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Posted on December 31, 2020 by Barb — Leave a comment

January Nature Study – New Printables, Plan, and Planner Page

I don’t know about you but I’m so ready for a fresh start this month. December has been a busy month and the only formal nature study lesson I completed was the first day of winter activity. We took a very long walk in the woods even with snowy trails and it reminded me that I need to be more intentional about getting outside every week with a focus. (You can read my entry on Focus and Consistency from the archives for a little inspiration if you need it.)

So, making a fresh start in January will be easier with a little pre-planning. If you’re a member, you have a schedule and a planning page in your printables library. For everyone else, the January plan is printed below. We’ll mostly be working in the Winter Nature Study Continues ebook over the next couple of months.

My Winter Weather Notebook Page

01/01/21 Winter Fun – Weather Study – 2 printables from the Member’s Library

01/08/21 Cattle and Deer Nature Study – Winter Nature Study Continues ebook

01/15/21 Feldspar Rock Nature Study – Winter Nature Study Continues ebook

01/22/21 Orion Constellation Study – Winter Nature Study Continues ebook

01/29/21 Crystals Nature Study – Winter Nature Study Continues ebook

Animal Tracks Notebook Page

New Printables for Members

Animal Tracks Notebook Page: This time of the year is a fantastic time to get outdoors to look for animal tracks. On a recent hike we spotted some large elk tracks in the snow and mud. We frequently have squirrel tracks, goose tracks, raccoon tracks, and dog tracks around our yard. Have you spotted some signs of animals in your neighborhood? Use this notebook page to make a sketch of the track. Older students may wish to try to make them actual size and then use a field guide to identify which animal made the tracks.

Running List Notebook Page: We’ve often used the simple practice of list making to keep a record of our nature observations. This set of pages gives you a variety of styles to choose from to make lists of a particular subject like birds, trees, butterflies, etc. Or you can use a running list notebook page to record things you observe in a particular place. We often would make lists while on vacation. See the samples below.

Tracks Scats and Signs Nature Book Club You may be interested in viewing this post from my archives: Winter Mammal Study- Tracks, Scat, and Signs. This thorough post will give you plenty of ideas for using the Animal Tracks notebook page with your family.

Click the graphic above to view the complete list of printables available as part of an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.

January 2021 nature planner page

Members also have access to the Nature Planner pages in their library. Print out this month’s page and use it to stimulate your weekly nature study time.

If you’d like to have access to the member’s printables and the newsletter archive, I invite you to join with an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership. Your membership will be valid for one year.

You can use the discount code NATURE5 to receive $5 off your Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.

Posted on August 17, 2020 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Study Plan for 2020-2021 – Outdoor Hour Challenge

Outdoor Hour Challenge 2020-2021

Get Ready for Autumn!

I am reposting the information about the upcoming school year’s plan for the Outdoor Hour Challenge.

I’m getting excited to start a new school year of nature study alongside all of you! The plan this year is packed with a variety of awesome topics that will appeal to a wide range of children and those who live around the world. My friends are all geared up to start on September 4, 2020 with the Autumn Nature Study ebook. I, on the other hand, am having trouble imagining I’ll be ready for “autumn” nature study in just a few weeks from now. But, I’m sure that by the time it arrives, September is going to be a rich month of nature time before the weather turns too cold or wet.

Join us if you have a membership by reading the instructions below and then getting your nature journals ready. Don’t forget to print out the nature planner pages for the autumn season for even more ideas in addition to the Outdoor Hour Challenge topics.

There’s something for everyone in an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership!

Here are the five ebooks that will be planned out from September 2020 to August 2021.

Autumn – Final Ebook: swallows and swifts, catbirds, cockroaches, field horsetail, sapsucker, brook study, catfish, jewelweed, prickly lettuce, hedgehog fungi, calcite, limestone, marble, chickens, and turkeys.

Winter Nature Study Continues Ebook: cattle, deer, feldspar, Orion star study, crystals, flickers, scarlet saucer, bloodroot, hepatica, violets, bleeding hearts, Dutchman’s breeches, and squirrel corn.

Bird Set #1 Ebook: pelican, swan, snipe, egret, sandhill crane, American dipper, horned lark, magpie, and Clark’s nutcracker.

Wildflowers Ebook #3: fireweed, salsify, paintbrush, forget-me-nots, and silverweed.

Herb Nature Study ebook cover graphic Herbs Ebook: cilantro, basil, bee balm, oregano, dill, thyme, sage, and mint. This ebook will be added to the Ultimate and Journey level memberships in June 2020.

Outdoor Hour Challenge September 2020 – August 2021 for Members

Get the Year Plan in a PDF: Subscribe to the Ultimate Naturalist Library, Journey, or Discovery level membership: Your membership will give you access to a detailed schedule for the entire year. You will have a printable plan that shows dates and specific topics that will be considered every Friday. This makes your planning super easy!

As there were last year, I’ve created monthly planning pages with lots of additional nature study ideas that you can use to enrich your nature study. These are similar to the planning pages I created for the newsletters in the past. If you’re a member at any level, you’ll receive all 12 months of planning pages in one pdf to download and print!

Nature Planner Page Sample 2020 View a sample planning page above. These pages will be added to the Ultimate and Journey level memberships by the end of July 2020. Print the sample: September 2020 Handbook of Nature Study planner page.

Do You Want to Join Us? Here’s what you need to do!

Purchase a membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study. Remember that if you want access to all the ebooks, you’ll need an Ultimate Naturalist or Journey Level Membership. If you purchase a membership now, you’ll have access to all of the new ebooks as they become available. A membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study starts the date of purchase and is valid for one year.
Download the ebooks as they become available.
Download the September 2020 through August 2021 plan.
Subscribe to the Handbook of Nature Study blog for reminders each Friday.

If you can’t purchase a membership at this time, you can still follow along by subscribing to the blog and each week’s Outdoor Hour Challenge will come right to your email inbox.

Click Below to Get Started!

Use the discount code NEWSTART for $10 off your Ultimate Naturalist Library membership. Code expires 9/1/2020.

Posted on June 9, 2020 by Barb — 2 Comments

2020-2021 Nature Study Plans with the Outdoor Hour Challenge

Outdoor Hour Challenge

September 2020 through August 2021

Plans and Instructions

I know how much the Outdoor Hour Challenge year plan is anticipated by the families that follow the series topics each week! I’m happy to announce that I have it all organized and ready to go for you a little bit earlier than usual. You’re going to be excited to hear that there are 3 new ebooks in the plan this time around!

Here are the five ebooks that will be planned out from September 2020 to August 2021.

Bird Set #1 Ebook: pelican, swan, snipe, egret, sandhill crane, American dipper, horned lark, magpie, and Clark’s nutcracker.

Wildflowers Ebook #3: fireweed, salsify, paintbrush, forget-me-nots, and silverweed.

Outdoor Hour Challenge September 2020 – August 2021 for Members

Do You Want to Join Us? Here’s what you need to do!

Purchase a membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study. Remember that if you want access to all the ebooks, you’ll need an Ultimate Naturalist or Journey Level Membership. If you purchase a membership now, you’ll have access to all of the new ebooks as they become available. A membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study starts the date of purchase and is valid for one year.
Download the ebooks as they become available.
Download the September 2020 through August 2021 plan.
Subscribe to the Handbook of Nature Study blog for reminders each Friday.

If you can’t purchase a membership at this time, you can still follow along by subscribing to the blog and each week’s Outdoor Hour Challenge will come right to your email inbox.

Click Below to Get Started!

Use the discount code NEWSTART for $10 off your Ultimate Naturalist Library membership. Code expires 9/1/2020.

Posted on April 3, 2020 by Barb — Leave a comment

Brand New! Outdoor Hour Challenge:Elk Nature Study

Elk Nature Study

This week we’ll learn about the majestic elk as part of the Outdoor Hour Challenge. I never had any real experience with elk until we moved to Central Oregon. Now, each spring, we have them right out our back door.

With this nature study lesson, you’ll have a chance to learn about this large mammal and do some comparing to other mammals you see more regularly.

Alternate study: Outdoor Hour Challenge – Deer Nature Study.

Outdoor Hour Challenge Elk Nature Study

Here are a few ideas to get you started with an elk nature study:

Choose your resource for learning about the elk. This could be a field guide, a book from your local library or an online resource. Here’s a link to a webpage that has an abundance of information on elk in North America: Elk Network. You will find facts, videos, and range maps on that page that will help you learn about this magnificent animal.
This website has a printable fact sheet about elk: USDA American Elk.

Please note that I won’t be posting the complete challenge here on the blog, but you’ll find the detailed challenge in the High Desert ebook that’s available both in the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level memberships. Sign into your account and download the ebook for the details, more links, and notebook pages.

If you don’t have a membership yet, you can click the graphic above and join today for immediate access to the 25 ebooks and so much more! Remember that all levels, even the Discovery level membership, include access to all of the archived newsletters!

Topics in this ebook include:

Bitterbrush
Sagebrush
Greater sage-grouse
Succulents
Mountain Lion
Coyote
Pocket Gopher
Bristlecone Pine
Elk
Turkey Vulture
Juniper
Snowberry
Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel
River Otter

Please use the discount code OHC10 to receive $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Membership.

Posted on June 26, 2019 by Barb — 2 Comments

Our First Day of Summer 2019

I decided to observe the first day of summer by taking a tour of our yard to look for interesting things to note. First of all, the temperatures have been cool again…really cool at 33 degrees when I get up in the morning. I haven’t lost any of our plants yet to the cold temperatures so I’m hoping they will continue to grow.

sunflower seedlings renees garden

Our transplanted sunflowers are looking good in their new box. I think we may have over planted but my husband just can’t bear to thin the seedlings. I’m dreaming of the colorful flowers to come. The only thing to be concerned about are the deer that may somehow get inside our fence and eat the flowers like they’re at a salad bar. It’s happened before!

I don’t think I have mentioned that the sunflowers we are growing come from Renee’s Garden. I have once again received some complimentary seeds from them to use in my garden.

Chocolate Cherry Sunflowers

Van Gogh Sunflowers

Birds and Bees Sunflowers

I also have a container filled with Junior Sunflowers.

I will share my results once they flower!

wildflowers in the yard june 2019

We’re blessed with an abundance and variety of wildflowers in our yard this year. Partly because we have kept the deer out and mostly because I convinced my husband to let a few areas just grow wildly. This has revealed a number of plants we didn’t know we had growing along the edges like the penstemon, the goosefoot violets, and the salsify.

leaf rollers aspen june 2019

Along with the increase in flowers, there are many more insects to observe. Right now there’s an insect that is rolling itself up in our aspen tree leaves.

We have ground squirrels that are burrowing into our landscaping berms. They are trying to tunnel their way over to the birdfeeder. Our dogs then take the opportunity to dig the tunnels out and chase the squirrels away. This is a problem because they unearth so many of our newly planted flowers in the process. I’m trying to resolve this problem without harming any flora or fauna.

The babies are all hatching in our nests and nesting boxes. There have been a few casualties along the way but I think for the most part the birds are thriving and it has been a successful year of supporting the birds in our habitat.

mushroom june 2019

On a more serious note, we almost had a tragedy involving our puppy and mushrooms growing in our yard. We didn’t realize we had any mushrooms until I started looking carefully when Sierra started acting strangely. She was stumbling around, very agitated, and drooling. I found the mushroom near where she had dug up a small tree stump in our backyard. We rushed her to the vet’s and they were able to get her stabilized with fluids and oxygen. They tried to induce vomiting but were not successful. But, in the end, after a long and scary night, she came out the other side and seems to be recovering. We were very relieved that we caught it in time to get her help and that she’s a strong, healthy puppy.

sierra june 2019

PLEASE check your yard for mushrooms. Doing more research on this topic, I’ve learned that mushrooms are a common cause of poisoning for dogs. You can bet I will be mighty vigilant from now on and pluck any mushrooms up and throw them away as soon as I see them.

We’re looking out over the next couple months with anticipation for all the summer things we want to do while the weather is warm.

What did you do for the first day of summer?

Here’s a link to the original challenge for many ideas and printables to use as part of your early summer weather study: Outdoor Hour Challenge – Summer Weather

Posted on June 24, 2019 by Barb — 4 Comments

Nature Observer – June 2019

In complete honesty, I’ve spent every available minute this month outdoors enjoying the beauty and unexpected variety of life that seems to have been drawn to our yard. It’s very true that if you create a natural space that provides shelter, food, and water, the living creatures will come to visit.

Birds – over 20 kinds!

Insects – mostly bees, butterflies, mosquitoes, snakeflies, gnats, and ants

Amphibians – frogs and toads

Mammals – elk, deer, ground squirrels, Douglas squirrels, gray squirrels, bats

Arthropods – a variety of spiders

The effort to create an inviting environment for nature to come to us has been worth every minute and achy muscle. We’re excited to see what the rest of the summer brings to us!

Here are some nature highlights from our month.

kayak june 2019

We started the month off with a family paddle down the Little Deschutes River. The sky was amazing! It doesn’t get much better than this when you’re out for a smooth water ride: the wildflowers were blooming, the birds were visible (including about a hundred cliff swallows), and the river all to ourselves.

wildflowers june 2019

Everywhere I looked this month I spotted a colorful wildflower. I’m keeping a list in my nature journal of all the flowers we see and it’s getting rather long. My favorite flower of the month is the wild blue iris. The meadow behind our house came alive with irises for about a week. They stand just above the grass so it looks like a sea of lavender-purple.

herb garden containers june 2019

As I have shared here before, we don’t live in a place that is highly favorable for growing a traditional vegetable garden. Instead, I’ve opted to grow fast germinating flowers and some potted herbs. Everything is starting to really shoot up with our warmer weather and I’m anxious to see how they fare over the next few months.

transplants on the berm

We’ve been busy transplanting native plants to our newly created garden berms. Each time I find a good candidate, I try to observe the growing conditions so that I can put the transplant where it has a good chance of taking hold. I’ve moved lupine, salsify, violets, columbine, and grasses. It’s all a great experiment to see what does well and what we can move in the future.

I’ve observed so many pollinators this month in our garden! Mostly bees, but also butterflies have come to land on our flowers. This is a great success for us because we’re thinking a lot about the design of the different areas of our yard to be more pollinator friendly.

wildflower sprouts

On that note, here’s an image of our freshly sprouted wildflower garden that we seeded a few weeks ago. We’re taking a gamble that we can get these plants established before the fall frosts come. If we are successful, this should reseed itself each year.

trout june 2019
Let me set the record straight. I am not a fisherman. But, I am married to one. This month the season opened on our river behind our house and we were out there several evenings walking and fishing. We had all the boys with us on one of those nights and that was the night my husband caught THE biggest rainbow trout we have ever seen. Look at my hubby’s face…joy! In the spirit of fair play, he released this big daddy back into the river to live a little longer. This is why I love him so very much….he knows the nature lover in me admired that fish’s beauty and freedom more than I would have a few delicious bites of trout.

Now for a couple of pages from my nature journal.

wildflower nature journal page

There are so many wildflowers growing on our property this year after the rains of May and early June.

may 2019 bird list nature journal

I could call this the “super bird list” since it has so many birds and the addition of a new bird to add to our life list.

Porcupine nature journal page

I’ve been eager to spot a porcupine in the habitat behind our house but have been unsuccessful so far. But, we have seen two dead porcupines on the road near our house. I stopped to look at one of them up close since he wasn’t run over but just bumped. This was a first for me to see a real porcupine this intimately and to see the quills and the fur. My admiration grew for porcupines after learning about their unique features and then having the opportunity to see one in real life. This is how advanced preparation is beneficial!

Are you following me on Instagram?

Are you eager to see the new year plan for the Outdoor Hour challenge for 2019-2020? I’m going to be posting a blog entry soon that outlines the plans for the next two years. If you subscribe to my blog, you won’t miss it!

Use the discount code SUMMER5 for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Membership. This will give you access to all of the ebooks, newsletter, and printables available only to members. Your membership is good for one year from the time of purchase. Don’t wait until September to purchase your membership!

Posted on September 20, 2018 by Barb — Leave a comment

Prairies and Grasslands – Study and Activity

Prairie Wildlife Study with Printables

If you live in the prairies of North America or are interested in learning more about this rich and valuable habitat, you’re going to be excited about the featured book for this month’s nature book club link-up. America’s Prairies and Grasslands-A Guide to Plants and Animals by Marianne D. Wallace describes that unique habitat with words and beautiful pictures. I’m eager to share this incredible resource on prairie wildlife that our family has used and loved.

Here’s the book I’m featuring: America’s Prairies and Grasslands.

You can look for it at your public library or it’s available from Amazon (Note that I’m an Amazon affiliate and there are affiliate links in this entry).

Using America’s Prairies and Grasslands in Your Nature Study

I love the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock but she wrote the book featuring plants and animals of her local habitat in upstate New York. Many of us live in very different habitats and to supplement our nature study we draw on other resources that talk about plants and animals we see in our neighborhoods.

America’s Prairies and Grasslands will appeal to many families because it helps us look deeper into things we see every day and maybe don’t appreciate.

This book uses maps to show where different prairies and grasslands are located in the United States. Visual spatial learners will benefit by looking at the maps or even recreating them in their nature journals. When I was homeschooling my boys, I always appreciated the opportunities to draw connections between different academic subjects and using geography alongside your nature study will make it more meaningful.

How to Use This Book for Nature Study

A great way to use this book is to go through each of the six major grasslands one at a time: tallgrass prairie, mixed-grass prairie, shortgrass prairie, Palous prairie, California Valley grassland, and semidesert grassland.

For each of the six grasslands, you can do the following steps.

Read the narrative.
Look at the map.
Look at the two page colored illustration.
Pick a plant or animal to learn more about using information in the back of the book, your own nature library, or online resources.
Wrap up your study with a nature journal page (see below).

Take a week for each grassland or if you live in a particular grassland, why not stretch it to an entire school year by taking a plant or animal each week? Use the index in the back of the book to see just how many topics you find of interest to your family. Check the Handbook of Nature Study website using the tabs at the top to find any Outdoor Hour Challenges for selected topics to use alongside the America’s Prairies and Grasslands book.

I’ve created this set of six notebooking pages to use with your prairies and grasslands studies.

Member’s Benefit: Members here on the Handbook of Nature Study will have unlimited access in their printable library. (See how to purchase a membership here: Ultimate Naturalist Library.)

Prairie Wildlife Study with Printables

Member’s Benefit: In addition, members here on the Handbook of Nature Study have access to several notebooking pages in their printables library that will be helpful in a study of prairie wildlife. Learn more about purchasing a Ultimate Naturalist Library membership here: Join Us!

***New! Prairie Wildflowers and Animals Clipart set

***Look for the pages for bison, pronghorn, coyotes, elk, rattlesnakes, and deer.

Want to study a different habitat?

This book is one in a series of books that teach about the various habitats of the world. I own several of them and use them as references in my nature writing. Here are the other habitats you can read about: deserts, forests, mountains, seashores, and wetlands.

Make sure to subscribe to my blog to follow along with our weekly nature study activities.

Here are the co-hosts, their choices of books, and activities for the month:

Notebooking Pages based on The Prairie That Nature Built from Jenny at Faith and Good Works

Nature Journaling based on Wildflowers of Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks: A Guide to Common & Notable Species from Eva at Eva Varga

Online Nature Book Course based on The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush from Dachelle at Hide The Chocolate

Flower Suncatchers for Toddlers and Preschoolers based on Miss Lady Bird’s Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America from Erika at The Playful Scholar

Flower Printable Pack based on Prairie Flowers: Learning Activities and Lessons to Inspire Creativity! from Sharla of Minnesota Country Girl

Flower Paintbrushes based on The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush from Cassidy at Freshly Planted

Sunflower Decoupage Vase based on The Sunflower House from Katrina at Rule This Roost

Prairie Wildflower Identification Hike from Thaleia at Something 2 Offer

Past Month’s Themes:

Link Up Guidelines

Choose an engaging nature book, do a craft or activity, and add your post to our monthly link up.
The link up party goes live at 9:00 a.m. EST on the 20th of each month and stays open until the last day of the month. Hurry to add your links!
You can link up to 3 posts. Please do not link up advertising posts, advertise other link up parties, your store, or non-related blog posts. They will be removed.
By linking up with us, you agree for us to share your images and give you credit of course if we feature posts.

An InLinkz Link-up

Posted on August 14, 2018 by Barb — 2 Comments

Outdoor Mom – August 2018

Outdoor Mom

August 2018

We have pretty much enjoyed a “staycation” this past month as we explored a few new places and found refreshment in just being at HOME. We moved here because we used to vacation here, so why not just stay home, sleep in my own bed and take time to get to know the local area?

Works for us!

We had the added joy of having our daughter home from New York for a little over a week. We ended up spending a lot of time outdoors doing fun stuff with her and our boys too.

The very first day she was here we pulled the kayaks and canoe down to the river behind our house for a good long float. This is the Little Deschutes River, so it’s a slow moving and meandering experience. It was a perfect afternoon and we took a stop midway to swim in the refreshingly clear, cool water.

One of my favorite destinations here in Central Oregon is Sparks Lake on the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway. It’s a long narrow lake with lots of coves along its volcanic rock shore. We paddled all the way to the end and back. The bonus to this lake is the spectacular views of South Sister and Mt. Bachelor.

We’ve been building a shelter for our Traeger smoker out of local materials. We have a friend who has a portable lumber mill and he made us a large beam and live edge siding from trees he had on his property. The paver patio is finished but the structure is still a work in progress. We’ve already spent lots of evenings sitting on the patio watching the moon rise and the stars come out.

Our daughter wanted to see the Lava River Cave which is close to our town. It’s a long, dry, volcanic rock cave. You take your own flashlights and explore at your own pace. It was a chilly 42 degrees in there so we all got pretty cold…should have been better prepared!

My son had some friends up from California and they wanted to float the Deschutes River…a VERY Oregon thing to do. It was a very hot day and the water was COLD. I opted to kayak but they all enjoyed their lazy river float. Ah, to be young!

My sister and brother-in-law came for a visit and they wanted to try floating too, but we went on the much warmer Little Deschutes River. Another hot day, another great float down the river!

(Do you see a theme to our summer activities?)

Another activity we’ve been trying to squeeze in each week is to go listen to live music whether it’s here in La Pine, in Sunriver, or up in Bend. This time of year there are lots of options for music so that makes it easy. When my daughter was here, we had dinner at Sunriver and then listened to music out on the lawn behind the lodge….so much fun!

We’ve been working on our backyard landscaping since June and we’re finally seeing it come together. It’s still a challenge to know what the deer will eat and what they leave alone. The night after I took this photo of the heliotrope with the swallowtail on it, the deer ate it down to the roots. It has since grown back but I’m sure they’ll be eager to eat the blooms as soon as it blossoms again.

We’ve had a month of hot, dry weather until a few days ago when a thunderstorm rolled in very slowly. I could see it off in the distance when we started our walk down to the river after dinner. You could see the rain but the sun was shining over our heads. Then a rainbow appeared as the light shifted to a pinkish-orange glow. We could hear lots of thunder rumbling. In the end, we didn’t even get a drop of rain because the clouds just sort of dematerialized and blew away. It made for a great show as we had our daily walk.

I’ve slowed down with my hiking this summer because of my arthritis. I’m facing a double hip replacement in the fall….which will put me out of commission for a period of time, but then I’m hoping to be able to hit the trail without pain for the first time in years. My doctor assures me that it will be “rainbows and unicorns” after the surgery and then 4-6 weeks of recovery. I’m nervous about the actual surgery, but the hope of being much more able to get out and do things again motivates me to get it DONE!

The anticipation of surgery inspired me to get a whole year’s worth of nature study planned and up on the blog now. You can see the plan and find out more about a membership in this post:

Outdoor Hour Challenge 2018 – 2019 Plans

Follow me here: Instagram – outdoorhourchallenge. If you’d like me to take a look at one of your images on Instagram, use the hashtag #outdoorhourchallenge.

Want to join in the Outdoor Mom post?

Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.

During our outdoor time this month we went…
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…
I added nature journal pages about…
I am reading…
I am dreaming about…
One last image…

Posted on June 4, 2018 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Mom – May 2018

Outdoor Mom
May 2018

Our outdoor time made us wonder…..

We’ve been watching birds in our yard since we moved here a year ago. We’ve now seen the complete cycle of birds in each season. I’m thrilled every time a new kind of bird shows up at a feeder or within sight of our windows. Now, the nesting boxes are being occupied by a couple of bird families. The tree swallows are the most fascinating to watch as they bring the materials into the box for their nest. How do they fly with those long grasses in their mouth? How do they manage to get them through the little hole and into the box? Truly a miracle of life!

In our garden, we are building…..

Construction has begun on our new yard landscape. We picked the pavers for the walkways and patio so now all we need to do is make a plan for getting them laid. My husband is working part time at a landscaping and floral nursery down the road from us and this is how we’ll finance the bigger purchases of rock, sand, and the majority of the trees and shrubs. It’s been awesome to have an expert help us at least get started with this huge project. Now that we’re underway, I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

I’ve had to do quite a bit of research about native plants in anticipating the filling of our garden beds. I don’t want to spend a lot of money purchasing things that will not survive our harsh, long winters. Or as I’ve discovered from experience, plants that the deer will eat in one night. Instead, it makes sense to take the time to find out the best way to spend our money and energy and still end up with a yard that is beautiful and will stand the test of time.

I am dreaming about…..

The promise of another summer season here in Oregon is just about to be realized. I can feel the days getting longer and the landscape is filling up with green things and flowering things and life in general. The river is calling us to come and float on its cool clear water. The sun is warm on my face and shoulders when I’m out in the garden. I can’t wait to be in the middle of July when all my family is going to be around me for a big anniversary picnic!

One last image…..

This is just the start of something pretty outside my bedroom window for the birds, bees, and butterflies. It just makes me happy to think of the seasons to come where I will be able to look out my window and see a little nature looking back at me.

Follow me here: Instagram – outdoorhourchallenge. If you would like me to take a look at one of your images on Instagram, use the hashtag #outdoorhourchallenge.

Want to join in the Outdoor Mom post?

During our outdoor time this month we went…
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…
I added nature journal pages about…
I am reading…
I am dreaming about…
One last image…

Posted on January 24, 2018 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Mom – January 2018

Outdoor Mom January 2018

During our outdoor time this month we went….river walking!

We are keeping our routine of walking to the river just about every day. Our weather has had so many ups and downs with rain, ice, snow, fog, and sunshine. It just can’t seem to make up its mind about what season it is and we just take it as it comes. On the snowy days, I feel as if I am living in a snow globe and marvel at the big fluffy flakes that descend down on us to blanket the landscape. I love walking after a snowstorm in the crunchy snow, looking for tracks. It is so quiet and peaceful. I often just stop and wish I could capture the moment and share it with all of you because photos just don’t do it justice.

My son had two friends spend the weekend and we enjoyed sharing our world with them by walking to the river and taking them on a hike.

The most inspiring things we experienced were…rainbows and ice.

We had a day of rainbows that were brightly colored. It looked like you could reach out and touch the end of the bow!

We woke up to a frozen wonderland one day this month. Everything was decorated in spiky hoar frost. I couldn’t resist going out to take photos even though it was really cold. I have decided that the proper clothes make getting outdoors so much easier. My family laughs at me with my wardrobe of boots, hats, and scarves.

Our outdoor time made us ask…who?

Who is making all of the tracks we see in the snow and mud? We are constantly finding tracks but can’t be sure who is making them. We spotted coyote scat along the trail so we know that we have some of those critters roaming around. We also found crayfish claws left on the river bank which we think are remnants of a river otter’s dinner. Then there was the single deer hoof we found with about 6 inches of leg and fur. Where did the rest go?

Each time we visit the river we are fascinated by the changes that can happen overnight. One day the water is flowing, the next it is frozen. Then there are the days that the sun shines warmly on the water and breaks up the ice, sending little floating icebergs down the river. It is so different than in the summertime!

We have been trying to find some winter color during our nature walks as part of the Winter World of Colors challenge from a few weeks ago. The challenge included the idea of seeking out some color against the drab winter background and although these pops of color are far and few between, we did manage to find some outstanding examples of color since we started looking for them. If you haven’t had a chance to work through this Winter World of Colors challenge, I invite you to give it a try soon.

Just a note: I had someone comment about the lack of images in my posts lately. I have cut back on the images here on the blog but I do post many, many images over on Instagram. You can follow me there and see images from our adventures just about every day.

Follow me here: Instagram – outdoorhourchallenge. If you would like me to take a look at one of your images on Instagram, use the hashtag #outdoorhourchallenge

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