Tag: Outdoor Mom’s Journal

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Outdoor Mom’s Journal – December Edition

 

Outdoor Mom’s Journal – December Edition

evening grosbeak pistache tree (11)

It isn’t until I look back over my photos for each month that I realize just how many outdoor related activities fill my days. I love taking photos of my backyard birds and I really do take a lot of them throughout the month. Many are blurry and not worth saving but every now and then get lucky and capture a beauty like this grosbeak.

 

Project Feederwatch 2015November is always exciting because I start participating in Project Feederwatch. I think this is such a simple way to remind me of all the beautiful birds that come to visit my yard each week. I don’t spent lots of time sitting and watching the feeders out the window but I do it consistently each week. We have lots of birds to count and I think I will create a recap of my lists later in the month.

Pinnacles National Park 1

The highlight of our month was a trip with our two sons to Pinnacles National Park. Of course I will be sharing more thoroughly about our visit in an up-coming blog entry but I wanted to share a few images as part of my Outdoor Mom’s Journal too. Pinnacles National Park is off the beaten path a bit but it was surprisingly close to our house, only about a three hour drive on really good roads.

Pinnacles National Park 2

I wouldn’t be surprised if you have never heard of Pinnacles National Park. I went there once as a young girl but we had never taken our family there. It is a beautiful place to hike and explore. The rock formations are so pretty and unique in that they form a perfect habitat for the endangered California condor! We actually saw one from a distance on our trip!

Pinnacles National Park High Peaks Trail 1

We did quite a bit of hiking during our stay. It was cold but the sun was out…at the beginning of this hike, the thermometer in our truck said it was 27 degrees. Now that is cold!!! We set off on the shady side of the mountain but within the first mile you break out into the sunshine and from going uphill you generate quite a bit of your own heat.

Pinnacles National Park 3

Happy mom! I love hiking with the boys…they make it a lot of fun. We did a little over seven miles on this day and I lived to tell all about the High Peaks Trail, especially the “Steep and Narrow” section where there are stone steps and handrails.

Sunset Beach 1

We also made a visit to Sunset Beach…it has a long stretch of sand to walk. What is it about beach walking to relax and rejuvenate your spirits? There was this rather large flock of gulls taking over this area of the sand but they let us walk on by with no issues. Some afternoons you wish you could just bottle up for a cold winter’s day and this was one of those afternoons. Perfect!

Sunset Beach 2

We were surprised by the number of intact sand dollars we found, many of them with some sort of plant growing on them and some barnacles too! This one was purple and pink…amazing!

Outdoor Moms Journal @handbookofnaturestudy

Outdoor Mom’s Journal

Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world. I hope you have enjoyed your October nature adventures.

How Do You Join?

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 week 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…
  • A photo I would like to share…

I will be posting my Outdoor Mom’s Journal entry once a month. Look for it during the first week of the month each month.

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Outdoor Mom’s Journal – November Edition

Ramapo Valley County Reservation Mahwah NJ

October was a BIG month for getting outdoors for our family. My husband and I flew across the country to not only see the fall colors of the East Coast but to spend quality family time with three of our children. I realized that all five of us needed to do some exploring out in the fresh air and sunshine. We couldn’t have timed our trip better and this entry will share a few of the highlights as I compose this Outdoor Mom’s Journal for this month.

Above is the first of our autumn strolls. This one at Ramapo Valley County Reservation in Mahwah, New Jersey. Yes, New Jersey. I have one son living not far from this gem of a park and one evening we took a walk around the shore of the small lake there right at the golden time of the day. This is a photo I snapped as we rounded a corner…it was like a tunnel of light. Amazing.

Kent Falls CT
Kent Falls, CT

IMG_1778

You have no idea how happy this image makes me. To have five of us together, on the trail, almost perfect (just missing one child).

Appalachian Trail Housatonic Kent
We hiked along the Appalachian Trail near the Housatonic River and the town of Kent, CT one afternoon. It was like a dream. W

IMG_1794

The trail was flat and covered in fallen leaves which were so crunchy under our feet. The trail meanders alongside the river for miles and miles but we didn’t go but maybe a couple miles before we turned around and headed back.

Appalachian Trail near Kent, CT

The leaves were so interesting and my husband and daughter wanted a photo with some of the rather large leaves that we found along one portion of the trail.

Candlewood Lake Connecticut Beach
We were staying at gorgeous Candlewood Lake near Danbury, CT. This was the perfect launching spot for our trip and it was central to everything we wanted to do.

IMG_1743

Candlewood Lake in Connecticut created a memory for our family and this little cabin we rented through AirBNB could not have been any better.

Lake Waramaug State Park in CT

Here is a photo I would like to share: Lake Waramaug State Park in Connecticut

Outdoor Moms Journal @handbookofnaturestudy

Outdoor Mom’s Journal

Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world. I hope you have enjoyed your October nature adventures.

How Do You Join?

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 week 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…
  • A photo I would like to share…

I will be posting my Outdoor Mom’s Journal entry once a month. Look for it during the first week of the month each month.

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Outdoor Mom’s Journal – October Edition

Outdoor Mom's Journal September 2015 @handbookofnaturestudy
My September Collage: Beautiful coneflowers from a visit to a botanical garden. My swallow bird study nature journal entry. Smoke from the large and destructive wildfire we experienced here in California. A new variety of apple from our apple farm visit.

Charlotte Mason said, “Some children are born naturalists, but even those who weren’t were born with natural curiosity about the world should be encouraged to observe nature. Most children are influenced by the opinions of those around them and if their parents don’t care about nature, or are disgusted by little creatures, they will pick up that attitude and all the wonders of nature will pass them by.”

I think I was born a naturalist. I know a few fellow naturalists in my real life and I see them here through the lens of my blog. Perhaps you have one in your home.

I try to feed that love of the natural world as much as I can fit it into my busy life….it is a balm and a balance to our very fast-paced, technologically focused world.

  • Most inspiring this month was my butterfly observations in my own front yard. I spent quite a bit of time sitting quietly waiting for a butterfly to stop flying around and land for a photo. I was rewarded for my effort.
  • I wondered about how the migrating birds know when to come back. I saw the appearance of my juncos and sparrows. They arrived at our feeders just as we got our first measurable rain since last spring.
  • I am anticipating and dreaming about a soon to happen trip to Connecticut. We are hoping for fall color and good weather for hiking. Time will tell.

Two photos I want to share!

Heirloom Morning Glory @handbookofnaturestudy

This is one of my morning glories that I have growing in a pot on my back deck. It is so amazing when it firsts opens up….just like a paper flower! It is truly a glorious flower.

Tomato Hornworms September 2015 @handbookofnaturestudy

This is something else from a pot on my back deck. Tomato hornworms that completely ate my tomato plant pretty much in a night. I check this plant everyday and somehow missed them until I saw their telltale droppings on the deck around the plant. I left them for the birds to deal with. It’s kind of late in the season to hope that the plant revives but I can always have hope. It is hard to believe that these caterpillars eventually turn into beautiful sphinx moths.

It was a great month….looking forward to finding the autumn gifts in October.

Outdoor Moms Journal @handbookofnaturestudy

Outdoor Mom’s Journal

Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world. I hope you have enjoyed your August.

How Do You Join?

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 week 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…
  • A photo I would like to share…

I will be posting my Outdoor Mom’s Journal entry once a month. Look for it during the first week of the month each month.

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Outdoor Mom’s Journal – Early Fall Thoughts

Outdoor Moms Journal @handbookofnaturestudy

“But he learns naturally at his own pace, never tiring, and slowly learning just what he needs to know about the world around him. And this is exactly what a child should be doing for the first few years. He should be getting familiar with the real things in his own environment. Some day he will read about things he can’t see; how will he conceive of them without the knowledge of common objects in his experience to relate them to? Some day he will reflect, contemplate, reason. What will he have to think about without a file of knowledge collected and stored in his memory?”

Charlotte Mason in Modern English, volume 1 page 66

Renee’s Garden Seeds – Just Look at My Garden!

If you have been following the blog in the past few years, you are aware that Renee’s Garden Seeds has been a sponsor and valued part of my summer gardening experience. Not only have I enjoyed her seeds in my garden, but I have shared seeds with my dad. He has a beautiful garden and each year he tenderly nurtures his vegetables through the hot California summer. This year his pond went dry but he still kept his garden green with his well water.

Renees Garden Collage @handbookofnaturestudy

Here in town I did not have that option…we are on city water and have been restricted not only in the number of days we can water but we were asked to reduce our usage by using less than last year. I took the challenge and created a container garden on my back deck and watered using only a drip system and water that I caught from our shower warm up time that I collected in a five gallon bucket.  This garden has brought such joy to me over the summer. I could look out and see the insects buzzing around the blossoms and the hummingbirds stopping by for some nectar.

Sunflower Renees Garden

Hello Mr. Sunflower! So glad you joined us….the bees have spent many hours hovering and gathering at my container sunflowers.

Each morning I would check my plants for something to harvest. It could be a handful of cherry tomatoes, a zucchini to pick, or some herbs to include in my dinner plans.

morning glory renees aug 2015 (1)
I would talk to my morning glory vines and coach them to stop growing so tall and to start blooming. The first morning that I looked out my window and saw these gorgeous flowers made all the waiting worth it. They now greet me every morning with a few blue flowers…happy, happy, happy.

zucchini renees 2
The zucchini at the beginning of the season were small but more of a traditional shape. As the summer has worn on, they have started to change into this interesting shape, still tasty and summery on the table at dinner.

Granny Smith @handbookofnaturestudy

Apple Time!

We are looking forward to apple time in the coming weeks. Not only our local orchard but our very own apple tree in our backyard! This is the first year we really have an apple “harvest” on our young tree and it surprises me that even in our drought that we have apples to eat from our own tree. We will be visiting our local apple farm to purchase apples for various treats including applesauce. The taste of autumn around here is apple!

Apple Study @handbookofnaturestudy

You can do your own apple study using the Outdoor Hour Challenge: Autumn Apples Nature Study.

Join Jami over on An Oregon Cottage for her Tuesday Garden Party!

http://anoregoncottage.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/CoHosted-Tuesday-Garden-Party_150.png

 Sugar Pine Point State Park Aug 2015 @handbookofnaturestudy

 August was a great month of being outdoors for this nature loving mama. I accomplished one of my nature study goals for the year by visiting a new state park, Sugar Pine Point State Park! I will share that in an up-coming post here on the Handbook of Nature Study. The season is about to change here and that means even more time outside hiking with the cooler temperatures.

Outdoor Moms Journal @handbookofnaturestudy

Outdoor Mom’s Journal

Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world. I hope you have enjoyed your August.

How Do You Join?

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 week 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…
  • A photo I would like to share…

I will be posting my Outdoor Mom’s Journal entry once a month. Look for it during the first week of the month each month.

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Outdoor Mom’s Journal – Yosemite Thoughts

Yosemite June 2015

Outdoor Mom’s Journal – July 6, 2015

Sometimes when I think of Yosemite my heart skips a beat. What place on earth is like it? For our family it holds so many memories and has created a heart in each of us for being outside and feeling connected to the living and growing things found there.
It is the stuff of dreams.

This trip we shared the experience with a couple of our family friends….both of them first time visitors to Yosemite National Park!

Wawona Tree 1941

Maybe it is in my very make-up. My family has been visiting Yosemite National Park for three generations. The back of this family photo says it is from August 31, 1941. I wonder how their experiences compare to ours today. They certainly dressed differently than we did for our visit and they don’t look as happy and relaxed as we do….maybe it was just for the photo.

Top of Vernal Falls

Sometimes sitting high on a mountain or at the crest of a waterfall, I still gasp at the beauty that is found there. The music of the wind blowing sweetly or the water spilling on the rocks below is so beautiful you wish it would never end. I would go there every day if I could.

Vernal Falls Rainbow

The incredible feel of being on a trail in Yosemite is beyond words, an experience so special and sacred. At times it feels like you are close to God and can feel his power and qualities.
Create a lifelong desire in your children to visit the various national parks… this is just what happened when my daughter was home for a visit from New York. She wanted to go to Yosemite and to Lake Tahoe. We did both!

Cascade Falls Trail over Tahoe

So, that is one happy mama in the photo! I was able to make both outdoor experiences happen for her during her stay with us….we savored every moment together…pure joy.

Outdoor Moms Journal @handbookofnaturestudy

Outdoor Mom’s Journal

Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world.

How Do You Join?

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 week 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…
  • A photo I would like to share…

I will be posting my Outdoor Mom’s Journal entry once a month. Look for it during the first week of the month each month.

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Outdoor Mom’s Journal – June 2015

Outdoor Moms Journal @handbookofnaturestudy

Outdoor Mom’s Journal

Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world.

How Do You Join?

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 week 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…
  • A photo I would like to share…

I will be posting my Outdoor Mom’s Journal entry once a month. Look for it during the first week of the month each month.

 

Outdoor Mom’s Journal – June 8, 2015

Tidepool images June 2015

During our Outdoor Hour time this month we…..spent some time at the Oregon Coast during a negative tide where we could explore the many creatures that were exposed. Colorful seastars, anemones, and crabs were the highlights of the day! We try to time our visit to the ocean to coincide with a low tide so we can really see some interesting things. This page may prove helpful: Tides.com.

Renees Garden Cilantro

In the garden….we are planting herbs and veggies and flowers in pots. I am enjoying the process of watering a bit every day with our shower water and see the sprouts come up and flourish. I received quite a few different seeds from Renee’s Garden that say they are particularly for containers. I will let you know how it goes this summer!

Snail Oregon

A photo I would like to share….this is a magnificent snail we saw in the redwood forest. Isn’t he great!

Brookings Oregon

The most inspiring thing we experienced….glorious sunset walks on Harris Beach. We lingered and watched. We strolled and talked. I savor those moments with my son…all grown up but he still appreciates the beauty found all around us.

Please join me! Share something that you have done lately….looking forward to reading your entries and comments!