NOTE: You may wish to start a new year-long study this spring using some of the ideas above. Spring is a wonderful beginning so take advantage of the opportunity and season.
There are new printables for you to use with your family if you are a member of the Ultimate Naturalist or Journey level memberships. You need to log into your account and then check the “Other Releases” section for brand new printables to enjoy along with the Outdoor Hour Challenges in 2015.
I highly recommend these resources to use in your family’s nature study notebooks and will be a valuable tool in your continued nature study adventure.
Read pages 558-560 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson #153). Make sure to study the diagram so you can help your child see all the inner and outer petals of the bleeding heart blossom.
This is another week to look at garden flowers or wildflowers, especially bleeding hearts. If you have access to bleeding hearts, gather some to bring indoors for observation as suggested in the Handbook of Nature Study lesson.
If possible, observe the flowers when insects are visiting, noting the method of gathering nectar.
Advanced Study: Use the suggestions in the Handbook of Nature Study to observe carefully the bleeding heart.
Follow-Up Activity:
Reread the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study. Make sure to write a description of this flower in your nature journal with as much detail as possible.
Use watercolors or colored pencils to draw a stem with the flowers.
Join us for this series of challenges every week here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
Look for the new spring challenges to post starting April 3rd!
If you want to purchase the Spring Nature Study Continues ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Spring Nature Study Continues announcementfor more details, list of topics, and a sample.
This month I am sharing some ideas and tips from Point Reyes National Seashore. I know I usually share about a national park but the opportunity to visit a national seashore came up and we grabbed it. Here is a list of other national seashores and lakeshores.
This was my second time visiting Point Reyes but the first time was only a brief part day visit with my daughter. On this trip we arrived on a Friday and left on Sunday morning, giving us plenty of time to visit several areas of this rather large park. First stop, as usual, was the visitor center.
I loved this park’s visitor center at Bear Valley! There are so many things to enjoy and we took time to read about the natural surroundings as well as the history of this area during our visit. There were also several of the park’s trailheads located at the center’s parking lot area so we took advantage of this and hiked the short and easy loop of the Earthquake Trail.
This was a great way to learn more about the earthquake of 1906 that hit the area and devastated San Francisco. This is a short loop trail that skirts the San Andreas Fault, lined with signage that help young people (and adults) understand more about the geology of an earthquake.
After that walk, we got back in the car and drove the long way out to the lighthouse (about 45 minutes). The drive is part of the experience as you go along a narrow winding road that travels through many of the history cattle ranches of this part of the park. It was surprising at first to think we were so close to the big city and yet it seemed as if we were in a different world. There are several beaches and picnic spots along the way so if you have your lunch, you can eat at the sand! Before heading out to the lighthouse, check to make sure the stairs and visitor center are open. Right now they are only open Fridays to Mondays, but check the official website before you visit for updated information.
As a side note: The little town of Point Reyes Station (right on Hwy 1) is not far from the Bear Valley Visitor Center. It is a charming place that has a small grocery, deli, organic produce stand, and a local small cheese factory. All of these places have things to pick up to eat that will delight your taste buds. I highly recommend the Cowgirl Creamery and their Mt. Tam cheese for your picnic basket!
It is a hike down to the lighthouse and both times I have been here it has been fairly crowded in the parking lot but we managed to get a spot to park. Also, both times it was cool and foggy which adds to the experience in my opinion. Make sure to bring along a sweatshirt even if up at the visitor center it is warm and sunny. The rocks along the way are covered in magnificently colored lichen like this amazing orange lichen.
The fun part of the hike down to the lighthouse is the 300+ steps at the bottom. Fun going down but not as much fun going up. Don’t worry…there are several landings where there are benches to sit if you get winded and need to take a break.
It was whale watching time of time year at Point Reyes so we stood for a long time and several of us thought we saw a whale breaching in the distance but it never came close enough for us to really tell. Maybe it was hopeful thinking but it is a popular activity during certain timesof year to look for whales migrating on this part of the coast.
Our next stop was at Chimney Rock and viewing the elephant seals that are up on the beach at this time. We really enjoyed seeing and HEARING the elephant seals. They actually make some pretty funny sounds. They are such clumsy creatures on land but in the water they are graceful and fast! This is a must see if you are in the park during their beach visit (check at the visitor center before going over to Chimney Rock). The day we were there we could park in the parking lot but there are times that you are required to take the shuttle bus from Drake’s Beach so check on this arrangement at the visitor center too.
Here is a video that has some of the many sounds they make…excuse the visual quality…I had it zoomed in: Point Reyes Elephant Seals.
As we drove back to our campsite, the fog rolled in over the road. It was quite beautiful! There was a family of deer crossing the road in front of us and I captured this one to show you.
The second day of our visit we drove out to Tomales Point,a long drive along a narrow country road (about 35 minutes from the Bear Valley Visitor Center). It was beautiful but bumpy and with lots of curves. There were a couple of beaches that could be accessed along the road with restrooms so you could make this a day long event if you packed another lunch basket. We opted to hike part of the way out to the point and then turn around and head back. We did not make it the whole entire 9.5 mile round trip because we weren’t prepared with water and food (shame on me!).
The trail goes along a bluff overlooking the ocean. I can imagine that during the springtime this place is full of wildflowers. We hiked enough of this trail to know that someday we would like to come back and do the whole thing and allow enough time to enjoy the day.
We also were interested in seeing the herd of Tule elk that resides at Point Reyes, more specifically at Tomales Point. We were able to spy part of the herd from the road. We used our binoculars to get a closer glimpse at these beautiful mammals.
Point Reyes National Seashore is such a diverse and wonderful place to visit. I would highly recommend it to my fellow Californains and to anyone who is going to have some time in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a perfect compliment to a visit to Muir Woods National Monumentwhich I will be sharing in an up-coming month!
Other Tips:
We stayed at Olema Campground which is very near to the Bear Valley Visitor Center. Because we were there in February, we had a whole loop of the campground to ourselves. I imagine that in high season when this place is full of campers and RVers that it is not as quiet and peaceful. I still think it is a very nice alternative to getting a hotel. There are several little hotels and inns in the area (Stinson Beach, Point Reyes Station). Here is a link for nearby campgrounds.
Distance from San Francisco is approximately 34 miles, from Napa it is about 45 miles, and from Yosemite National Park it is just about 200 miles.
There is no park entrance fee.
There are no restaurants or grocery stores in the park.
There is no gas station at the park.
You can read more of my national park tips in these entries:
Here is a list of the specific challenges included in this ebook:
Spring Peepers
Jack in the Pulpit
Yellow Ladies Slipper/Yellow Adder’s Tongue
Trillium
Bluets
May Apple
Newt
Petunias
Geranium
Nasturtiums
Black Swallowtail
Crayfish
Mountain Laurel
I am happy to announce the release of the long awaitedOutdoor Hour Challenge Spring Nature Study Continues ebook! I have been so inspired to start some spring nature study while writing up these challenges for you and your families. You are going to enjoy the flowers, amphibians, and insects included in this spring series of nature study topics.
Special for this week only: Use the code SPRING5 and you will receive $5 off an Ultimate Membership!
Which edition of the Handbook of Nature Study do I need?
You will need to have a copy of the Handbook of Nature Study to use with the suggestions in the ebook. You can purchase a copy from Amazon.com or you can use an online version. The version of the Handbook of Nature Study I use is ISBN 0801493846.
Each week I will be sharing one of the challenges here on the blog which means you can follow along without a membership if you subscribe to my blog. You can subscribe by entering your email address in the subscription box at the top right of my website. After you enter your name, you will need to confirm your subscription by responding to the email that will come to your inbox.
Where Can I Get The New Ebook?
This ebook will not be sold separately but will be added to the Ultimate and Journey levelsof membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
If you are a member of the Ultimate or Journey levels here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you will find the ebook listed in your library after you log into your account. The ebook version available to members includes all of the notebook pages, coloring pages, and color images. I highly recommend purchasing a membership for all the added benefits for each and every challenge.
Special for this week only: Use the code SPRING5 and you will receive $5 off an Ultimate Membership!
Would you like a walk through my garden? We are having an early spring in our area and with that is the bursting forth of colors and leaves of all shapes. I love the garden’s treasures and each time I take a stroll I find something to enjoy. I forced some forsythia blossoms in the house this year but nothing beats the sprays of yellow that decorate the front corner of my yard. The birds love to sit in the top of the limbs and pick out the dried blackberries that share this space in the garden.
I can never remember the name of this shrub that lines the border between my neighbor’s yard and mine. It has these amazing blossoms that attract bees by the dozens. Yes, we have bees even now in the early spring. Bees in this shrub, in the rosemary, and around the opening California lilac!
The side of the house has its usual daffodils, narcissus, and bleeding hearts all making their usual appearance at the beginning of the flower season.
The pittosporum is coming alive and soon it will have its fragrant blossoms to scent the spring air.
My candytuft is full of blossoms and insects. Look closely and you will see an insect poking into the center of a flower cluster. This must be one happy little insect. The flowerbed with this plant is slowly filling in year after year with more and more of this pretty flower.
I am thinking this is a holly hock volunteering to grow in the middle of one of my garden boxes. I don’t remember planting anything in this spot last year because of our drought conditions but it sure is springing up nice and healthy so we will leave it for awhile to see what comes later in the year.
Our day lilies are pushing up their fan-shaped leaves and will soon be shooting up some flower stalks with their pastel colored flowers to come later in the summer. It is like an old friend and I welcome its appearance.
At the end of last summer, I chopped my rose bushes back with a hard pruning. They were so pitiful and ugly then and I decided anything that happened would be better than looking at those scrawny bushes that had not endured the drought very well at all. And look! They are coming back with a pretty shape and even have buds! The way it has made a comeback makes me smile.
Do these leaves look soft and fuzzy to you? In real life they are amazingly soft and this plant is such a great choice for our dry climate. I may just need to plant a few more Jerusalem sages to fill in where other plants have completely died from lack of water. This one just keeps on going!
My wallflowers were very sad at the end of last summer but now look at how many flowers and buds there are to enjoy! I love the little teeth on the leaves and the purpleness of the buds.
The birds have once again come through with some sunflower plantings. I have about six sunflowers all growing in pots on my deck which you know I will be watering through the summer.
The zinnias have self seeded in the pots again this year and I will be adding in a few more as the spring progresses. These are some of my favorite cut flowers for my kitchen table and I hope I end up with a variety of colors to enjoy.
That is a quick tour of the garden….hope it cheers you up and inspires you to start thinking about the up-coming flower season in your part of the world.
Happy garden day!
Are you ready for your spring greens? You may want to do a “spring green” nature journal.
Read pages 461-463 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson #117).
Here is a very useful page with information about the hepatica including images of the different colors: US Forest Service. It also shows the range of the hepatica.
Advanced Study Video:Hepatica. Please note I do not endorse any medicinal uses noted in this video.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Take an early spring nature walk looking for the first signs of spring and wildflowers. Hepatica will be found early in the season.
Make note of the habitat where you find the hepatica blooming.
This is a flower to study in the field, noting the leaves, buds, and blossoms.
Advanced study: Sketch the flower parts in your nature journal from direct observation.
Advanced study: Mark your hepatica plant in the woods so you can return and make summer and autumn observations. I suggest tying a string around the stem and noting in your nature journal where the plant is with a simple diagram or map.
Follow-Up Activity:
Create a nature journal entry for the hepatica. Use as much detail as you can showing the flower’s shape, color, and size. Note the habitat and the conditions in which the flower blooms. Note the date of the first flowers. Sketch the leaf.
Advanced study: Compare the hepatica and the spring beauty (or other early spring wildflower) if you have both flowers in your area. You can find images of many early spring wildflowers on this page: Spring Wildflowers.
Join us for this series of challenges every week here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
If you want to purchase the Winter Nature Study Continues ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Winter Nature Study Continues Ebook Announcement page for more details.
The Forest Unseen by David Haskell came highly recommended and I was looking forward to digging into it as part of my Nature Book Project for 2015. I wanted to like this book, giving it a chance past the first chapter that left me wondering what all the fuss was about in the reviews I read online. I read the Preface three times because I was having a hard time getting the “mandala” metaphor that he kept referring to in the chapters.
Mandala- Hindu or Buddhist symbol of the universe.
As far as my experience with this book, I will admit that I had favorite chapters. These bright spots kept me going when I was tired of trying to make all the connections he was drawing from his forest observations, philosophy, religion, and history. This book could have been better if it hadn’t tried so hard to weave it all together.
The idea of watching a spot in the forest for a complete year is one that I have long wanted to accomplish in a far larger scope than I have in the past. Our family had a tree in the woods that we observed and documented each season. Taking that idea one step farther, keeping track of the spot on a more frequent basis, appeals to me as a life project. We have loosely made observations weekly on a certain trail near our home in recent years and it has given us a sense of time that only can be experienced by seeing the concrete evidence of the passage of time and the seasons.
My advice? See if you public library has this book for you to check out and read. Dip into a few chapters after reading the preface and see what you can discover of interest to you. Note that this book is written from an evolutionist point of view.
More importantly, let the idea of this book inspire you to find your own “forest unseen” near your home. A place to visit frequently to observe the life and death that takes place there is one that will enrich your family and provide valuable life lessons.
I use is ISBN 0801493846.
