Our Strawberry Study: Outdoor Hour Challenge

“Red, shiny, green leaves and yellow spots. It is oval in shape with a bulge on top. The leaves are short with small black lines. It is cool to the touch and slightly fuzzy. It is extremely sweet.”
Quote from my son’s journal page

I didn’t need to do much encouraging to get the boys to participate in this nature study challenge. They are always eager to help in the strawberry box. In fact the box belongs to my middle son and he keeps it well tended.

Funny thing is that many times he comes up into the house empty handed….wonder where those berries go between the garden and the kitchen?

Pick, wash, eat….you can’t get any fresher than that!

We used the lesson ideas in the Handbook of Nature Study to focus a little on the strawberry and to see what we could learn. Then we went out to our garden to investigate our plants. We have two varieties of strawberries: June berries and Everbearing. We have a big crop of berries that we harvest early in the summer and then we have plants that keep on producing a few berries all summer long.

We observed the blossom and leaves.

We saw this little berry where the petals of the flower had just dropped off and the berry is just starting to poke out and be seen.

We found a little bit bigger green berry to compare to the others.

Here are some berries growing large and pink. Look at all those seeds on the outside of the strawberry.

Like I said, not many berries end up in the kitchen but we did manage to bring up some to complete a nature journal page before they were gobbled up as well.

Here in California strawberries are a popular crop and you don’t have to go far to find a roadside stand selling fresh berries of all kinds. My husband has been working down in the Monterey area and they have strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries growing commercially there. He is loving the fresh fruits and promises to bring some home when he is able. He has been working on the Lockheed Fire since last week and we are missing him terribly. He is our hero though and I know that he doesn’t mind doing his job when the need arises.

Hope you enjoy your strawberry study soon and don’t forget to share your blog entries.
Crop Plants Notebook Pages – Companion to the Crop Plants Challenges

Custom made notebook pages for each crop plant challenge. I have designed simple to use pages that will complement each challenge and will be an easy way to start a nature journal. Each of the eight notebook pages is in full color, but they are just as great in black and white. These notebook pages can be purchased for $2.50.