BEAUTY

 

I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in. ~George Washington Carver

 

Nature study is not something planned in my house, just happens. In the spring always seems natural to study nature. Do you feel like that too?
 Who in the Spring could resist the beautiful flowers popping everywhere, the pleasant weather, the happy sings of the birds...not I, not I !
I love to keep around copies of favorite books about nature. Right now we are enjoying:

• Wildflowers of Texas
• A Field Guide to the Butterflies of North America 
• A Guide to Field Identification Birds of North America
• The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady

Do you have a favorite book about nature? I would love to know.

 

Dwarf Dandelion and Texas Stork's- Bill

 

Skullcap and verbena (?)

Phacelia

Baby Blue-eyes, Rose Vervain, Phacelia, Erect Dayflower, Wild Onion

Yellow Wood-Sorrel

Spiderwort , Dwarf Dandelion and Yellow Wood-Sorrel



Texas Stork's- Bill

Moss

A Wild Flower Hunt

"Every year is the same, when Spring is drawing near .

I must leave, I must go, for a wild flower hunt.

It is like a fever. A wild flower fever."

 

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 The best place to go around here, for a wild flower hunt,  is Chappell Hill,

a very quaint little town that even Anne of Green Gables would feel right at home, with a museum, historic sites and antiques.

Bring a friend, camera, picnic basket - or just stop at one of the local restaurants.

 

 Go a little farther to visit one of the two Lavender farms, to have ice cream on the Blue Bell creamery or even better visit the Rose Emporium.

On our trip, we decided to stop in on one of the local restaurant for Blue Bell ice cream. We visited my favorite antique store and drove to a Lavender farm (at this time of the year the lavenders do not show well, but the place is lovely, with lots of lavender goods, and the drive is pretty scenic).

 

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Chappell Hill

 

Fever cured!

Nature Tray

 

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Our place is really small and any open space is a luxury right now. So to solve some of our desire to still have a little corner for nature. We are now using a small tray (14"x 8"). I found our tray in a craft store like Hobby Lobby or you can find it  here.

To add a unique touch, I hand painted it with acrylic paints, I used one main color so wouldn't take away from the beauty of our nature finds.

My inspiration for the little designs on the tray come from Nature itself but if you don't know what to do, maybe a collage would be easier, where you could select beautiful nature pictures and add to your tray, it would be a perfect project for little ones too. The idea for my Nature Tray come from a British magazine, from a article about  bringing back The Nature Table  to the classrooms, apparently in England the kids were encouraged to bring any seasonal nature specimens to the classroom to everyone to admire it. The idea to have a specific place for our nature finds was just perfect for us.

But because space is a issue for us right now to add a whole table for that purpose would be impossible, so the little tray was the next best idea.

 I love the simplicity of it and the end result.

I was just planning to write about my nature tray when I stumble is this little post about nature study.

Would like more ideas to nature study? Look here.

 

 

 

 

 

"The increase of scientific knowledge lies not only in the occasional milestones of science, but in the efforts of the very large body of men who with love and devotion observe and study nature."

Polykarp Kusch

Nature study- Early Autumn

 Early Autumn is still warm here(80's).For us is more like pleasantly warm, I should say, since summer is usually in the 90's and up. So one delightful activity is nature journaling. We usually equip ourselves with color pencils, nature books of every kind,cameras and our journals.

Nature journaling has a relax effect, is so wonderful to observe and reflect our observations on paper.

We been doing this kind of journaling on and off for a few years,but this year we will be more committed ,since we have a group that is doing the same.

We have Oak trees in abundance here, and acorn of all shapes and shades of browns, those are always fun to collect .

My daughter always surprises me with her beautiful work and choice of colors. Is fun to look on some of her journaling from a year ago and see how she adds more details as she grows.

I am always trying to be a model for her, by participate, observe,drawing and writing on my journal,and quite frankly is not hard to do, since I enjoy too. If drawing is difficult there are many resources on the web for inspiration . A few ideas is to collect some of your finds and paste to your journal, or photo journaling . I have a few wonderful ideas on one my Pin board.

morning glory, mexican sage, mist plant

Nature Journaling doesn't have to be a big ordeal, your own backyard can supply many inspirations. Flowers, bugs, plants and grass is all available in abudance everywhere. My backyard is very tiny,but we always find plenty of beauty , from bunnies to snakes.

Ladybug on  Hibiscus leaf.

Hibiscus bloosoms, perfect for flower study.

Tadpoles,every child should have the joy of observe tadpoles.

A October wild flower,name unknow to me.

Goldenrod

One of our backyard sessions.

    Books that we love for nature study:
1.Trees,a golden guide from St.Martin's press                                                                                2.A guide field identification Birds of North America
3.Anna Botsford Comstock,Handbook of Nature Study