Posted on June 14, 2017 by Barb — 2 Comments

Smith Rock State Park – Tips and Images

Smith Rock State Park

Terrebonne, Oregon

This is an amazing place to visit if you’re ever in the Bend, Oregon area. We had a free day when our daughter was visiting from New York and we were searching for a place to do some day hiking. Smith Rock State Park isn’t far from our new house so we packed up some lunches and water and set off fairly early on a Saturday morning. The weather was sunny and warm so lots of other people had the same idea of getting outside to enjoy the day.

The parking lot was nearly full but we did manage to score a slot in the grassy area. There is a day use fee of $5 that you can pay at the self-serve station in the parking area.

Here is a link to the home page for Smith Rock State Park.

We visited the information center before choosing our hike. We were hoping to find a trail that took us along the river and where we could get a good look at the canyon. The ranger showed us just the right trail! You can check out the brochure before visiting: Climbing and Trail Guide.

Not only did we hike down to the river and then alongside it, we were able to see a lot of people rock climbing just off the path. According to the website and brochure, there are over 1,000 climbing routes at Smith Rock. We observed people of all ages climbing up the steep rocks using ropes. I’m not at all interested in rock climbing but it was a treat to stop a few times and watch the truly amazing things people can accomplish as they spider their way up the rocks.

Smith Rock State Park @handbookofnaturestudy — Flax

I love wildflowers and now that we are in our new habitat, I can start learning about the flowers that are found here. The flower above is Lewis flax. Isn’t it an amazing color? Since spying this at Smith Rock, I realized there is a patch just around the corner from my house so I’ve been better able to study it up close since this initial discovery.

It was actually quite warm in the sun as we hiked but the sound of water in the river made it much more bearable. Our dog took several opportunities to jump in and swim to cool off.

We had a picnic sitting on a rock when we found a viewpoint about a mile and a half down the trail. We watched a duck pair and their babies as they paddled in a small eddy along the river. Earlier we were able to get a good look at an eagle, its nest and its baby. There was a ranger with a spotting scope that shared this incredible sight with us. He was there all day…we know because we saw him on the way in and then on our way back. What a great opportunity for so many hikers to see the eagles thanks to this patient ranger.

We all declared this a fantastic hike and we look forward to doing it again soon! My daughter even said it’s in her top favorite places to hike now, which made me so glad that we made the effort to get out and do this hike together.

I love living in Oregon!

You can read more about our Oregon State Park adventures in this entry:

Oregon State Parks – Diverse and Beautiful

Posts from Other Oregon Parks

Harris Beach State Park
Harris Beach State Park – Tidepools of Wonder
Oregon Coast Trail
Nature Study is Not a Drill (featuring Oregon Coast nature study)
Southern Oregon Beaches (featuring several state parks)
Crater Lake National Park (not a state park but a destination in Oregon)

Posted on June 7, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

Wildflower Series Set #2 Coming Soon!

Outdoor Hour Challenge Wildflower Nature Study Set #2

Don’t miss the special promotion code at the bottom of this email!

It’s time for a new set of wildflower challenges! I have been busy working on a brand new set of five wildflower challenges to post over the next few months. I will have the ebook ready by 6/20/17.

Please note the notebooking pages will only be available to ebook users and the ebook will be available for those that have an Ultimate or Journey level membership.

Wildflowers Included in Set #2

Henbit
Cow Parsnip
Columbine
Chicory
Cocklebur

This new ebook will be loaded into the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level memberships soon!

If you aren’t a member yet, you still have time to join and have immediate access as soon as it publishes.

As a special promo, you can use the discount code WILDFLOWER5 for $5 off the Ultimate Naturalist Membership.

Handbook of Nature Study Ultimate Naturalist Membership

Join us later in June for this exciting series of nature study challenges!

Save

Posted on June 2, 2017 by Barb — 1 Comment

Rosemary Herb Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Herb Study – Rosemary

Rosemary is a popular culinary herb in the mint family and is used in many common dishes. It is also used for herbal sachets, soaps, creams and lotions. In many areas, it’s a particularly popular landscape plant that is drought resistant.

Inside Preparation:

This evergreen perennial shrub has opposite, leathery, narrow needle-like leaves. The leaves are dark green on top and downy white on the bottom. There is a prominent vein that runs down the middle of the leaf. The stem is woody. The fragrance is pungent and slightly pine-like.
The blossoms are pale blue and about a half inch long.
Read more about the mint family of plants here: Mint Family – Lamiaceae

Outdoor Time:

Observe your rosemary plant using all your senses.

Touch- What do the leaves feel like? How would you describe the stem? Is the stem square?
Fragrance- Smell the leaves. Crush some leaves and see if you can tell the difference. Do the flowers have a fragrance?
Sight- How tall is the plant? How wide is your plant? Use your best description for the colors, shapes and sizes for your rosemary.
Taste- Taste the fresh leaves and then bring in some leaves to dry. Does the dry rosemary taste differently than the fresh?
Are there insects in your rosemary? Common insects are the honeybee and the spittle bug. See my entry showing spittle bugs on my rosemary: Up Close Insect Observations.
Does the plant grow mostly upward or outward?

Follow Up:

Create a nature journal entry for your rosemary plant. For beginners, keep it simple and include a sketch of your rosemary plant and a caption. There is a new notebook page for members here on the Handbook of Nature Study: Herb Study-Rosemary. Look for it in your Ultimate and Journey level memberships.
Bring a sprig or two inside for your nature table. If you have a mortar and pestle, let your children grind up the rosemary and have them describe the fragrance.
Advanced study: Create a nature journal page to record the many uses of rosemary. More advanced students can include a sketch of the stem, leaf, and flower. Here is a link for your research: Uses and Benefits of Rosemary.

Long term project: Potted Rosemary can be a long term garden project for even a young child. Look for a small rosemary plant at your local garden nursery. Rosemary likes lots of sun so find a sunny windowsill if you are not planting it outdoors.

Rosemary can take a bit of snow but it doesn’t do well where it has long days of cold and/or freezing. Rosemary is usually grown from a cutting and not from seeds. Here is some information on growing rosemary from a cutting: How to Propagate Rosemary (with images).

Recipes to Try:

Grilled Bread with Rosemary Dipping Oil: This is amazing! Super simple and even if you don’t grill your bread but still dip it in the flavored oil it will be a treat.
Rosemary Focaccia Bread: I could eat this bread every single day.

How do you get the new Wildflower Nature Study ebook?

Members of the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey levels have access to the new ebook in their library. You need to click the “Members Area” button at the top of the website, sign into your account, and the ebook is there to download and save for your family to use when desired. If you don’t have a membership yet, I am offering a $5 off discount code that will be good towards your Ultimate Naturalist membership.
Discount Code: Wildflower5
Mid-June Set #2 will be added to the members library and we will be working our way through Set #2 over this summer. Look for a post soon that will give all the details of this new ebook. In the meantime, you are welcome to use Set #1 as you come into contact with the wildflowers included in it.

Posted on June 1, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter – June 2017 Garden Crops

Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter

June 2017 Garden Crops

Please read the following explanation outlining how to get this month’s newsletter.

The newsletter link is not in this email but will come separately. Members should have received their link already.

If you don’t receive the separate email with the download link, you probably aren’t subscribed to the blog yet. This will take less than a minute to do if you follow the steps below.

If you are a subscriber and you haven’t received your newsletter email yet, check your SPAM inbox. Some subscribers have found the email buried in SPAM inbox.

If you need to subscribe:

You will need to go to the Handbook of Nature Study, look to the top right corner for the box to type in your preferred email address, and then confirm the email that comes to your email inbox.
Once you subscribe, you will receive a thank you email from me with the download link for the current month’s newsletter.

This month’s newsletter link will be available only during the month of May so be sure to download it before 6/30/17.

Remember! All of the archived and current newsletters are available as part of the Ultimate Naturalist Library…every level!

Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:

This month’s newsletter has the theme of “garden crops”. I have included some fun and simple ways to complete some nature study in your garden.
I have written a new garden nature study idea that anyone can do with their children. It is a simple comparison of three seeds and then growing those seeds in a pot.
There is a chart outlining all of the crop plants that have Outdoor Hour Challenges in the archives.
As always, there is a planning page with simple to use ideas including a crop plant grid study from the archives.

Resources for your Nature Library: I have started to build a nature library store on Amazon that will feature by category my favorite nature study books and resources. Take a look and see if there is anything you would like to put on your wish list for your family’s nature study library: Handbook of Nature Study Nature Library Suggestions on Amazon.com. Note this is my affiliate store to items I personally recommend and have read or seen in person.

Please note that Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level members have access to members only printables each month in addition to the newsletter printables. You will need to log into your account and then go to the “Other Releases” section.

Wildflower Set #1 is found in the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level memberships.

PLUS there will be a new Wildflower set coming out sometime near the middle of June if you are interested in using that for your summer nature study. I will be making an announcement with details in the next week about this Set #2!

As a special promo, you can use the discount code WILDFLOWER5 for $5 off the Ultimate Naturalist Membership.

Handbook of Nature Study Ultimate Naturalist Membership

Posted on May 31, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

New Printables for Members – Rosemary and 3 Seed Project

New this month in the Member’s Library!

1. Rosemary Study Notebook Page – Use this page for your up-coming rosemary study. Watch for it in the month of June!

2. Seed Comparison – Use this notebook page along with the June 2017 newsletter activity idea for comparing three seeds, planting the seeds, and then watching them grow.

Handbook of Nature Study Members Only Printables List May 29 2017

Save

Posted on May 29, 2017 by Barb — 2 Comments

Nature Journal Examples – May 2017

Weekly Nature Journal Project

May 2017

It was a mad rush at the end of April and the beginning of May to get our house packed up and ready to move 450 miles north to our new Oregon river house. I made time to purposefully enjoy our California yard those last few days. It was important to me to write some last thoughts about the amazing front yard habitat we had built to encourage wildlife even in our small little space.

This is the two page spread I completed to put those memories in my nature journal.

We had four days of being homeless and we spent those days at La Pine State Park camping. It was a fun family time that made the page special as I recorded some of the highlights of those few days together at the Deschutes River.

At last we were in the new house! The house feature that stops everyone in their tracks is the rather large window looking from the family room out to the river… the view! It was a perfect first Oregon river house page.

There are many birds to observe and learn about in our new place. The first bird to make it in my nature journal is the tree swallow. It has quickly become a new favorite bird as it swoops and glides right by my windows in search of flying insects to eat. I have been caught just standing and watching the swallows when I should have been doing something else but I can’t help it. They are so beautiful and graceful.

I love keeping my memories in my nature journal.

Don’t forget that I am sharing a nature journal page each week on my Instagram account if you want to see the pages as they unfold. Follow me here: Instagram – outdoorhourchallenge. And, if you want to create a page and share it on your Instagram for me to see, use the hashtag #OHCnaturejournal

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Barb — 1 Comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Sweet Pea Flower Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Sweet Pea, Dodder, and Hedge Bindweed Wildflower Study

From the Archives and the More Nature Study – Spring ebook

This week we are going to look at some flowers that are featured in the Handbook of Nature Study that are actually vines. Vines are an interesting study to most of us…be sure to watch the YouTube videos to get your curiosity going!

Use the ideas in this Outdoor Hour Challenge to make careful observations of whichever flower you have access to and then follow up with a nature journal entry.

If you would like some inspiration from our family, here is a post from the archives: Wednesday Flower Study – Sweet Peas or this one Hedge Bindweed – Handbook of Nature Study.

If you have an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership, you have access to the More Nature Study – Spring ebook. The challenge in the ebook has custom notebooking pages for you to use with your vine and flower studies.

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Mom – May 2017

Outdoor Mom – May 2017

Are you ready for my first Outdoor Mom journal entry from our new home in Oregon? This place is amazing! We had a period of time that we had to be “homeless” as we transitioned from living in our old home until we moved into the new one so we took advantage of those few days by going camping with two of our older children. The weather was perfect and we hiked a bit and had some awesome evening campfires. It was so very relaxing after a whirlwind of packing and transporting our household 450 miles.

Now that we’re settling into the new place, we realize how much wildlife we have living all around us. The most notable animals are the Rocky Mountain elk that graze in the land right behind ours. They make their way slowly by our fence line both at dawn and dusk. So far the largest group we observed was eight elk. Last night, one of the elk was brave enough to jump our fence and eat at the birdfeeder. What a treat to see these magnificent mammals close up!

We have enjoyed the early morning birdsong and many mornings there is a swirling mist rising up over the river. I wake up now and jump out of bed to look out the window to see what there is to see. I let my dog outside early this morning and a few minutes later I spied her sitting at the fence watching a group of four elk. She just sat and watched, sniffing the air. It made me laugh….I can only imagine what the Kona dog was thinking.

I have started a bird list, adding each bird as it makes its appearance. I have a pair of binoculars at the ready near the window just in case a new bird decides to visit the yard. It’s going to be a fun summer of bird watching and learning my waterfowl for this area of Oregon. I think I’m up to the challenge.

I have a really nice neighborhood for walking. It is a flat mile if I walk in a loop. As I walk, I’m making mental notes of any plant emerging that looks like it may be a wildflower. It is still very early spring here and many of the trees are just getting their leaves. I am hoping to learn my Oregon wildflowers one flower at a time, just like I did in California when I first started out with nature study with my children. I realized already that I need new field guides and a really good hiking guide book. I will be researching them on Amazon over the next month or two.

We took our first hike since moving at Smith Rock State Park. My daughter was with us which made everything more fun. I will share more about this awesome place in a future post.

Well hopefully you’ve had a great month of nature time as well. Share a comment or a link to your blog entry if you want me to pop over and take a look!

Posted on May 23, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Journal Pages – April Examples

Note: I found this entry in my drafts! I have been so busy over the past six weeks as we sold our house in California, purchased a house in Oregon, moved all our belongings, and tried to keep from getting to stressed out. It isn’t surprising then that a few things slipped through the cracks.

Here is my April nature journal entry for your enjoyment.

Weekly Nature Journal Project

April 2017

This month my nature journal is full of flowers. My world has been filled with flowers so it only makes sense that this is what made its way into my heart and then onto my journal pages. The first part of the month we were in Oregon, then back to California, then back to Oregon again. This pattern will be happening for the next few months while we transition our life to our new home.

Central Oregon is just starting to move from winter into spring, so it was fun to create a second spring page noting my observations in contrast to my previous California spring page. I featured the crocus we saw and used a bright springy background of yellow for my journaling.

The first wildflower we studied from the new Wildflower Set #1 is the subject of the next page in my journal. We saw mustard all up and down the state of California.

This is the second page in my year-long study of the dogwood tree. I think this is my favorite page of the month! I so enjoyed making careful and up close observations of this pretty flower…or rather flowers and bracts. The creamy color and delicate pink tinge may just make this my favorite flowering tree.

I think this is my first two page spread of the year. I wanted to sketch this flower and include a photo so it made sense to make it two pages facing each other. I included a list of the other flowers we found on this particular hike. It’s always nice to have a record to compare from year to year.

As we get ready to make our move to Oregon, I’m getting very sentimental about my home and garden here in California. Each day I try to make more mental notes of the sights and sounds. It’s comforting to know that many of those memories are tucked safely away in my journals. I packed my older nature journals into a box yesterday and was grateful for the time I have spent digging deeper into learning about my neighborhood’s flora and fauna. I also packed my children’s nature journals alongside mine in the box. I inherited those journals from them as they left home. You can be sure they will be treasured keepsakes of the 30 years we have lived here on Hilltop Drive.

From a hilltop to a riverbank….maybe next month you will see my new habitat make an appearance in my nature journal!

Save

Posted on May 19, 2017 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Poppy and Buttercup Wildflower Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge

Poppy and Buttercup Wildflower Study

From the Archives and in the More Nature Study – Spring ebook

We are going to go on a search for poppies and buttercups this week! In my world, this is prime time for both of these wildflowers. In fact, I have some blooming right in my front yard!

Join me using the ideas from the archive post linked above or you can download the More Nature Study –Spring ebook if you are an Ultimate Naturalist Library member.

You may with to create a poppy nature journal entry using the idea I shared in this post from the past: Nature Journal Tutorial.

How do you get the new Wildflower Nature Study ebook?

Members of the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey levels have access to the new ebook in their library. You need to click the “Members Area” button at the top of the website, sign into your account, and the ebook is there to download and save for your family to use when desired. If you don’t have a membership yet, I am offering a $5 off discount code that will be good towards your Ultimate Naturalist membership.

Discount Code: Wildflower5

<img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-17884" alt="HNS Newsletter June 2017 cover" src="https://naturestudyhomeschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/HNS-Newsletter-June-2017-cover-791x1024.jpg" width="334" height="431" />Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter

June 2017 Garden Crops

PLUS there will be a new Wildflower set coming out sometime near the middle of June if you are interested in using that for your summer nature study. I will be making an announcement with details in the next week about this Set #2!

New this month in the Member’s Library!

Outdoor Hour Challenges for families since 2008!

Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter