For the Love of Trees: A Year-Long Tree Study

Our New Year-Long Tree Study Subject - Cottonwood Tree

Only the growing and open season is thought to be attractive in the country. The winter is bare and cheerless. A tree is weeping, gay, restful, spirited, quiet, sombre. That is, trees have expression. The expression resides in the observer, however, not in the tree. Therefore, the more the person is trained to observe and to reflect, the more sensitive his mind to the things about him, and the more meaning the trees have. No one loves nature who does not love trees. - L.H. Bailey, 1899

We have done year-long tree studies before and it is a great way to learn about a tree, to become familiar with its life cycle through the seasons. Taking a year to get to know a tree allows you to focus on a different part of the tree in each season. A year-long tree study can be as simple as making observations in each season and talking about what you see as the tree changes or transforms. Or, you can make it more in-depth by adding in additional reading in the Handbook of Nature Study and keeping a nature journal of your observations.

"Children should also become familiar with trees at an early age. They should pick about six in the winter when the leaves are gone, perhaps an elm, a maple, a beech, etc, and watch them during the year."
Charlotte Mason, volume 1 page 52

I invite you to join our family by picking a tree in your yard or neighborhood and watching it through each of the coming seasons for the next year. Charlotte Mason suggests starting this project in the winter but our family has successfully enjoyed starting our tree study in the summer or fall.

Here is a recap of ideas for your Year-Long Tree Study.

Summer Tree Study Notebook Page - More Nature Study Book #4 Summer Sizzle

Simple Suggestions for a Summer Tree Study:
1. Sight: Look closely at the bark and leaves. Stand or lay under your tree and look up. Use a magnifying lens to look at the bark and leaves. Look for birds, animals, or insects in your tree. Look for all the parts of your tree: trunk, crown, branches, and spray.
2. Smell: Smell the bark. Rub a leaf and see what it smells like.
3. Touch: Close your eyes and feel the bark. Feel the leaf or needle from your tree and describe its texture.
4. Hearing: Quietly sit under your tree for one minute. Can you hear the leaves or branches moving? Can you hear a bird in the tree or insects buzzing near the tree?
5. Taste: If your tree has fruit, you can choose to taste the fruit.

Simple Suggestions for an Autumn Tree Study:
Compare Leaves from Two Different Trees
-Leaf shape and leaf margins.
-Leaf arrangement on the stem.
-Leaf color, texture, and size. (You can measure if you wish.)
You can take photos of your tree to put in your nature journal or you can sketch the tree in your journal.

Simple Suggestions for Winter Tree Study:
1. Pick a tree in your yard or on your street and view its branch patterns and silhouette.
2. Find a tree that has lost its leaves and sketch its shape in your nature journal. This activity can be done from a window if your weather is too cold or snowy.
3. Collect some seeds from trees that may still be left over from last season. Look for sweet gum, locust, yellow poplar, ash, mimosa, or sycamore.
4. Collect twigs from different trees and compare them.

Simple Suggestions for Spring Tree Study:
1. Pick a tree in your yard or on your street and look for its new leaves and blossoms if appropriate.
2. Is it just beginning to show leaves? Can you tell if your tree has all of its leaves yet?
3. Can you see any insects or birds in your tree?
4. Collect a few leaves to use for leaf rubbings in your nature journal. You could also make a leaf bouquet.
5. Compare two leaves from the same tree. Are they exactly alike?
6. Use your nature journal to record a sketch of the leaf and any blossoms.
7. How has the tree changed since autumn? Winter?


Free Seasonal Tree Notebook Page

Handbook of Nature Study- Tree Study Using the Outdoor Hour Challenge

Summer Tree Study - Following Up on Cottonwoods

This week we were determined to complete our Cottonwood Tree Study as part of the Outdoor Hour Challenge. It is hard to get motivated when it is really hot outside but we persevered....most of our study was indoors anyway so we had no real excuse. Once we started it was very enjoyable, gleaning much from our reading in the Handbook of Nature Study and then direct observation.

Our neighbor had a cottonwood tree in their front yard until a few years ago when they cut it down to make room for some other landscaping. I remember there were certain times of years I did enjoy having that tree next door. It was MESSY. The "cotton" would cover our deck and yard as it blew over in our direction.

So without a specimen nearby, we had to travel across town to view another cottonwood tree that I noticed along the edge of a big field. It really is a very pretty tree with a nice shape and growing sort of tall. The trunk is easy to recognize once you know what to look for.

My treasures from my walk at Anna Comstock's cottage.

We had the chance to observe a cottonwood tree when we visited Anna Comstock's cabin in New York last May. I gathered a bit of cotton to include in my nature journal. I wrapped it up in a paper towel and folded into the front of my journal for safe keeping. We took the opportunity with this challenge to examine the cotton closely.


We examined the seeds with our magnifying lens and it was truly amazing to see the structure of this catkin with its seeds.

"The little pointed pods open into two or more valves and set free the seeds, which are provided with a fluff of pappus to sail them off on the breeze; so many of the seeds develop that every object in the neighborhood is covered with their fuzz..." Handbook of Nature Study, page 656

Pappus was a new word to us so we looked it up. A pappus is the flower-like structure on the top of the akene. (Remember your dandelion study?) You can see a variety of kinds of pappus on this website: Who's Your Pappus? I also found information at the bottom of this page on Backyard Nature. I need to add the word to my journal entry so I don't forget it.

My new nature journal has a larger page size and I am finding it more difficult to work in.

So here is my journal after I finished with it. I found an envelope (glassine envelopes for scrapbooks) for the cottonwood seed fluff sample and the pressed flower that I had collected from the woods. I watercolored around the edges to give it some color and used my metallic gel pens to make a title. I printed a photo of the cottonwood cotton since it is a part of the memory of that early morning walk that I will treasure for a long time to come.

We are going to go back to our local cottonwood tree and take photos for the Summer Photo Challenge and as a guide for our watercolor project for the week.  Mr. B is working on his notebook page from the More Nature Study Book 4 challenge using his field guide for the cottonwood tree. We think ours is a Black Cottonwood so he is doing the research on that species for his challenge.

Another great tree challenge to add to our nature journals...hope to see some of your trees in the upcoming Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Remember that every entry into the June Newsletter carnival is an entry to win the Your Backyard Monarch Butterfly DVD and Study Guide. Last day to submit your entries is June 29, 2012.

Don't forget the Great American Backyard Campout!


And my Camping With Kids link-up from yesterday.

OHC More Nature Study Book #4 - Cottonwood Tree

 
More Nature Study Book #4 
Summer Sizzle
Cottonwood Tree

Inside Preparation Work:

• Read pages 655-658 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson 180). Make note of #6-8 of the suggested activities in Lesson 180 and try to complete these during your outdoor time.
• View information and range maps to determine which cottonwood tree you may have in your area. Start here with this information on the Eastern Cottonwood. You can also view the Fremont Cottonwood and as an alternative the Quaking Aspen which is in the same order, family, and genus. See the Additional Links section for a few videos.
• Print fact sheets if you desire: Eastern Cottonwood Fremont Cottonwood, and the Quaking Aspen.
• You may wish to use the Summer Tree Challenge from a previous year which includes a printable Seasonal Tree Study Notebook Page.

Outdoor Hour Time:

• Spend your outdoor time for this challenge looking at trees and discussing the differences between winter and summer trees. Cottonwood trees can be found in sunny locations, near streams and bottom lands. In the summer their leaves rustle in the breeze. Make careful observations of the leaves. If you don’t have a cottonwood or aspen tree to observe in person, make summertime observations of any tree you have in your yard or neighborhood.
• Advanced study: Make field sketches of your cottonwood tree: shape of the tree (canopy), the bark, the leaves.

Follow-Up Activity:

• Follow up your outdoor time with a nature journal (perhaps completed outdoors under a tree). This might be a good time to share a few points about the cottonwood tree including why it is called a cottonwood. Ebook Users: There are coloring pages for the Eastern Cottonwood and the Quaking Aspen if you desire. You can use the Summer Tree Notebook Page for your journal entry if you wish.
• Summer time is a great time to bring your watercolors outdoors and for this challenge you could try making paintings of your summer tree or some summer leaves. You can also press leaves for your nature journal.
• Advanced Study: Complete a nature journal for your cottonwood tree. Find four summer tree leaves and make careful observations and sketches in your nature journal. Make sure to label your shape, leaf margins, and venation.

Additional Links:
Poplar tree in all four seasons—fun look at a group of poplars
YouTube: Eastern Cottonwood (excellent video). Quaking Aspen.

Updated 6/19/12: Here is our Cottonwood Tree entry.





All the summer challenges for 2012 are included in the new More Nature Study Book #4 Summer Sizzle ebook. The challenges in the ebook are the same challenges that will post every Friday here on my blog. If you want to follow along with notebook pages and coloring pages, click over and learn more about the ebook.






 

Recollections from a Visit to Anna Botsford Comstock's Lake Cottage

Anna and Henry Comstock

Every reader of the Handbook of Nature Study (the book) knows who Anna Botsford Comstock is....the esteemed author of our nature study guide and lessons. She wrote the words that have touched my personal life in such a profound way, changing how we view the world in our own backyard. She may have touched your life in a similar way through the pages of the Handbook of Nature Study as you worked through the Outdoor Hour Challenges.


When the opportunity was offered to me a few years ago to visit and actually stay at her cottage in New York outside Ithaca, I wasn't able to make the trip at that time. It was on my mind a lot through the years so when a last minute trip involved traveling in New York came up last month, I immediately contacted the family that now owns the cottage to see if it was available during our visit. It was! We made arrangements to stay for three days in the cottage that Anna and Henry Comstock built on the shore of Lake Cayuga.

" During the fall of 1906, we were making habitable The Hermitage, our summer cottage on Cayuga Lake. We put a large window in the living room which gave us a wide view of the lake. This room was given a hardwood floor and was ceiled, to make it warm. Here we set up the wood stove that had been in my mother's parlor when I was a child. It had a grate and in the evenings we opened up its front doors; this made it as cheerful as a fireplace." Anna Botsford Comstock

It was just like I imagined it...set in the woods, right near the water's edge. The birds, flowers, and trees were those that Anna wrote about in her books. It was warm and cozy and somehow familiar.



We sat on the porch and enjoyed the sounds of the woods. The lake glistened as the sunset on that first day. I climbed into bed and thought how it must have been there over a hundred years ago when the Comstocks first built the cottage.

Sunrise Walk in the Woods

"Harry and I spent weekends there, and on each trip he would walk the mile and a half from Taughannock Station to The Hermitage, carrying on his back a basket filled with materials for fixing the house.The labor my husband performed in and about this place was remarkable." Anna Botsford Comstock

The next morning I was up early for a walk in the woods. I ventured out alone for the first hike and as I stepped off the porch I heard birdsong and glimpsed a young deer sneaking across the road into a thicket of bushes. The woods woke up as I hiked up the trail and my eyes were trying hard to take in all the sights.



The green of the new spring leaves, the thin trunks of the trees, the rustlings of birds and the cry of the mourning doves. These were Anna's woods. This was the place that helped inspire her to share her love of nature with teachers and children, bringing them into a relationship with common everyday things in their world.


There was teasel by the trail...new to me in person but familiar through the pages of the Handbook of Nature Study.  Advanced preparation does work...I recognized it right away and remember that she had called it " a plant in armor".

Sunrise Paddle

"He added paths and built a fine wharf and a double-decked boat house, in the upper part of which we swung our hammocks, and from which we enjoyed the glory of many sunsets. The Hermitage was always a place where work was play; we dumped our cares at the Ithaca station when we left, but they were always waiting to jump at us on our return." Anna Botsford Comstock

I made my way back to the cottage and by this time the boys were up and ready for the day. My husband and Mr. A took out the canoe onto the morning smooth water of the lake. Exploring a new place by water...leaving their cares behind as they paddled across the surface of the lake in the early morning sunrise.


Mr. B and I decided to take another hike through the woods and this time we noticed the wildflowers. These were the wildflowers of Anna's books...the ones we don't have in California.

The whole weekend was filled with the opening of eyes and hearts to a magical place, gently teaching us the way of the New York woods in which we found ourselves. One day it rained and we watched the drops fall from our dry spot on the porch. The fragrance of the wet woods was delightful...different than our Northern California woods. The rain stopped and we grilled dinner on the stone fire pit down by the water. We skipped rocks, sat and watched the fisherman go by on their little boats, and we shed our cares, refreshed.



At the end of the weekend, we had made many entries into our nature journals, took lots of photos, and made some memories of our own at this lakeside cottage.

We will always remember our weekend spent on Lake Cayuga at the Comstock's beloved Hermitage Cottage. Special thanks to Christiana and Alison who graciously opened up their family cottage to our family, making this trip to New York even more special.

I hope my readers enjoyed glimpsing our weekend....we all need to remember to build in our families a rich heritage of outdoor experiences. Who knows who it will touch in the future?

Here is the original webpage that Christiana posted on the Cornell website, Celebrate Urban Birds, that sparked our friendship:
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Next time I will share our day at Cornell's Lab of Ornithology and Sapsucker Woods! More connections were made to the Handbook of Nature Study.

Our Beloved Dogwood Tree - Blooming Right on Schedule for Our Nature Study

Our Dogwood Study with the Handbook of Nature Study
(It is not too late to join us if you still have a dogwood blooming in your neighborhood.)

Funny how we all have had our favorite spring Outdoor Hour Challenges. For me? This dogwood study has been about two years in the making. I have always wanted to have a dogwood tree in our front yard but it wasn't until we did our massive front yard remodel that I was able to find a dedicated spot for the dogwood tree. We choose one with white blossoms...my favorite.

You can see our front yard transformation here in this post: Removing the Lawn.


We waited last year for it to flower but we only had leaves. This year....ta da! A dozen or so creamy white blossoms to enjoy and now study.


We read in the Handbook of Nature Study about how the flowers have been waiting inside the bracts all winter long, protected and sheltered until conditions were right. I have spent the last month or so going out almost daily to check the branches for any signs of opening. What a gift once we saw the bracts changing!

See the notched bract? This is another thing discussed in the Handbook of Nature Study that I would have never noticed if it wasn't pointed out to me. 


I had to convince Mr. B that the true flowers are the ones at the center and not the big white bracts. We counted the flowers and found there were 25+, some open and some closed.

Notebook Page for More Nature Study Book #3

The Handbook of Nature Study said that this was a perfect lesson to use a hand lens for so we brought ours out and took a deeper look. Amazing! If you haven't yet done your dogwood study, I highly recommend this activity. You might note it in your ebook to do for next year as well if your dogwoods are no longer blooming.


How fun is this? Don't the leaves look like a bird? I was busy standing on top of my retaining wall to take photos of the dogwood and looking down on the leaves....it truly looked like a bird!


Now for a few fun images from our evening study. Here is a colorful view of our front yard right now....hubby brought me home a new garden flag for the front stairs. I love it! We did have a swallowtail in the yard a few days ago so it won't be long now until butterfly time! The Kona dog is taking a rest from helping us weed and water.


I don't think I shared my new addition to the rock garden. We took a new hike up into the mountains and into an area where you can collect rocks, a true rockhounds paradise. We brought home this big piece of serpentine which is the California State Rock. Isn't an amazing shade of green? Our rock garden has become its own little micro-habitat with insects and critters living around and under the rocks. In the evenings there is a very loud cricket chorus in our yard. It is a comforting sound and I stand on the deck and listen in the dark and imagine where they all are as they sing.


What a wonderful study! It all started back when we decided to remodel the front yard a few years ago and we put on paper our list of plants and trees we hoped to include. The dogwood came two years ago and this past week we added a California redbud. I am looking forward to seeing it grow and mature...maybe next year it will bloom for us.

I invite you to take a closer look at your dogwood using the Handbook of Nature Study!




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

OHC More Nature Study Book 3 - Dogwood Study

More Nature Study Book 3
Dogwood Study

“But when spring comes, these bud scales change their duties, and by rapid growth become four beautiful white or pinkish bracts which we call the dogwood flower.”
Handbook of Nature Study 

Inside Preparation Work:

• Read pages 680-682 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson 188). Read through the lesson for suggested observations for your outdoor time.
• View this video for more information: Briar Patch: The Dogwood Tree. You may also like to view these pages: Pacific Dogwood (western U.S.) and Flowering Dogwood (eastern U.S.) 

Outdoor Hour Time:

• Enjoy your outdoor time for this challenge looking for blooming trees. Spend a few minutes observing the colors of the blooms and look for any insect visitors. If appropriate, gather a leaf and a blossom to sketch in your nature journal. 
•  This is the perfect time to begin a year-long tree study. For ideas on how to get started, see this entry: Year-Long Tree Study. 
• If you have a dogwood to view up close, use a few of the lesson ideas to make careful observations. Look at the bark, the flowers, and the arrangement of the flowers on the branches. 
• Advanced study: Bring along your sketching supplies and sketch or watercolor the bracts and flowers. 

Follow-Up Activity:

• Take a few minutes to sketch your tree, the flower, the leaf, the bark, or fruit of your tree. You can use this website’s images as a reference for your drawing: Identifying Dogwood Trees (They call the bracts “petals” but otherwise this is a very good page.) Ebook Users: There is a notebook page and two coloring pages included in the ebook for your dogwood study. There is also a notebook page for any flowering tree. 
• Advanced study: Complete a nature journal entry for your dogwood or other blooming tree. Ebook users: There is a notebook page to complete using a field guide or the internet. 
• Advanced study: Find out what hardiness zone you live in: National Gardening Association. Read the list of trees that grow in your hardiness zone: TreeLink. Pick a tree from your zone list and do additional research. Record your findings in your nature journal. 

Additional links:

• Clare Walker Leslie’s Guide to Sketching Trees –Excellent printable resource 
• Find out when Arbor Day is in your state: Arbor Day Foundation 
• Other Blooming Tree Ideas: Spring Blooming Trees 

Don't forget to share your Spring Splendor Walk blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in April are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 4/29/12 and you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com.
 

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

More Nature Study Book 3 -Spring Buds, Catkins, and Blossoms

 
More Nature Study Book #3
Spring Tree Study - Buds, Catkins, and Blossoms

This challenge is aimed at getting you outdoors and looking at trees early in the spring. What should you be looking for? Try looking for buds, catkins, or blossoms. The challenge is not specifically about willow trees but the willow is covered in-depth in the Handbook of Nature Study and contains information you can apply to other trees. Since everyone has varying conditions, adapt this study to your local trees and their current stage of growth.

In the winter we looked at twigs. If you have a twig you have been watching, make sure to wrap up your study this week with a journal entry and final drawing.

Inside Preparation Work:

• Read pages 651-654 of the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson 179 on the Willow) and pages 648-650 (Lesson 178 on the Horse Chestnut). Read for information about the twigs, buds, and pussies. 
• View this page on catkins and note what to look for during your outdoor time. Explain that the "tassels" of the oak and "pussies" of the pussy willow are really flowers. Catkins appear before the leaves. There can be male and female catkins. Ebook users: Use the illustrations in the ebook to learn about the different ways buds can look and be arranged on the twig.
• Interest arousing YouTube videos: Horse-Chestnut Bud and Birch Buds. Fascinating.

Outdoor Hour Time:

• Go outside and look at the buds, catkins, or blossoms on trees in your yard or neighborhood. Ebook Users: See chart in the ebook for blooming times for common trees. 
•  Gather some twigs with buds, catkins, and/or blossoms to bring inside for observation. Place each twig in a jar with water and label with the tree name if possible. Note: Catkins and blossoms contain pollen. 
• Advanced Study: Watercolor a spring blossom if you have one to observe in person.

Follow-Up Activity:

• Use your senses to observe your buds, catkins, and/or blossoms. (touch, sight, smell). Make a record in your nature journal including a sketch. Make sure to record the length of your bud and as many details as possible including color. Ebook Users: Optional coloring pages: Horse Chestnut and Pussy Willow. 
• Watch your buds over time and see what happens. Record how long it takes for the buds to open. Place a piece of white paper under the jars with catkins and observe what happens over the next few days. Record your observations in your nature journal or on a notebook page. 
• Examine your bud to determine what type it is using a hand lens.

Advanced study:

• Extend your study to include information about the tree your bud came from using a field guide or the internet.
•  If you haven’t dissected a bud yet, use a bud you collected as part of this challenge. Each bud is different so take your time to remove the scales and layers as you go. View this image to see how you can record your work in your nature journal.
• Sketch your catkin and research how the catkin functions as part of tree reproduction. Use this link to learn more about classifying buds: Buds. This one is an excellent visual guide: okPlantid. 
• You may be interested in previous spring tree studies: Year-Long Tree and Spring Tree.

Elizabeth shared this link with me and it is a perfect citizen science project to go along with this challenge. Project Budburst. Free printable journal pages you could use with this challenge too!

You can read about our Spring Buds, Catkins, and Blossoms study:
Buds and Catkins - Our Spring Nature Study



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







View this video on YouTube which shows birds feeding on willows.


You may also be interested in looking for a few additional books to supplement your spring bud study. Here are a few that I recommend.

 

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!

Forcing Spring Buds - Leaves and Blooms Update

Have you tried forcing twigs to blossom? It is the perfect easy late winter nature study project for any family.

This is an activity that we enjoy every year.  In February, we cut and bring in forsythia twigs to force the buds to bloom indoors. This year we added some additional twigs and buds to our collection and they are starting to unfold. The project is so easy and it is not too late to try your hand at some twigs from your yard.



This birch leaf is from our Twig Study earlier this winter. It has little spring green leaves opening...love the texture and the shape.


We also collected twigs from one of our hiking trails and even though they all looked a little different at the beginning, we realized now that they are opening that they are all from buckeye trees.


It is such a simple project with some fascinating results. We cut the twig, placed it in a jar of water, and then set it in the window sill. After that, you just need to be patient.

We have had such amazing results that we are going to cut some more twigs today. I think the plum tree would be a great candidate for this project. I will post our results when we see some blossoms. :)



So did you start a tabletop garden of your own? We have been watching our carrot first grow roots and now it is putting lots of energy into making leaves. This is another simple and fun project that your family can try at any time.

• You can find instructions and a notebook page on my daughter's blog: Hearts and Trees Tabletop Garden.
• Instructions for forcing forsythia 
• Twig Study in More Nature Study Ebook #2