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Nature Journal Examples – June 2017

Weekly Nature Journal Project

June 2017

I’m trying to keep up my nature journal page a week goal and some weeks it is not easy. This time of year I am spending lots of time outdoors both having adventures and working in the yard. I struggle to make myself sit down and actually pull out the nature journal. But once I have it out, I am eager to make a page. Discipline!

 

Buttercup Nature Journal

This was actually done on the last day of May but it didn’t make the May blog entry. I created this as a follow up for the Poppies and Buttercups Outdoor Hour Challenge. We have plenty of buttercups in our backyard to observe so this was part of my learning more about the things we have right outside our back door. I am a huge fan of learning as much as you can about your local area’s plants and animals. Since moving, I have a lot to learn!

Pea family nature journal page

As part of my on-going self-education, I am learning about plants according to their plant family. I created a page for the pea family this month and listed the outstanding features of plants in this family as well as a list of plants I have seen in the past and want to look for in the future.

New Oregon wildflower nature journal page

Wildflowers seem to be a focus for me right now as I explore my new habitat. Three flowers made it into the journal this week: Silverleaf phacelia, Meadow forget-me-not, and Rosy pussytoes. They are all so pretty in real life.

June nature journal recap example

I keep a spiral notebook with pretty much daily notes that record anything I observe of interest. This month I decided to put the highlights from those notes on a recap page in my actual nature journal, first crating colored boxes for some visual appeal.

Once a Month Nature Journal Project @handbookofnaturestudy

Some of the page ideas this month can be found on my Once a Month Nature Journal Project Pinterest Board. Pop over and get some inspiration!

Instagram OutdoorHourChallenge

Don’t forget that I am sharing a nature journal page each week on my Instagram account if you want to see the pages as they unfold. Follow me here: Instagram – outdoorhourchallenge. And, if you want to create a page and share it on your Instagram for me to see, use the hashtag #OHCnaturejournal

 

Nature Study Notebooking Pages

Please note that I am an affiliate for NotebookingPages.com. I have used these pages with my own family over many years. They are truly a simple way to get those nature journal pages done!

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Outdoor Hour Challenge – Henbit Study

Outdoor Hour challenge henbit @handbookofnaturestudy
Image credit: Miltos Gikas

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Henbit Nature Study – Wildflower Set #2

Inside Preparation:

  • Henbit (Laminum amplexicaule) is a fairly common wildflower in North America. See the range map here: USDA Henbit.
  • You may wish to read this page: Henbit on Edible Wild Food. Please note that I do not encourage the eating of any plants covered in this ebook.
  • Use internet sources to research henbit. Ebook users look at page 7 for a list of suggestions.

Outdoor Hour Time:

Look for henbit alongside roads, in lawns, pastures, or gardens. Bloom time is early spring to late fall.

  • Observe henbit if possible but any of the related plants would be a wonderful alternative study, especially purple dead nettle. You can tell the difference between the plants by looking at the leaves. Henbit’s are heart shaped and dead nettle leaves are more triangular.
  • Make careful observations using the suggestions in this ebook if you have access to it.
  • Another name for henbit is giraffe head. Which name do you like better?

Follow-Up Activity:

  • Create a notebook page for henbit using the page provided in the ebook or in your nature journal. There is also a coloring page for henbit in the ebook.
  • Start a mint family notebook page. Keep a running list of flowers you observe and/or study in this plant family.
  • Advanced study: This website has a comparison of three similar plants that you may wish to consult: Identify That Plant. Create a nature journal page that includes descriptions of each of the featured plants: Creeping Charlie, purple dead nettle, and henbit.

 

OHC Wildflower Set 2 @handbookofnaturestudy

How do you get the new Wildflower Nature Study ebook?

Members of the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey levels have access to the new ebook in their library. You need to click the “Members Area” button at the top of the website, sign into your account, and the ebook is there to download and save for your family to use when desired. If you don’t have a membership yet, I am offering a $5 off discount code that will be good towards your Ultimate Naturalist membership.

Discount Code: Wildflower5

 

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Outdoor Hour Challenge – Wildflower Study Set #2

OHC Wildflower Set 2 @handbookofnaturestudy
Ultimate and Journey Level members can click this graphic to go directly to the library to download a copy of this new ebook. Make sure you are logged in and if you are having trouble with your password, please leave me a comment or send me a direct email to receive my assistance. Email: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Wildflower Nature Study Set #2

  • This 43 page digital ebook has 5 challenges and supplemental activities that will help you learn about some common wildflowers.
  • There are custom notebooking pages for each of the five wildflowers featured. In addition, there is a general notebook page for recording information for each of the plant families introduced in this ebook. There is also a page for use with any summer flower study.
  • I have included two wildflower related activities from the archives: Wildflower Photo Hunt and the Wildflower Big Grid Study.
  • Four coloring pages
  • There is enough material in this ebook to provide 5 weeks of wildflower study or more depending on how long you take to complete each challenge.
  • One of the resources in this ebook is a chart that coordinates each study with the Botany in a Day book.
  • Sample: Print an ebook sample here:OHC Wildflower Nature Study Set 2 Sample

Here are the specific flowers included in this ebook:

  • Henbit ( Mint Family)
  • Cow Parsnip (Parsley Family)
  • Columbine (Buttercup Family)
  • Chicory (Aster Family)
  • Cocklebur (Aster Family)

Note: If you don’t have the specific wildflowers listed above in your area, there are suggestions for studying an alternative flower or you can focus on the plant family instead. This ebook will work no matter where you live if you want to just focus on the plant families and use a local field guide to look for flowers you can observe during a nature walk in your own habitat.

Outdoor Hour Challenge Wildflower Set 1 Ebook

How do you get the new Wildflower Nature Study ebook?

Members of the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey levels have access to the new ebook in their library. You need to click the “Members Area” button at the top of the website, sign into your account, and the ebook is there to download and save for your family to use when desired.

 

Ultimate Naturalist Library June 2016 @handbookofnaturestudy

If you don’t have a membership yet, I am offering a $5 off discount code that will be good towards your Ultimate Naturalist membership.

Discount Code: Wildflower5

Outdoor Hour Challenge Wildflower Ebook two promo button

How To Get Started With This New Ebook!

Make sure you have a membership to the Handbook of Nature Study website! Click the Purchase Now button above or the Join Us button on the website. If you don’t already have a membership, use the discount code above for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Membership. If you are a member, sign in to your library and download the book.

You may wish to subscribe to the Handbook of Nature Study blog so you can receive the prompts in your email box each Friday. Also, subscribers receive my free monthly nature study newsletter on the first of every month. It is full of nature study encouragement, activities, and printables.

Handbook of Nature Study Subscribe Now

 

 

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Outdoor Hour Challenge – Summer Clover

Outdoor Hour Challenge Crop Plants Clover @handbookofnaturestudy

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Clover – Crop Plants

From the archives and in the Crop Plants ebook

 

Sometimes the best nature study subjects are those that are found right under our noses. Clover can be just one of those things! It grows amongst our grass and alongside our hiking trails, most of the time unnoticed by us in our busy lives.

Follow the inspiration of the bee and spy some clover this week to look at up close and personal. It is usually a plant found in abundance so go ahead and pick a few flowers to take inside for careful observation.

Use the suggestions in the Outdoor Hour Challenge for clover to get to know this plant better. As a more advanced study, learn more about the pea family of plants

You are welcome to take a look at our clover study done in the past: Clover in Our Grass.

 

OHC Wildflower Set 2 @handbookofnaturestudy

Coming next week is the brand new Outdoor Hour Challenge Wildflower Set #2 ebook! Read more about it here: New Ebook Coming Soon.

Note these are affiliate links to products I love!
Wildflowers, Weeds, & Garden Flowers Notebooking PagesNature Study Notebooking Pages

Download a FREE sample of A-Z Animal Notebooking Pages from NotebookingPages.com.

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Smith Rock State Park – Tips and Images

Smith Rock State Park Oregon tips and images @handbookofnaturestudy

Smith Rock State Park

Terrebonne, Oregon

 

This is an amazing place to visit if you’re ever in the Bend, Oregon area. We had a free day when our daughter was visiting from New York and we were searching for a place to do some day hiking. Smith Rock State Park isn’t far from our new house so we packed up some lunches and water and set off fairly early on a Saturday morning. The weather was sunny and warm so lots of other people had the same idea of getting outside to enjoy the day.

The parking lot was nearly full but we did manage to score a slot in the grassy area. There is a day use fee of $5 that you can pay at the self-serve station in the parking area.

Here is a link to the home page for Smith Rock State Park.

Smith Rock State Park @handbookofnaturestudy

We visited the information center before choosing our hike. We were hoping to find a trail that took us along the river and where we could get a good look at the canyon. The ranger showed us just the right trail! You can check out the brochure before visiting: Climbing and Trail Guide.

Smith Rock State Park @handbookofnaturestudy

Not only did we hike down to the river and then alongside it, we were able to see a lot of people rock climbing just off the path. According to the website and brochure, there are over 1,000 climbing routes at Smith Rock. We observed people of all ages climbing up the steep rocks using ropes. I’m not at all interested in rock climbing but it was a treat to stop a few times and watch the truly amazing things people can accomplish as they spider their way up the rocks.

Smith Rock State Park @handbookofnaturestudy
Flax

I love wildflowers and now that we are in our new habitat, I can start learning about the flowers that are found here. The flower above is Lewis flax. Isn’t it an amazing color? Since spying this at Smith Rock, I realized there is a patch just around the corner from my house so I’ve been better able to study it up close since this initial discovery.

Smith Rock State Park @handbookofnaturestudy

It was actually quite warm in the sun as we hiked but the sound of water in the river made it much more bearable. Our dog took several opportunities to jump in and swim to cool off.

We had a picnic sitting on a rock when we found a viewpoint about a mile and a half down the trail. We watched a duck pair and their babies as they paddled in a small eddy along the river. Earlier we were able to get a good look at an eagle, its nest and its baby. There was a ranger with a spotting scope that shared this incredible sight with us. He was there all day…we know because we saw him on the way in and then on our way back. What a great opportunity for so many hikers to see the eagles thanks to this patient ranger.

Smith Rock State Park @handbookofnaturestudy

We all declared this a fantastic hike and we look forward to doing it again soon! My daughter even said it’s in her top favorite places to hike now, which made me so glad that we made the effort to get out and do this hike together.

Smith Rock State Park @handbookofnaturestudy

I love living in Oregon!

 

You can read more about our Oregon State Park adventures in this entry:

Posts from Other Oregon Parks

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Wildflower Series Set #2 Coming Soon!

 

OHC Wildflower Set 2 @handbookofnaturestudy

Outdoor Hour Challenge Wildflower Nature Study Set #2

Don’t miss the special promotion code at the bottom of this email!

It’s time for a new set of wildflower challenges! I have been busy working on a brand new set of five wildflower challenges to post over the next few months. I will have the ebook ready by 6/20/17.

Please note the notebooking pages will only be available to ebook users and the ebook will be available for those that have an Ultimate or Journey level membership.

Wildflowers Included in Set #2

  • Henbit
  • Cow Parsnip
  • Columbine
  • Chicory
  • Cocklebur

This new ebook will be loaded into the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level memberships soon!

Ultimate Naturalist Library @handbookofnaturestudy

If you aren’t a member yet, you still have time to join and have immediate access as soon as it publishes.

As a special promo, you can use the discount code WILDFLOWER5 for $5 off the Ultimate Naturalist Membership.

Handbook of Nature Study Ultimate Naturalist Membership

Join us later in June for this exciting series of nature study challenges!

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Rosemary Herb Study

 

Outdoor Hour Challenge Rosemary Herb Study @handbookofnaturestudy

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Herb Study – Rosemary

Rosemary is a popular culinary herb in the mint family and is used in many common dishes. It is also used for herbal sachets, soaps, creams and lotions. In many areas, it’s a particularly popular landscape plant that is drought resistant.

Inside Preparation:

  • This evergreen perennial shrub has opposite, leathery, narrow needle-like leaves. The leaves are dark green on top and downy white on the bottom. There is a prominent vein that runs down the middle of the leaf. The stem is woody.  The fragrance is pungent and slightly pine-like.
  • The blossoms are pale blue and about a half inch long.
  • Read more about the mint family of plants here: Mint Family – Lamiaceae

Rosemary leaves

Outdoor Time:

Observe your rosemary plant using all your senses.

  • Touch- What do the leaves feel like? How would you describe the stem? Is the stem square?
  • Fragrance- Smell the leaves. Crush some leaves and see if you can tell the difference. Do the flowers have a fragrance?
  • Sight- How tall is the plant? How wide is your plant? Use your best description for the colors, shapes and sizes for your rosemary.
  • Taste- Taste the fresh leaves and then bring in some leaves to dry. Does the dry rosemary taste differently than the fresh?
  • Are there insects in your rosemary? Common insects are the honeybee and the spittle bug. See my entry showing spittle bugs on my rosemary: Up Close Insect Observations.
  • Does the plant grow mostly upward or outward?

 

Rosemary flower shape

Follow Up:

  • Create a nature journal entry for your rosemary plant. For beginners, keep it simple and include a sketch of your rosemary plant and a caption.   There is a new notebook page for members here on the Handbook of Nature Study: Herb Study-Rosemary. Look for it in your Ultimate and Journey level memberships.
  • Bring a sprig or two inside for your nature table. If you have a mortar and pestle, let your children grind up the rosemary and have them describe the fragrance.
  • Advanced study: Create a nature journal page to record the many uses of rosemary. More advanced students can include a sketch of the stem, leaf, and flower. Here is a link for your research: Uses and Benefits of Rosemary.

Long term project: Potted Rosemary can be a long term garden project for even a young child. Look for a small rosemary plant at your local garden nursery. Rosemary likes lots of sun so find a sunny windowsill if you are not planting it outdoors.

 

Rosemary propagation from cutting

  • Rosemary can take a bit of snow but it doesn’t do well where it has long days of cold and/or freezing. Rosemary is usually grown from a cutting and not from seeds. Here is some information on growing rosemary from a cutting: How to Propagate Rosemary (with images).

Recipes to Try:

 

 

Outdoor Hour Challenge Wildflower Set 1 EbookHow do you get the new Wildflower Nature Study ebook?

  • Members of the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey levels have access to the new ebook in their library. You need to click the “Members Area” button at the top of the website, sign into your account, and the ebook is there to download and save for your family to use when desired. If you don’t have a membership yet, I am offering a $5 off discount code that will be good towards your Ultimate Naturalist membership.
  • Discount Code: Wildflower5
  • Mid-June Set #2 will be added to the members library and we will be working our way through Set #2 over this summer. Look for a post soon that will give all the details of this new ebook. In the meantime, you are welcome to use Set #1 as you come into contact with the wildflowers included in it.

 

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Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter – June 2017 Garden Crops

HNS Newsletter June 2017 coverHandbook of Nature Study Newsletter

June 2017 Garden Crops

 

Please read the following explanation outlining how to get this month’s newsletter.

The newsletter link is not in this email but will come separately. Members should have received their link already.

If you don’t receive the separate email with the download link, you probably aren’t subscribed to the blog yet. This will take less than a minute to do if you follow the steps below.

If you are a subscriber and you haven’t received your newsletter email yet, check your SPAM inbox. Some subscribers have found the email buried in SPAM inbox.

Handbook of Nature Study Subscribe Now

If you need to subscribe:

  • You will need to go to the Handbook of Nature Study, look to the top right corner for the box to type in your preferred email address, and then confirm the email that comes to your email inbox.
  • Once you subscribe, you will receive a thank you email from me with the download link for the current month’s newsletter.

This month’s newsletter link will be available only during the month of May so be sure to download it before 6/30/17.

Remember! All of the archived and current newsletters are available as part of the Ultimate Naturalist Library…every level!

Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter June 2017

Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:

  • This month’s newsletter has the theme of “garden crops”. I have included some fun and simple ways to complete some nature study in your garden.
  • I have written a new garden nature study idea that anyone can do with their children. It is a simple comparison of three seeds and then growing those seeds in a pot.
  • There is a chart outlining all of the crop plants that have Outdoor Hour Challenges in the archives.
  • As always, there is a planning page with simple to use ideas including a crop plant grid study from the archives.

Resources for your Nature Library: I have started to build a nature library store on Amazon that will feature by category my favorite nature study books and resources. Take a look and see if there is anything you would like to put on your wish list for your family’s nature study library: Handbook of Nature Study Nature Library Suggestions on Amazon.com. Note this is my affiliate store to items I personally recommend and have read or seen in person.

Please note that Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level members have access to members only printables each month in addition to the newsletter printables. You will need to log into your account and then go to the “Other Releases” section.

 

Outdoor Hour Challenge Wildflower Set 1 Ebook

Wildflower Set #1 is found in the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level memberships.

PLUS there will be a new Wildflower set coming out sometime near the middle of June if you are interested in using that for your summer nature study. I will be making an announcement with details in the next week about this Set #2!

Ultimate Naturalist Library Benefits by Level June 2016

As a special promo, you can use the discount code WILDFLOWER5 for $5 off the Ultimate Naturalist Membership.

Handbook of Nature Study Ultimate Naturalist Membership

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New Printables for Members – Rosemary and 3 Seed Project

Handbook of Nature Study Printable June 2017

New this month in the Member’s Library!

1. Rosemary Study Notebook Page – Use this page for your up-coming rosemary study. Watch for it in the month of June!

2. Seed Comparison – Use this notebook page along with the June 2017 newsletter activity idea for comparing three seeds, planting the seeds, and then watching them grow.

 

 

Printables for Members Button
Please note that Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level members have access to members only printables each month in addition to the newsletter printables. You will need to log into your account and then go to the “Other Releases” section. You can download a complete list of printables available to members here:

Handbook of Nature Study Members Only Printables List May 29 2017

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Nature Journal Examples – May 2017

Weekly Nature Journal Project

May 2017

 

It was a mad rush at the end of April and the beginning of May to get our house packed up and ready to move 450 miles north to our new Oregon river house. I made time to purposefully enjoy our California yard those last few days. It was important to me to write some last thoughts about the amazing front yard habitat we had built to encourage wildlife even in our small little space.

Nature Journal May 1 last CA entry @handbookofnaturestudy

This is the two page spread I completed to put those memories in my nature journal.

IMG_9155

We had four days of being homeless and we spent those days at La Pine State Park camping. It was a fun family time that made the page special as I recorded some of the highlights of those few days together at the Deschutes River.

Nature Journal view from OR house @handbookofnaturestudy

At last we were in the new house! The house feature that stops everyone in their tracks is the rather large window looking from the family room out to the river… the view! It was a perfect first Oregon river house page.

Tree swallow nature journal @handbookofnaturestudy

There are many birds to observe and learn about in our new place. The first bird to make it in my nature journal is the tree swallow. It has quickly become a new favorite bird as it swoops and glides right by my windows in search of flying insects to eat. I have been caught just standing and watching the swallows when I should have been doing something else but I can’t help it. They are so beautiful and graceful.

 

I love keeping my memories in my nature journal.

Instagram OutdoorHourChallenge

 

Don’t forget that I am sharing a nature journal page each week on my Instagram account if you want to see the pages as they unfold. Follow me here: Instagram – outdoorhourchallenge. And, if you want to create a page and share it on your Instagram for me to see, use the hashtag #OHCnaturejournal