, cut and paste the link to your browser, open, and then save your newsletter to your computer.
This month has flown by and with it so has the mushroom/lichen/moss study! Our family enjoyed finding such beautiful things to learn about in our own yard and along our local hiking trails. Taking a few minutes each week to explore with my family, to really slow and see the little ordinary things in our world, brought us much delight. I hope your family had a chance to seek out some of this month’s subjects and learn together about them. If you were still buried in snow, save these challenges for a future time when the opportunity arises.
Our families moss/lichen/mushroom entries from this month’s study (in case you missed one):
Tricia from Hodgepodge has put together their entry Spring Nature Study with Multiple Ages where she shares how they use the Mushroom/Lichen/Moss Grid Study with everyone in their family. What a great example!
Kelly joins the carnival for the first time with their entry March Nature Study-Outdoor Hour Challenge Mushrooms from her blog Believe. They found a lot of things to observe during their outdoor time and once the returned home. Thanks for sharing!
Robin from Academia did some improvising for this month’s study since they still have lots of snow. Please click over and read how they learned the parts of a mushroom and found some lichen and moss: Mushrooms, Lichen and Moss.
Sarah from GranWood Explores submitted their OHC-Moss, Lichen, and Mushrooms entry for your enjoyment. They found quite a few mosses and fungus to observe even though they still have snow. I really enjoyed seeing the variety.
Alex from Life on a Canadian Island writes about their Moss and Lichen on the Trail. I really enjoyed their entry where she showed the subjects they found even when there was snow on the ground. They took the opportunity to use their microscope too so check out what they found!
Angie from Petra School enthusiastically shares their March Moss Study! I love seeing her images and hearing how they learned something new with this study…she always inspires me to do a better job!
Lisa from Pilgrims at Tinker Creek has gathered their Lichen Study into a wonderfully visual entry. What a great way to learn about lichen up close! Don’t miss seeing the image with the little hairs on the lichen…fascinating!
Lisa also has submitted their Moss Entry from her blog Pilgrims at Tinker Creek. What a great account of their mossy adventures this month!
Nadene from Practical Pages has submitted their Moss Study for you to view. Their South African season is perfect for their study of moss and she shares some wonderful links and their moss terrariums.Nadene also shares their Lichen entry which includes a wonderful collage of lichen found on their lichen scavenger hunt. Awesome images!
Mother Robin from Mother Robin’s Notes from the Nest has written We Like Lichens and Most Mosses for the carnival this time around. They went on a hunt for all three kinds of lichen and were successful! I enjoyed seeing a glimpse at their moss too.
Heidi from Home Schoolroom has a wonderful post for you to view: I’m Linking Lichen. She has included some additional resources for you to check out and also their nature journal page.
Rachel from Happily Occupied Homebodies shares their Moss Study and a Quartz Find with the carnival. What gorgeous colorful images she has of their moss and quartz discoveries!
Kelly from Believe shares their Week in Science which includes a study of mushrooms and lichen.
Carla from Inside Outside Michiana shares two entry this time around: Moss Walk and Nurturing Acorns-Fairies.-where she shares their mushroom study and a few other ideas too.
Mushrooms/Fungi
Alicia from Redwoods Homeschool shares their Afternoon Sketching entry with a great example of a mushroom notebook page. Alicia also has submitted their Sharing Our Mushroom Encounters for your viewing.
Alex from Life on a Canadian Island submits her Fungi on the Trail entry for you to enjoy. There is one image of a glorious fungus right at the top that is awesome. Thanks for sharing your PEI nature study.
Carla from Inside Outside Michiana had a great time with her little one and this mushroom study: Mushroom Exploration! She shares how they compared wild and store bought mushrooms on a level with her little guy. Excellent example.
Lisa from Pilgrims at Tinker Creek contributes their Bracket Fungi entry for you to read. They found some glorious fungi to observe and identify. Don’t miss the dinner plate fungus!
Nadene from Practical Pages shares their South African mushrooms with the carnival: Mushrooms. Her daughter created another wonderful collage of images for us to view and Nadene fills in with some interesting tips and facts about mushrooms.
Robin from Mother Robin’s Nature Notes submits their There’s a Fungus Among Us post for your to enjoy. She has some great close up images of a bracket fungus for you to view. You are also invited to read their Yeast is Yeast post where they work on learning more about yeast and fungus.
Carol from Journey-and-Destination shares their Outdoor Hour March entry with some colorful moss and fungus.
Makita from Academia Celestia writes and shares their Fungi and Mushrooms…Our Quest Begins entry with the carnival. It looks like they found all kinds of interesting subjects to learn about!
With winter weather leaving them still with snow and a newborn in the house, Barbara from The Schoolhouse on the Prairie resorted to some indoor study this time, including an introduction to this month’s topics: Winter or Spring?
Angie from Petra School treats all to her February Birding entry. What a treat to see all her Oregon birds! Don’t you just want to go on a field trip and see all her wonderful bird creatures? While you are over at the Petra School, check out her Learning about Pelicans entry. I love the comparing of their Oregon pelicans to my California pelicans…great stuff!
Ann from Harvest Moon by Hand submits their Outdoor Hour Nature Challenge – Squirrels entry for you to enjoy. She and her daughters always do such a great job with their nature study. Ann also has shared their Winter Birds/Bird Migration entry with the carnival. Don’t miss seeing their very well done nature journal pages! One last entry from Ann and her girls- Rabbits and Hares! This looks like they had a terrific time learning more by fostering a rabbit in their home…great idea!
Michelle from Following Footprints shares their Signs of Spring…..wonderful job, including journals.
Kris from On the 8th Day shares their early spring bird study: Here Birdie, Birdie, Birdie. They made a bluebird house!
Don’t forget to share your blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in April are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 4/29/13 and you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com or submit them at the blog carnival site (link on the sidebar of my blog).
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Who knew there were such easy to find alternatives? We had always purchased our trash bags from Costco in bulk but a quick Google Search and we had some options to look for on Amazon.com. We found an alternative to our regular plastic trash bag that is a biodegradable plastic that says it will breakdown in 
We use a small under-the-counter compost bucket for collecting our kitchen wastes. We have switched to using BioBag Food Waste Bags which are completely compostable. They are made from starches and will be consumed by micro-organisms in our soil. No fussing with these bags…we can just remove the full bag and throw the whole thing in our compost bin! No one complains about taking the compost bucket to the composter anymore.
