So….when Mr. A was spending all that time down in the shop over the past few weeks I thought he was working on his mini bike. Turns out he was creating a surprise for this garden loving mama.
We have a spot in the front yard that I have been saving for some garden art but so far I hadn’t found anything I liked. Using his welding skills, his amazing creative eye, and a lot of hard work, Mr. A designed and then made this sunflower art and then while I was out for a walk, placed it in the garden. (Mr. A is my eighteen year old son….in case you are new to the blog.)
It is about five feet tall and is now securing situated in the rock garden area on the top terrace of my front yard. I can see it from my living room window which is really the best angle for seeing it. Didn’t he do an amazing job?
The rest of the front yard has become an amazing palette of color and every corner is now filling in with living things. The hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies are always flying here and there among the blossoms. The bees are even up in the blossoming tulip poplar tree.
I am enjoying the sage this year…I think it is the shape and the delicate flowers. Or maybe it is the scent of sage that sort of lingers in the air after you walk by.
We haven’t added anything new this week to the garden but the Lamb’s Ear that I am trying in the rock garden is growing and filling in the space I have. My friend warned me that it will take over but I am confident that the rocks will contain it or in the end I can thin it as needed. You can see the poppies in this image too…they are being left until they go to seed so we can have a bumper crop of springtime poppies next year.
Our time this week in the garden was spent trimming bushes on the side of the house, cutting back the neighbor’s blackberry vines from the fence line, and a bit of weeding around the bottoms of the bird feeders.
Now is such an exciting time in the garden. My focus this year has shifted from veggies to flowers since we have an amazing Farmer’s Market where I can glean as much fresh stuff as our family needs without all the fussing. I may go back to growing lots of veggies in the future but for now it is nice just to enjoy the colors and shapes of the flowers. (I do have a few staples in the back square foot garden but not much more than herbs, zucchini, okra, and a tomato.)
Sigh…I love this time of year.
Jami’s Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!
My garden is full of promise…the promise of beautiful things to look at and delicious things to eat.
The daisies are filling in a big spot in the back cutting garden and we are anxious to study them as part of the Outdoor Hour Challenge later in the summer. There are coneflowers, sunflowers, and zinnias as well that have buds so stay tuned for some updates on those in a few weeks.
Some things are already smelling like heaven…the star jasmine is in full bloom and already needed a trimming back from the sidewalk. The cats lay under these plants since they make wonderful shade in the afternoon sun. Wouldn’t that be delightful?
Last week when I was working with the window open I could smell this rose on the gentle afternoon breeze. It is a Disneyland Rose and it has been a faithful bloomer these past few years. It is loaded with pink/peach flowers. This rose is what I imagine the perfect rose fragrance would be…a signature scent.
The hydrangeas are bursting open this week and the delicate color of the flowers on this particular bush is one of my favorites.
A few years ago, I used my watercolor pencils to capture the pastel colors of this lovely flower and then used a fine tip marker to outline it a bit. Keeping track of my favorite garden flowers in my journal is a wonderful way to pass an afternoon.
This is something new in the backyard this year and it is really taking off. We added this Jerusalem Sage to a spot that gets super hot and dry in the afternoons up against the house. So far it is thriving…I did put it on the drip system until it is established and then I think I can back off with the water. The texture of the leaves is soft and fuzzy which adds a nice layer of interest to this side of the garden.
The front yard has been joined by the blooming purple butterfly bush! The hummingbirds have been seen enjoying this particular bush…actually fighting over it in the early evening hours. My cat friend Cocoa is like my garden shadow these days. She seems to pop up wherever I go. You can see my sage growing in two spots in the background of this photo. It is just starting to bloom.
Another favorite of the hummingbirds is the Red Hot Poker plant. This is Mr. A’s favorite plant in the garden and he has been eagerly waiting for it to bloom. It looks good this year and I may end up dividing up the plant in the late fall to fill in a few spaces in the front garden.
We have started to see quite a bit of growth in our backyard fruit. The apples are looking like apples! Not too many apples on the limbs but enough for each of us to enjoy a crisp apple come the end of the summer.
Someone asked in a comment a few weeks ago whether we had any lawn left in our yard. The answer is yes and you can see it in this photo. We have a small plot of grass left in the backyard, mostly for the dog to enjoy. We use it as her ball throwing spot and she loves to lay in the shady grass on the hot afternoons. Since it gets so hot here and there is very little rain during the summer months, we do have to water this part of the yard. I have it set on a timer and it waters five minutes a day and so far that is enough to keep it green. (I need to write a post showing how we have cut our water usage to a fraction of what it was two years ago and still enjoy a lush green garden.)
Of course the figs are loaded as usual….this is not my favorite fruit but we eat a bit and then leave the rest for the birds and other critters. We have tried several times to eliminate this tree but every time we cut it down it comes back full and loaded with fruit within a year.
I do LOVE blackberries and we have our little patch just loaded with blossoms right now. This is exciting and it really seems like summer now that the berries are maturing. My blueberries are still all plant and no signs of blossoms or berries. I hope to get a bit of fruit from them this year. We shall see.
We have rain today so the garden is getting well watered but tomorrow we are going to see the end of the rain and be back to our warm temperatures. I am grateful for the rain but I am ready for the summer heat.
The June (Ocean Beach) edition of the Outdoor Hour Challenge Newsletter has published. You must be subscribed to the blog in order to receive the download link. It is a beautiful and informative edition that I know you are going to want to have in your collection. You can subscribe on the sidebar of my blog.
Jami’s Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!
Completing a nature journal and then looking back over all the finished pages gives me such a sense of contentment.
The journal is built page by page with thoughts and information from my outdoor time, each entry personalized and precious.
The trouble is that I use generic sketchbooks for my nature journal and the covers are not all that attractive. This is my new journal and it doesn’t inspire much creativity.
How to Make a Personalized Nature Journal Cover with Watercolors
1. Take watercolor paper and cut it to cover the front of the journal.
2. Watercolor the paper, let it dry, and then adhere it to the front cover with double backed tape or glue.
Tip: I ended up using both tape and glue and then wrapping rubber bands around it until it dried.
3. Paint a title or other embellishments onto a separate sheet of watercolor paper and then let them dry.
4. Cut around the embellishments and adhere with tape or glue to the water colored cover.
Here is one last view of my very full nature journal. Look at all those memories filling it up!
I think the last step for me before I put this up on the shelf with all my other nature journals is to tie a ribbon around it just to keep it all together and to look pretty.
This is a perfect project for a warm summer’s afternoon when you feel like playing with watercolors.
I would love to see your covers…send me a link in an email!
Supporting a Global Community in Their Nature Study
June 2012 Edition: Ocean Beach
The Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter is a companion to the Outdoor Hour Challenges that are posted here on the blog every Friday. In this issue there are special printable activities and a notebook page, additional links and ideas, as well as three contributed articles with wonderful ideas for your family to use at the ocean. I invite everyone to subscribe and get the newsletter each month in your inbox.
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 June. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can still subscribe and receive the newsletter 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.
Make sure to click and save the newsletter link from the email for future reference.
If you have trouble getting the newsletter to download, try right clicking the link, save the link, and then open it. (The link is in the email and not in this blog post.) I am not going to be archiving the newsletters at this point. You will need to SAVE the FILE on your computer each month if you want to save back issues.
Most of you already know that the latest ebook in the More Nature Study series has been published but I will add a reminder here in this post that the first official challenge of the summer from this ebook will post on Friday, June 8, 2012.
Here we are again at another end of the month Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. This month brought many of us to the real meat of our spring time weather….colors, growing things, new beginnings. Nothing is more encouraging than seeing the season change, knowing soon that summer will be upon us.
The new More Nature Study Book #4 Summer Sizzle ebook is ready for you to purchase or you can wait until June 8, 2012 and you can see the first challenge. I wrote this ebook with summer vacations in mind and with some extra ideas for simple summertime nature study right in your own backyard.
Extraordinary in the Ordinary
Spring Peepers from the Beery Family – They discovered and recorded a spring peeper! Pop over and listen to the short video. Do you have spring peepers in your area?
Low Tide Object from Angie at Petra School – This family was determined to find something extraordinary during their low tide adventure. I think they succeeded and were rewarded with learning about something new right in their own local area.
Ordinary and Extra-Ordinary: Nature’s Timing from Kris at On the 8th Day – They had several insect visitors come their way…they used the opportunity to find the extraordinary in their ordinary day during a dog walk. They even followed up with a nature journal entry. Welcome to the carnival!
Extraordinary in the Ordinary from Tricia at Hodgepodge – The Hodgepodge family always does a good job of finding the extraordinary in their own backyard. This entry does not disappoint the reader with its colors and textures found right outside their door.
Fern Study (learning how much I still don’t know) from Amy at Hope is the Word -This is a great example of how to adjust your nature study to your circumstances, how to apply what you read in the Handbook of Nature Study, and then follow-up with a creative nature journal entry. Thanks for sharing your fern study with the carnival Amy.
Garden Snails
Slug and Snail Study from Crafty Cristy – They have made an extended study of slugs and have observed and learned a lot. I love the way they are following the interests of the children.
Pretty Petunias from Wendy at Loving Learning – They are joining the carnival with their petunia study using the Handbook of Nature Study. Excellent job and they even followed-up with a nature journal sketch. Thanks for joining us from South Africa!
OHC – The Meadow Buttercup from Shirley Ann at Under An English Sky – What a treat to see their buttecups! Shirley Ann shares her thoughts about the Handbook of Nature Study in this very encouraging entry.
Nature Study – Crows from Jamie at See Jamie Blog – They had a perfect opportunity to learn more about something right in their very own yard. A snake and a crow were the featured attractions! I love the way they seized the opportunity to complete an Outdoor Hour Challenge and some follow-up notebook pages.
Outdoor Hour Challenge Pileated Woodpeckers from Janet at Discovering Nature – They discovered a wood pecker nest back in April and have been watching the progress. Wonderful images of parents and babies!
May Nature Notes from Amy at Hope is the Word – They have adapted their nature study this month to fit their family’s circumstances. What a smart idea to go with color themed scavenger hunts outdoors. Beautiful images!
Make sure to subscribe to this blog so you will receive the download link for the monthly newsletter. The Outdoor Hour Challenge June 2012 Newsletter is themed: Ocean Beach. There are so many practical ideas for including a little nature study when you visit the sandy beach this summer!
The newsletter link will be available in tomorrow’s post and in every blog entry for the month of June. You need to subscribe using the subscription box on the sidebar of my blog in order to receive the link in your next email blog entry from me.
Have you seen the new bundle? If you are new to the Outdoor Hour Challenge my Four Seasons Bundle and my More Nature Study Bundle will give you lots to work with!Click the buttons and read more about these specially discounted bundles of nature study ebooks.
Every reader of the Handbook of Nature Study (the book) knows who Anna Botsford Comstock is….the esteemed author of our nature study guide and lessons. She wrote the words that have touched my personal life in such a profound way, changing how we view the world in our own backyard. She may have touched your life in a similar way through the pages of the Handbook of Nature Study as you worked through the Outdoor Hour Challenges.
When the opportunity was offered to me a few years ago to visit and actually stay at her cottage in New York outside Ithaca, I wasn’t able to make the trip at that time. It was on my mind a lot through the years so when a last minute trip involved traveling in New York came up last month, I immediately contacted the family that now owns the cottage to see if it was available during our visit. It was! We made arrangements to stay for three days in the cottage that Anna and Henry Comstock built on the shore of Lake Cayuga.
” During the fall of 1906, we were making habitable The Hermitage, our summer cottage on Cayuga Lake. We put a large window in the living room which gave us a wide view of the lake. This room was given a hardwood floor and was ceiled, to make it warm. Here we set up the wood stove that had been in my mother’s parlor when I was a child. It had a grate and in the evenings we opened up its front doors; this made it as cheerful as a fireplace.” Anna Botsford Comstock
It was just like I imagined it…set in the woods, right near the water’s edge. The birds, flowers, and trees were those that Anna wrote about in her books. It was warm and cozy and somehow familiar.
We sat on the porch and enjoyed the sounds of the woods. The lake glistened as the sunset on that first day. I climbed into bed and thought how it must have been there over a hundred years ago when the Comstocks first built the cottage.
“Harry and I spent weekends there, and on each trip he would walk the mile and a half from Taughannock Station to The Hermitage, carrying on his back a basket filled with materials for fixing the house.The labor my husband performed in and about this place was remarkable.” Anna Botsford Comstock
The next morning I was up early for a walk in the woods. I ventured out alone for the first hike and as I stepped off the porch I heard birdsong and glimpsed a young deer sneaking across the road into a thicket of bushes. The woods woke up as I hiked up the trail and my eyes were trying hard to take in all the sights.
The green of the new spring leaves, the thin trunks of the trees, the rustlings of birds and the cry of the mourning doves. These were Anna’s woods. This was the place that helped inspire her to share her love of nature with teachers and children, bringing them into a relationship with common everyday things in their world.
There was teasel by the trail…new to me in person but familiar through the pages of the Handbook of Nature Study. Advanced preparation does work…I recognized it right away and remember that she had called it ” a plant in armor”.
“He added paths and built a fine wharf and a double-decked boat house, in the upper part of which we swung our hammocks, and from which we enjoyed the glory of many sunsets. The Hermitage was always a place where work was play; we dumped our cares at the Ithaca station when we left, but they were always waiting to jump at us on our return.” Anna Botsford Comstock
I made my way back to the cottage and by this time the boys were up and ready for the day. My husband and Mr. A took out the canoe onto the morning smooth water of the lake. Exploring a new place by water…leaving their cares behind as they paddled across the surface of the lake in the early morning sunrise.
Mr. B and I decided to take another hike through the woods and this time we noticed the wildflowers. These were the wildflowers of Anna’s books…the ones we don’t have in California.
The whole weekend was filled with the opening of eyes and hearts to a magical place, gently teaching us the way of the New York woods in which we found ourselves. One day it rained and we watched the drops fall from our dry spot on the porch. The fragrance of the wet woods was delightful…different than our Northern California woods. The rain stopped and we grilled dinner on the stone fire pit down by the water. We skipped rocks, sat and watched the fisherman go by on their little boats, and we shed our cares, refreshed.
At the end of the weekend, we had made many entries into our nature journals, took lots of photos, and made some memories of our own at this lakeside cottage.
We will always remember our weekend spent on Lake Cayuga at the Comstock’s beloved Hermitage Cottage. Special thanks to Christiana and Alison who graciously opened up their family cottage to our family, making this trip to New York even more special.
I hope my readers enjoyed glimpsing our weekend….we all need to remember to build in our families a rich heritage of outdoor experiences. Who knows who it will touch in the future?
Next time I will share our day at Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology and Sapsucker Woods! More connections were made to the Handbook of Nature Study.
More Nature Study Book #4 – Summer Sizzle is the last ebook in the More Nature Study ebook series. This completes the cycle of seasons using the Handbook of Nature Study with options for more advanced study of the world in your own backyard. Families have found it easy to offer nature study from their youngest to their oldest children using this series of nature study plans. My own family has greatly enjoyed having the options to bump up the simple plans to a more in-depth study when we came across a topic that interested us.
The challenges in More Nature Study Book #4 cover a variety of topics and I have done my very best to allow for differences in habitat and availability of subjects. You will always be able to adapt each specific challenge to fit a broad range within that topic. For example, when the topic is the Cottonwood Tree, I give suggestions for choosing another summer tree in your own neighborhood if you do not have a Cottonwood to observe up close.
I know summer nature study tends to be more relaxed so I have included simple follow-up activity options that will enhance and support your outdoor time. When you study the Cottonwood, one of the suggestions is to eat a snack or meal in the shade of a backyard tree. The rock study encourages you to complete some simple follow-up projects using rocks. You are going to find the challenges in the More Nature Study Book #4 a wonderful supplement to many of your family’s outdoor activities.
The challenges in this ebook will be posting on the Handbook of Nature Study blog starting on June 8, 2012. They will continue for ten weeks and finish on August 10, 2012. Of course, you are welcome to complete the challenges in any order and then submit your blog entries to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. See the Blog Carnival button on the sidebar of my blog. Outdoor Hour Challenge: More Nature Study Ebook #4 – Summer 2012 Summer Sizzle
Ten challenges using the Handbook of Nature Study. See a list of topics and a Sample Challenge.
15 regular notebook pages and 12 coloring pages
18 additional upper level notebook pages for advanced or experienced students
10 Charlotte Mason style exam questions
Complete list of supplies needed (nothing fancy or expensive)
Detailed instructions for each challenge, with links (including YouTube videos) and printables
Nature journal suggestions and examples
Special Bonus Features! Summer Photo Challenge and Summer Sunflower Grid Study!
All the challenges will coordinate with the June through August 2012 Outdoor Hour Challenge Newsletters
Alternate ideas to adapt the challenges to your local area
Our world is full of vines…I never noticed how many vines there are in our neighborhood until we focused on vines for the past few weeks during our outdoor time. The vine above is a Common sulphur pea that grows wild in our area and is a native plant. I always just call them sweet peas. These are growing on our hiking trail and they don’t bloom very long since they are on the sunny dry side of the trail. They are a delight while they last.
Blackberry vines – This tangle is right alongside our walking trail. They don’t get a lot of water here on the dry side of the hill so they aren’t very sweet and plump. The wild critters benefit from these patches of blackberries.
I think these are Himalayan blackberries and are an invasive species in our part of the world. I have them in my yard…creeping in wherever I don’t whack them back or chomp them down. I keep a very small manageable patch in my front yard for the birds and for my own early morning picking pleasure in the summer. Nothing like a freshly picked, sun-warmed blackberry for your breakfast.
Sweet peas – These are the purple-pink sweet peas that grow wild alongside the walking trail. They come back year after year. I am cultivating a nice patch of them in my backyard, hoping they will fill in a spot with their brightly colored flowers. We read in the Handbook of Nature Study that studying the sweet pea should be a garden lesson so we will save it for the summer. (We did a previous sweet pea study and you can read it here along with my little video.)
English ivy – This is a vine that grows over and through our fence from our neighbor’s yard. We spend quite a bit of time cutting it back since we really don’t want ivy taking over our yard. It is pretty and green but that is about all I can say nice about it.
Hedge bind weed – We have this growing under our birdfeeder. We are watching it grow and then in a few weeks after it has bloomed we will pull it all out. (I am keeping just a few of the hedge bindweed plants on the advice of a fellow gardener who told me it could quickly take over.) We did a previous study of this plant here: Hedge Bindweed if you want to take a look.
Vetch – This was the plant that led to a complete afternoon of study. We actually have two varieties of vetch along our hiking trail. The one above is Hairy vetch and then we also have Spring vetch.
The spring vetch almost looks like a small sweet pea (same family, different genus). It took some time to find information on these two vetches because neither plant was in our wildflowers field guide. I presume this is because they are non-native plants. We found this interesting because these two plants are seen everywhere in our area. I have started keeping track in my nature journal of native vs. non-native plants…interesting exercise.
We decided we needed to keep this as an on-going nature study and we will be watching as the hedge bindweed and sweet peas in our garden as they mature over the next few weeks. We have had fun noticing if plants twine in clockwise or counter clockwise directions. It becomes sort of an obsession. Keeping a focus always adds an enjoyable layer to our outdoor time and nature study.
Don’t forget to share your Outdoor Hour Challenge blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in May are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 5/30/12 and you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com.
I really like to play with watercolors in my nature journal…it is a wonderful way to brighten up a rather ordinary idea for a journal page.
I try to periodically record random thoughts and ideas in my nature journal….keeping a record of what activities we have been doing or things we have observed that don’t necessarily merit a whole journal page. Lists are an easy nature journal technique and even the most beginning of journalers can do a list.
So combining both ideas into this Watercolor Block Nature Journal suggestion seemed the perfect blend of color and simplicity.
Start by using your favorite watercolors. When I want to be super fast, I pull out my Prang Semi-Moist Watercolors. I also recommend using a larger flat brush which makes it easy to make big splotches of color.
Freehand some color blocks using colors to match your particular season or subject. Make some blocks tall and some wide. You don’t have to put as many blocks as I did if you want to make it even simpler or if you are doing this activity with a young child.
Let the page dry and then record your thoughts. I use Prismacolor Markers in my nature journal (I wrote a review of these markers HERE). I made sure to use one of the color blocks for the month and year. You could even sketch something in one of the blocks if you want to since this is your nature journal. I love to do make some doodle-style frames for my color blocks with swirls, dots, and dashes. Be creative and have some fun!
Note:
If you are reading this in a reader or an email, the Amazon links for the watercolors and Prismacolor Markers may not show below. You will need to click over to the blog to see which ones I use.
