“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?”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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 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.
