Buds and Catkins - Our Spring Nature Study

We still have plenty of tree buds to use in our nature study this week as part of the More Nature Study Book 3 study of Buds, Catkins, and Blossoms assignment. We went out after dinner last night to observe and gather some specimens for our study. Can I just say that we were intrigued with the variety we have right in our own backyard?

Mr. B and I both sketched buds into our nature journal. There has to be no better way to really see what a bud looks like than to try to sketch it in detail. Picking the correct color and seeing the different ways that buds are shaped lead to really truly *seeing* the subject.

Advanced Study Notebook Page from More Nature Study Book 3

Mr. B used the advanced notebook page from the ebook to try his hand at sketching an enlarged bud using the grid paper. He thought this was hard.....I think he just needs a little practice.

Sweet Gum Tree Bud

What a glorious bud he chose to sketch! This is the sweet gum tree bud...it looks like it is ready to burst open at any moment. We placed it in a glass of water to see if we could get it to open up in our window sill.

The vertical twig hanging down has our string on it...still no leaves.

We also observed the birch catkins we have on our backyard tree. This was the same tree we used in our twig study and we found the branch with the string marker. Not much of a change yet so we will continue to watch our twig as the season progresses.

New leaves on this twig of the birch tree and some catkins too.

Currently there are no tree blossoms in our yard. The plum is done and the pear and apple are not yet blossoming. We found a few more interesting things to gather and bring inside for our bud study.

Walnut Tree Twig with Buds

The most interesting thing from our study is the walnut tree twig with its unusual buds...both color and shape. We had never taken the time to really examine the walnut tree bud before so it was a surprise. It was a fun exercise to try to get the sketch right in my journal. It helps to know a little bit about twig anatomy so you notice all the important parts like the leaf scars and the lenticels.

Silver Maple Buds and Key

The maple tree buds are all burst open and you can see the keys in the image above. If you are interested in doing your own Spring Maple Tree Study, you can look back to a previous study we had here on this blog. You may wish to use the free printable: Spring Maple Tree Notebook Page

Birch Tree Catkin - April 2012

So this was another wonderful study with my teen. He did a little grumbling at first about doing the study this week since he thought there wasn't much to learn but as you see above once we got started there were many things to be interested in. If all that he gleaned from this study was that all tree buds are unique and we can identify trees from twigs and buds, then I am a happy mama.


Don't forget to share your Spring Splendor Walk and Bud/Catkin/Blossom blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival.You can submit entries directly to me if needed: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

First Day of Spring: Sierra Foothill Garden

After all the rain we received in the last five days, it was nice to have a dry day today. It would be stretching it to say it was warm and sunny but it was pretty close. We were able to all get outside this afternoon to enjoy a look around the garden. The boys were on their scooters, the Kona dog was rolling in the grass, and I had my camera and nature journal.

The first things we noticed were the colors.

After that we noticed the delicate scent of the alyssum flowers which are starting to fill in all under the rose bushes.

Next when we sat still in the chairs for a few minutes it was the bird song and the bees buzzing in the dandelions. A spider swung by on a web...not sure where he came from but he was swinging down and floating in the breeze. The border bugs were skittering across the river rocks in the sun.


The trees are coming alive too....maple keys, buds bursting. The garden is full of sprouting, unfurling, and greenness. 

So much to be thankful for on this first day of Spring 2012.


Today's bird list on this first day of spring:

• House finches -singing sweetly in the plum tree.
• Nuttall's woodpecker in the suet feeder (looking out at one right now as I type this entry)
• Mourning doves scratching around under the feeder.
• House sparrows
• White-crowned sparrows
• Western scrub jays - back to their bullying role at the feeder
• Oak titmouses
• Dark eyed juncos (a dozen of them)
• Spotted towhees
• California towhees
• Anna's hummingbirds (flew right by my ear when we were sitting outside)
• White-breasted nuthatch
• American robins

So what did you see? How is spring shaping up in your part of the world?

It is not too late to print and complete the First Day of Spring printable from yesterday's entry.




Jami's Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Maple Study - Leaves Instead of Seeds

Autumn Scene - Sierra Nevada Foothills

Our last study for the Autumn series (More Nature Study with the OHC) was one that took us up the mountain to see maples brilliantly colored against the autumn sky. The Bigleaf maples are ablaze with color right now and so easy to spot since they grow in and among the evergreens of the Sierra Nevada. Our field guide says that Bigleaf maples grow at an elevation of 2,000 - 5,000 feet so we live right at the lower edge of where they naturally occur.

Perfect spot to stop and observe some Bigleaf Maples

We stopped alongside the roadway to gather a few leaves and take some images. When I opened the car door...Mmmmmm...it smelled like fall. I hope I don't ever stop remembering to slow down enough to drink in the fragrance of autumn leaves, damp and woodsy.

Lobed leaves, turning yellow-green

Now to the part that I have to be humble about. When I wrote the Maple Seed Challenge months ago I thought that this would be the time to gather seeds. Turns out after some direct observation and some reading in my tree book....that this may not be the right time for maple keys so now that we know where to find our little grove of maples, we will revisit it in the winter to see if can see any changes.

We decided that we might as well observe and learn more about the leaves of the Bigleaf maple.


We brought one really big leaf home and measured it...a little less than twelve inches across. Our field guide says that the leaves should be 16-14 inches in length including the stalk so that is in line with what we found. Mr. B decided to start the advanced notebook page with the field guide information but wait on sketching the maple keys until we gather some at a later date.

On another big leaf note....



How about this gigantic catalpa tree leaf that we found at my mom's house last weekend? Isn't it glorious? Amanda took a quick photo of me holding the leaf and I thought you  might get a kick out of seeing it, especially after seeing the maple leaf and thinking THAT was big. My little three year old grand-niece said, "What is that?" I told a it was a really big leaf and she laughed. I miss having little ones around who have lots of questions and everything is new and interesting.

Sigh, that finishes up the autumn challenges for now. This season of nature study went by entirely too fast! For more information on what the next few months hold for the OHC, see THIS ENTRY.  I will post a bonus type challenge this coming Friday.



If you feel inclined and you have not already taken the opportunity to vote yet, my Handbook of Nature Study blog has been nominated in the Homeschool Blog Awards for the Best Homeschooling Nature Study/Field Trip Blog category. I am not a big blog award sort of person but these awards are a way for more people to find out about what we do here on my blog which is to provide a community of nature loving families a place to connect and learn from each other. If you click over, you will need to scroll down and find the proper category (#20 on the list) and then scroll down the list of blogs and click the button in front of Handbook of Nature Study.

I know that several of the Outdoor Hour Challenge participants have also been nominated in this category and it warms my heart! I think all of you deserve this award too....my blog is really just a reflection of all the great families who participate in the weekly challenges, the blog carnival, the newsletter, and in supporting each other by leaving comments and encouraging thoughts.

Our (Humble) Spring Maple Tree Study

So now that we know that one of the trees in our row of sweet gums trees is actually a maple, we have a subject for this week's maple tree challenge.

We found some information about maples online:
Maple tree identification video from About.com
How to Tap a Maple Tree




We are holding off on the exact identification until it totally leafs out. We think it may be a silver maple which is not native to our area, but we know that we did purchase it from a nursery over a decade ago. The whole situation with this tree makes me wonder if I will ever know my own backyard.

It humbles me.

We always enjoy the tree no matter what its exact species is anyway and my husband reminded me of how much I enjoy this particular tree with its beautifully shaped limbs and its pretty leaves. It also gives us much needed shade on the back of our house when summer comes.



I already shared a photo of the helicopter seeds but here is another one for this study. We did learn from our research that these are officially called samaras.

My son and I went out and really truly looked at this tree one afternoon this past week. We observed a few new things. First of all, it is ready to leaf out and the sweet gums are still in buds. Next, the samaras are not on every branch. We have looked in our field guide and then online, finding no information about why that is so.


We remember now that the leaf buds on this tree are bright red and the sweet gums are light green. My son also reminded me that this tree has a time of year that it drops sap lightly on the rocks below it. The leaves and the rocks below get all sparkly with a sticky substance.

After discussing it as a family, we decided that all these years we just thought we had two different varieties of sweet gum trees. It never occurred to us that it could be a totally different tree.

Okay, so now the really humiliating part of the entry. My son studied this maple for a whole year thinking it was a sweet gum tree.
Spring Tree Study
Fall Tree Study
Winter Tree Study

This should make all of you feel better knowing that I am just like you. I am learning every week as our family slows down to study and learn about all we have living in our backyard. The other lesson that we learned over the last week is that we actually learn more when we are wrong about something. It takes real determination to research and compare in order to dig down to the bottom of a mystery. We now know more about maples and sweet gum trees than ever before. I am positive there is still a lot more to learn on this topic.

What is the saying? The more you know, the more you realize you don't know. I think that is how it goes. It perfectly illustrates how I feel right now.

We have been trying to spend some time outdoors every day, but we are told to expect more snow tonight. It has been a crazy spring so far!

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Challenge-Spring Maple Tree Bonus Challenge

I was seriously planning on taking this week off from the Outdoor Hour Challenge and then I found a maple tree notebook page in my Publisher file that I had created and never used. So another bonus challenge this week for you!

Please do not worry if you do not have a maple tree to observe and perhaps instead you would like to complete the Signs of Spring Challenge from last week or you can download the Spring Nature Walk sheet from my daughter's Hearts and Trees blog.

The official start to the Spring Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges will be next week, April 2nd.

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Spring Bonus Challenge-Maple Trees

Inside Preparation Work:
Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 628-634. Pay special attention to the section on page 629 where it talks about how maple trees change in the spring. Also on page 634 there are specific suggestions for spring observations of a maple tree.

Outdoor Hour Time:
Please note:
We will be doing our Year-Long Tree Study observations next week so save that tree for next time.

If you have a maple tree, spend some time making springtime observations. The Handbook of Nature Study suggests looking for the leaves and blossoms. On page 629 of the Handbook there is a photo of the sugar maple blossoms.

If you do not have a maple to observe, spend some time looking at any tree that perhaps has some buds forming or a tree that is just beginning to leaf out.

Follow-Up Time:
You can use the Maple Tree Study page provided below for your follow-up activity or you can sketch your maple tree right into your nature journal. The best way to follow up any maple tree study is to eat something with real maple syrup.

Spring Maple Tree Notebook Page

I have sent out all the Spring Nature Study with Art and Music Appreciation books that I have orders for at this time. If you did not receive your ebook for some reason, please email me and I will send it ASAP.

Have a great week!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Visiting Maple Tree Country: Outdoor Hour Challenge #34

Our Outdoor Hours this week were spent along the northern California Coast and southern Oregon coast. Our first stop was camping at Humboldt Redwoods (great place for camping) where most of the tallest trees in the world live. We saw ancient redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) towering overhead.

These trees are so tall and grow so densely that the forest floor is dark and quiet. It is quite the experience to hike along the trail and silently observe these magnificent trees up close.

The forest seemed to have its own atmosphere in and among the trees. The mist in some areas was high up in the canopy of the redwoods and it was dripping down on our heads as we hiked underneath.

In some parts of the redwood forest, it seemed as if the light never penetrated down to the floor and there were mushrooms and moss growing everywhere. It was like stepping back in time.

Mixed in among these forest giants are Big leaf maples. This time of year they are a brilliant yellow and orange and the leaves are *large*. My tree book says that the leaves are between 16 and 24 inches long.

Here is a leaf I saw on the ground that shows how big they are in real life.

"It is its autumn transfiguration which has made people observant of the maple's beauty; yellow, orange, crimson, and scarlet foliage makes these trees gorgeous when October comes."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 628

This leaf was on a tree in Ashland, Oregon in Lithia Park. The trees in the park were just turning colors as we walked through last weekend.

It was really cold and the air had a bite to it. We bundled up and enjoyed the walk.

After this trip along the Pacific coast, I have thought a lot about our dependence on wood from trees. We passed many areas in the forest where it had been clear cut, leaving nothing left standing to speak of. There were many, many lumber mills and great stacks of both logs and lumber.

Here is a stack of logs that we passed in the town of Eureka, CA. You cannot even imagine how tall and long these piles of logs are but this gives you an idea. It is a big reminder how useful certain trees are in our every day life. Look around you at this very moment and you will no doubt see lots of things made from wood.

I know that trees are a renewal resource but it does make you stop and think when you see so many areas clear-cut and then the piles of logs sitting at the mills. It truly is a balancing act….the love of the forest and the love of wood products.

Just a some thoughts as we travel along on this trip.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom