You searched for deer - Page 6 of 6 - Homeschool Nature Study

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Barb — 7 Comments

Beans! Outdoor Hour Crop Plant Study

We grow beans every year in our summer garden. There is nothing like freshly picked beans to complement a summer dinner. It is one vegetable that everyone in our family loves.

My dad is a big time gardener and he has a *ton* of green beans this year. He picks them every day and has a full basket. This is a photo of a part of his garden. In the foreground are his pumpkins, then zucchini, and in the way back…green beans and tomatoes. On the right side he has okra, chard, and eggplant.

You cannot see it in this photo but he has an electric fence around the garden to keep out the deer. He still had trouble with gophers so he had to dig up all his garden beds this last winter and put mesh in the bottom of every single box. The gophers still dig in the garden but they can’t get up into the veggies.

The variety of beans that we are growing, in the photo above, has a pretty little flower and the bean itself has a purple/blue tint to it. They don’t get as long as the beans we usually grow but they are tender and sweet

Speaking of a pretty flower…how about this eggplant blossom? My dad is growing a row of Japanese eggplant. I hope he shares.

He was willing to share this zucchini that became a monster. 🙂 I regularly get zucchini and green beans from him since his plants are producing earlier and with more vigor than those in my garden for some reason.

Our garden is a blaze with colors and it is such a joy to sit outside and enjoy all the growing things and blooming things. The gladiolas are not blooming yet…they are something new this year so I am anxious to see how they do.

We did not sow any bean seeds this week as part of the challenge but we did soak some and then cut them open and look at the parts. This was the subject of our nature journal.

Did you eat green beans this week? We did!

I wasn’t so sure when we started these Crop Plant Outdoor Hour Challenges that I was going to enjoy them, but now that we are into the study I think my whole family is learning more than we thought we would….focus, it is all about focus. 🙂

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. View a SAMPLE

Posted on June 4, 2009 by Barb — 8 Comments

Late Spring Wildflowers #2

It truly is amazing that I have been working on documenting the local wildflowers for months now and I am still finding new flowers every day. I did not imagine that this project would become so big that I would be fighting to keep up. Here is the latest batch of wildflowers from our walking trail.

Elegant Brodiaea

A yellow flower that is a mystery…..

Although this is not a wildflower, this grass is so purple-pink that it really is lovely.

Chicory

Yet another yellow mystery flower……
Edit: With Pequete’s help, I think we have identified this one as Hypericum formosum or Scouler’s St. John’s Wort.

Here are some sweet pea vines growing alongside the trail. Brilliant and beautiful.

Not technically a wildflower, but the blackberry bushes are all blossoming in our area. I can’t keep track of all the places you can find berries.

Sticky Chinese Houses or Tincture…this is a new one to me and I love it!

Tufted Vetch….when you stop to really look at the vetch it is gorgeous.

Look at the purple details on the blooms.

I love that there are new things to learn about around every corner. My boys are beginning to spot new flowers as we walk along and that makes me very happy. 🙂

We have taken walks at least once a day for the last week and it feels great to be outdoors so much with the family. We had a picnic today…nothing special, just some sandwiches and drinks but the view of the river was perfect.

We also saw a this young deer that became like a statue when we stopped to take his photo. Look at those ears.

You will have to click the photo to zoom in on the deer.

I think that catches us up for now with the wildflowers. We are on the downhill slide towards summer now so things will change again around here as far as what is blooming.

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Barb — 7 Comments

Beavers, Fur, and Rocks: Our Family’s Outdoor Hour Challenge

This week we took time to review a little bit about beavers since we regularly visit an area where we see evidence of them. If you read my blog regularly, you have seen photos of the beaver lodges and the trees gnawed on by beavers.

My son really enjoyed watching the YouTube videos on beavers and we read the section in the Handbook on muskrats.

Our outdoor time this week was spent exploring an area off the trail we normally take. It led us to what we are now calling Fern Gully. This area is found by following what we think is a deer trail down off the main trail and into a steep little gully. We have heard water running in this area before and we presume that when it rains hard enough there is water running down the rocks. We will test our theory the next chance we get.

Here is another photo looking the other way down the gully.

There are lots of blackberry vines. We are interested to see how this area looks in the summertime. We imagine it being a cool place to sit in the shade. It should be interesting to see how the area changes as the seasons change.

We found more fur on the side of the trail…a lot this time.

We still are puzzled by the fur mystery. I looked at it very closely and it is really fluffy and very soft. It is white…with a slight yellowish color to it. There is no blood or tracks or other signs of struggle. I have no idea where it came from but this is the third spot on the mile and a half trail that we have seen this fur. Last week we began to wonder if it was a dog’s fur but it just doesn’t feel like any dog fur that I have felt before. Someone suggested in a comment that it could be sheep’s wool but it is no way the texture of wool and there are definitely no sheep in this area. Hmmmm…still wondering.

We came across an area that has these wonderful quartz rocks. Really, really pretty.

Here is the backside.

I am so interested in studying rocks but I am nervous about being overwhelmed with trying to identify them. Any suggestions?

Well, that wraps up this post for our Outdoor Hour Challenge this week. We had some adventures and some good questions this week. Last night we had two inches of snow so we were able to complete our Winter Wednesday snow activities from a few weeks ago. I was glad that we had planned ahead of time and had the experiments in our mind as it began to snow. I will post those results soon.

Posted on January 18, 2009 by Barb — 3 Comments

Mammals on an Afternnon Drive…Birds Too

We decided to go for a long drive today to enjoy the very warm spring-like day. I was driving and observing as we went along that there were quite a few dead skunks along the road, more than usual. I started counting.

Here is our official count:

7 skunks
3 rabbits
2 squirrels
1 possum
1 raccoon

All dead alongside the road.

Are there usually that many mammals to count? I have never noticed that many before but maybe my mind was just thinking about mammals since it is our focus right now.

We saw lots of cattle and horses on this drive as well….very much alive and enjoying the sunny day. Happy cows come from California…or so they say.

As the afternoon sun was fading, the deer started to be seen alongside the road. I was busy driving but my husband and son counted seven deer….one really big buck. In the past, both my husband and I have hit deer with our cars….actually, he has done it twice.

My husband told me today that his friend’s daughter not so long ago hit a bear on the road that we were driving on. I slowed down after that.

Just as a note to myself about the birds we identified today as we drove along and then hiked a little along the river:

Six red tail hawks and one other hawk that I couldn’t identify.
Two turkey vultures.
Vast amounts of snow geese…too many to number.
Canadian geese as well.

We also saw one gorgeous great blue heron in a dead tree alongside the Feather River.
Several gulls….white and gray.
Red winged blackbirds by the dozens.
Two flocks of crows in the trees.
White egrets in the trees.

Great day for nature study.

Posted on January 17, 2009 by Barb — 3 Comments

Signs of a Squirrel: Our Outdoor Hour Challenge #45

Today ended up with a nature study of squirrels at my dad’s house. We had gone over to visit him this afternoon and somehow it was mentioned that we were studying squirrels this week. His eyes lit up and he took us out for a little walk on the backside of his property. He has been up there cutting wood and he had something to share with us.

This is what he wanted us to see up on the hill next to his woodpile. There was a whole area that was piled high with shredded pinecones. All of the reddish material that you see in this photo is the remnants of a squirrel feast. The squirrels have been very busy eating up in the trees and letting the litter fall to the ground in great heaps.

Here in the center, probably easier to see if you click the photo, are some of the many, many pinecones stripped of their tasty seeds.

Here is a closer shot of another cone.

Can you believe how big this pile is? They are busy squirrels.

Here one of the seeds from the cone after the squirrel has finished with it.

Now for a few more mammal signs from our walk.

We also saw these “signs” from some mule deer that live in this area. Just last week we saw seven deer walking down to my dad’s pond late in the afternoon. They seemed not to care that we were watching in awe of their beauty.

Then right down the hill from where we were, we saw these tell-tale signs of a busy gopher. You could not walk easily on this slope because the ground was just full of holes and tunnels.

Here is another view of one of the holes. My dad was thinking about making a new garden in this area but I told him he better think twice….deer and gophers don’t mix very well with a vegetable garden. Even though it is a perfect spot for growing with lots of sunlight, he would need to fence it like his other garden area….a very tall fence.

What a great way to study squirrels. My dad thinks of his property as a sort of nature study laboratory for our family. He will call us over if he sees something interesting and I love that about him. My dad and I did not spend much time together when I was a child because he was always working but now that he is retired, he and I share our love of all things that have to do with the great outdoors. He has not always been a fan of homeschooling but I think he now has changed his mind and is eager to help us out with our nature study.

Posted on January 13, 2009 by Barb — 3 Comments

On the Trail of Some Mammals: Outdoor Hour Challenge #44

We do not have many rabbits in our neighborhood although we have seen tracks in the snow up in the mountains not far from here. We read up on rabbits but we also tried to brainstorm other mammals we might see or see signs of on our Outdoor Hour hike this week. Here is our running list:

Western Grey Squirrel
Fox
Raccoon
Opposum
Skunk
Mule deer
Mole
Gopher
Deer mouse
Coyote

Many of these mammals are rarely seen during daylight hours but we thought we might see signs of them along the trail if we looked closely.

Here is a little glimpse of what we saw along the trail as we kept our eyes out for signs of mammals. We obviously don’t have any snow at the moment so we were looking for tracks in the damp earth. My husband thought it might be a deer trail but the branches of the bushes are too low for a deer to easily slip through. I think it must be a smaller mammal…maybe a fox? We looked very carefully but we could not see any clear tracks in the mud which is even more curious to us.

We also found several holes that looked promising and this one looked freshly dug. No prints in the dirt though.

Here is a pine cone that shows signs of having been someone’s dinner. Scattered around this area were parts of the cone as well.

Now for the photos for the more serious mammal hunters. Scroll down for some scat photos or you can finish here. 🙂 Seriously, these are really graphic animal dropping photos. Don’t feel bad if you skip them.

This was full of fur and very black. After looking in several reference books, including the Discover Nature in Winter book, I think this is fox scat.

This one was full of some kind of red skins, maybe from some berries or fruit. I am not sure at all who it belongs to.

Although we didn’t see any rabbits or signs of rabbits, we had a great time looking for other mammals during our afternoon walk.

Posted on May 4, 2008 by Barb — 8 Comments

Wildflower Walk-Purple Chinese Houses, White Globe Lily, Indian Pink, and More

Trail with poppies-it is a steep hike but very rewarding

It was a family hike day down our near-by trail. We just discovered this trail over the winter and have now been hiking it for the last few months regularly. We are finding that every time we venture down it, we find something new and exciting waiting for us.

This afternoon we found lots of new wildflowers blooming, some familiar and some new to us. We also saw at least three different kinds of butterflies and heard a new bird but never discovered who it was…..shy bird with a lovely call. We need to come back with binoculars and spend some time quietly sitting and waiting with a field guide.

“Everyone should have the privilege of enjoying the natural beauty of the countryside. Such enjoyment is impossible if a relatively small number of people insist on picking and destroying native plants for their own selfish interests.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 460-461

Here are some of the beauties we saw on this particular hike.

Some kind of pea flowering on a vine.

California Indian Pink….showy color and you couldn’t miss it!

Purple Chinese Houses
These are some of my favorite wildflowers. Not only are they purple but they are really big. On this trail they line both sides as you walk the upper part.

White Globe Lily or as we call them Fairy Lanterns. They are also know as Snowdrops, Indian Bells and Satin Bells. Whatever you call them, so pretty.

This is a new flower to us. I love the little purple dot on each petal and the yellow center. The interesting stems and leaves make this unusual shape. They were all over the trail…in the center as well as the edge. I have not identified this wildflower yet….any ideas?

This was so sweet smelling as we hiked along…deer bush, California lilac, or wild lilac. The bees loved it.

This was a wonderful way to spend our Outdoor Hour this weekend. So many families have thanked me for starting the Outdoor Hour Challenges but the reality is that this whole process has blessed me more than you can imagine. I have renewed zeal for finding ways of weaving nature study into our life too. It has been a mutually beneficial experience. 🙂 So thank you to all you families who are participating.

Search Results for: deer