Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Nature Study on the Wild Side: Part 2

"The teacher may judge as to her own progress in nature study by the length of time she is glad to spend in reading from nature's book what is therein written. As she progresses, she finds those hours spent in studying nature speed faster, until a day thus spent seems but an hour."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 7
Everyday now we spend more and more time outdoors in various activities. The sunny skies and warmer temperatures have beckoned us outside to be refreshed and inspired. Nothing like soaking up a little sun in between schoolwork and housework.

Mr. A has become my personal gardener in exchange for some pocket money. I gladly have turned over my weeding and pruning duties to him and he is rather good at making the yard look especially nice. Now I can spend my time doing the more enjoyable tasks in the garden, knowing the weeds will not be ankle deep if I ignore them.

Mr. B and I take a "tour of the garden" during our morning break and each time we find something new and interesting. Yesterday we noticed the columbine is blooming, the day before that we took time to notice the strawberry bed and its multitude of little berries, and before that we watched the bees in the lavender. Just a few minutes outdoors, nothing earth shattering but still refreshing nonetheless.

I have been keeping close watch on my "wild side". I had to negotiate with my hubby again to keep my little strip of wildness on the side of our house. He agreed that it was an interesting experiment and granted my wish.

Here are some photos from yesterday.
Wild Side 5 5 10
1. Wild Side 1, 2. Wild Side 2, 3. Yellow flower in the Wild side, 4. Pink flower in the Wild Side, 5. Flower gone to see in the Wild Side, 6. Blue flower in the Wild Side, 7. Awesome leaves in the Wild Side, 8. Bleeding hearts in the Wild Side

Looking closer, I am finding a huge variety of living things right there on the side of my house.

Tomorrow I will post our cattail entry....waiting on finishing our notebook pages.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom