Every now and then I remember that I have a particular plant or tree to research and the California hoptree is one such subject (Ptelea crenulata). I hike past it with great regularity and note its stages of development through the cycle of the seasons. But, even with its interesting circular fruits, I often fail to take a photo and look up more information on this plant.
In researching the hoptree, I found that it is a member of the citrus family (Rutaceae) which is distinguished by its aromatic gland-dotted leaves. The hoptree that we have alongside our canyon trail is more like a shrub and my field guide says it can be from 6 ft to 16 feet in height. I would estimate that our tree is about 6-8 feet tall and almost completely surrounded by blackberry vines which makes it hard to determine where the hoptree ends and the vines begin.
The California hoptree became the topic of my Once a Month Nature Journal Project for January. I used one current photo and one from my archives showing the features of my winter observations. I pulled out my field guides and looked online for information to include on my page. Creating a simple journal page pulls all the information together both on the page and in my mind. Next time I hike past this tree I will slow down to take note of its identifying features and anticipate its blossoms come springtime.
Have you created your nature journal page yet this month?
National parks give us the opportunity to experience things that are out of the ordinary. National parks give us some space to breath in the wilderness and take a break from the same old routines of modern life. Joshua Tree National Park is just such a place with its unique rock formations, fascinating plant life, and creatures of the desert. What is a Joshua Tree? Well, it is not really a tree at all but a species of yucca. They can grow to be over 40 feet tall and they bloom sometime between February and April. They are part of a fascinating desert habitat in southeastern California.
This national park is only about 2.5 hours from Los Angeles, 2.75 hours from San Diego, 3 hours from Las Vegas, and 3 hours from Phoenix. It is reachable for many of my readers as a weekend trip or even tacked onto another destination as a bonus. The park is easily experienced in a day but I highly recommend giving this special place two days to explore (suggested itineraries here). The hiking here is not difficult so families with even young children can enjoy getting outside in the sunshine together.
Tip:We purchased the Road Guide To Joshua Tree National Park at the Visitor Center and I highly recommend this as a guide through the park. The book starts with stop at the Oasis Visitor Center and Nature Trail and then continues along the park drive, giving you mileage points and this to view and experience. We did the trip in one day and stopped at various spots to hike, picnic, and take photos. I always love knowing what we are looking at so this book was a huge help.
We started as usual at the Oasis Visitor Center near 29 Palms (trip taken in 2009 when my boys were teenagers). This was a simple way to introduce the park and to get our bearings. (There are 3 different visitor centers for you to visit.) There is a Junior Ranger program for children to complete at Joshua Tree.
Joshua Tree National Park is situated in a unique place within parts of both the Mojave and the Colorado Deserts. It is the only place on earth where the Joshua trees grow in large numbers in the wild.
Arch Rock was a great place to stop and stretch our legs in the warm California sunshine. This is a wonderful place to talk about the geology of the park and share a bit about the granite arch and how it was formed.
The beauty of this place can not be truly appreciated unless you get out of your car and walk out into the landscape. The harsh environment creates plants that are strong and rocks that are carved out in interesting formations. We spent a lot of time giving names to our favorite rocks.
The Cholla Cactus Garden trail was lined with menacing cactus. There are many other nature trails within the park for you to choose from.
There were lizards, birds, and spiders to distract us from the cactus. This lizard posed for us on the top of a rock!
This is an amazing place that we hope to visit again someday, hopefully camping to experience the night sky and to slow down to take in more of the parks plants and animals…and birds too! Don’t be fooled by thinking that the desert landscape is barren and empty. It is a rich habitat with much to learn about along with your children.
Palm Springs is a short distance for hotel rooms of all kinds. We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Palm Desert.
There are three visitor centers at each of the entrances to the park: Joshua Tree Visitor Center, Oasis Visitor Center, and Cottonwood Visitor Center.
Visiting in the spring and fall are recommended. We were there in February and the weather was perfect and there were many wildflowers and blooming cactus to view.
There are places to picnic but you will need to purchase your meal before you enter the park.
Make sure to add your year-long study to your January or February nature study plans so you don’t forget!!!
If you are a member of the Ultimate or Journey levels here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you will find this 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.
Along with my new Nature Study Goals for 2015, I am determined to read more books to fuel my learning about the natural world around me. I have gleaned a few books from my shelves that I need to read or reread but the rest are brand spanking new from Amazon.com. I spent an afternoon just rabbit trailing around Amazon, putting stacks of books onto my wishlist. to consider for the final 2015 list.
I picked ten books altogether so if I slack a bit somewhere I can make it up during the two unscheduled months. I have decided to leave July and December free for just that purpose.
I imagine I will pick up and put down several of these over the year but I will try to have completed the reading by the designated time. Creating a blog entry at the end of each book will detail my thoughts and perhaps even inspire you to pick it up and read it in the future. If you own any of these books and would like to comment on your experience with the book, you can join me in the appropriate month and corresponding blog entry.
I have already started reading The Wild Muir aloud to my husband a little each day. It is fun to share these stories aloud and comment on his adventures. Stay tuned for some of my thoughts!
Please note the entry includes Amazon.com affiliate links.
Read pages 823-826 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson #226). You may wish to review Lesson #224 outlining how to find the Dipper constellations and the Pole Star (North Star).
Here is a simple explanation of Orion the Hunter and some images that may help you in your study of the constellation: Orion—The Star Hunter.
Make sure to look at the chart on page 824 in the Handbook of Nature Study. This will help you see where to look for Orion’s Belt in the sky in relation to the Pole Star.
Advanced Study: Click the month of the year on this NASA page to print out a star finder and follow the directions on the page for some constellation fun.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Use your outdoor time to look for Orion (and Orion’s Belt). If you studied Cassiopeia in the autumn, remind your children how to find this constellation.
Advanced Study: Click this link and scroll down to Winter Night Sky Tour to print out a list of all the constellations you can see in the winter sky (January, February, and March). Use the list to find several winter sky constellations.
Follow Up:
Spend a few minutes after your outdoor time discussing the stars of the winter sky. Create a winter night sky nature journal entry.For fun, create a winter night sky poem for your nature journal.
One word to describe something you heard.
Two words for something you saw.
Three words for something you felt.
Advanced Study: Study and then sketch for your nature journal the primary stars of the winter sky, including Orion. Here is a link with a simple diagram for you to use: Winter Constellations from Space.com.
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.
Free Printable Nature Study Goals Planner Page for everyone! Download this simple planner page to record simple nature study goals and create a plan to accomplish those goals. I know there were many of you who responded to my 2015 listand perhaps this will encourage you to make a few goals of your own.
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 January 2015.
3. Visit one new national park. I know it is worth the effort to achieve this goal so we have begun thinking and exploring how to visit a park this year.
4. Visit a bird refuge. I love learning about birds so much and this is something that our family can accomplish with a day trip.
This is my third year creating goals for our nature study and I think I am getting better at being realistic about listing things that are both meaningful and achievable. I will be updating my goals and sharing my victories every quarter instead of each month in 2015. Join me if you like and share a link to your goals in a comment so I can pop over and cheer you on.
Here’s to a great year!
Please note there are Amazon affiliate links in this post.
Read pages 755 and 758 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson #214).
View some images of feldspar so you know what you are looking for during your outdoor time.
You may wish to purchase a piece of feldspar to observe in person and then use your outdoor time to look for any rocks you can find in your local area this season. You can find them in most rock shops or online in rock collections.
Advanced Study: Complete some research on the uses of feldspar before your outdoor time this week. What is Feldspar? and Feldspars.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Go exploring for rocks. Bring along a collecting box or bag and see if you can find some rocks, particularly granite that may have some feldspar in it that you can see.
Collect some samples to bring inside to look at closely.
Note: If you weather or local conditions do not all you to collect rocks this week, plan on spending even just a few minutes outdoors this week observing anything interesting you have at hand. Save the rock observations for a time that is more convenient.
Follow-Up Activity:
Choose one of the rocks you collected outdoors and look at it closely using a hand lens. If you collected some granite, can you distinguish the various components? Record your observations in your nature journal.
Advanced study: Use a rock identification key to identify any rocks you did collect this week.
Advanced study: Create a nature journal page for feldspar or any of the feldspar minerals. Use a rock field guide from your personal or public library.
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.
Somehow this post got started and then never finished or posted. I think it was just waiting for me to have some important reason to share it….today is the day.
Way back in October I visited Monterey and Pacific Grove (California) for a wedding with my son and we had a few minutes to stop and check out the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary which unfortunately didn’t have any monarchs yet.
We walked around and looked in the trees and along the trail but not a single butterfly to see. We were just too early in the season.
Yesterday, I read an article from the Washington Post on monarch butterflies. The title had caught my eye, “Activists seek endangered status for monarch butterfly”. The article reminded me of our visit to the sanctuary and nudged me to actually finish and post this for you to enjoy.
Did you know that over the past 20 years, the monarch population has fallen by as much as 90%,according to the Center for Biological Diversity? I find that statistic shocking! The reason for the decline is partly because of dwindling supplies of milkweed along the thousands of miles of their migratory route and the illegal deforestation of their winter habitat in Mexico. Of course, the monarch butterflies that overwinter in Pacific Grove face their own perils. Reduction in the groves of coastal trees that provide cover and the reduction in native milkweed are of major concern to the California migration of monarchs.
I hope you take some time to educate yourself about the seriousness of this issue. Resolve to share this information with your children so that they know how important it is to conserve not only the local milkweed habitat but to encourage others to do the same.
What would the world be like without these beautiful creatures? Sad day if we lose these special insects.
We have monarch butterflies come through our garden….we have tried unsuccessfully to grow milkweed but I am determined to give it a try again this year!
Inside Preparation Work:
