Lettuce in the Backyard

Today there's not much of a nature study.

I completely forgot about the new seeds we planted in containers on our patio until my daughter alerted me. When I realized the rain was overflowing the seed pots it was almost too late.

In the moving process I spillt a large container with romaine lettuce seeds into the backyard. I guess we'll see if the seeds take root among our wild growing cilantro, chickweed, and crabgrass. The rabbits should have a nice treat this spring!

Down by the Lake

Today's nature walk took us to Lake Lanier. Right now Georgia is being sued (and suing) Florida and Alabama over the water in Lake Lanier. As you can see from the photos, water levels are still low. The sandy beach is suppose to under water! The two small dots on the beach are my oldest--walking ahead.

We took our walk out into the now dried up lake area to find seashells and drift wood. The kids enjoyed romping on the rocks and throwing rocks into the lake. There was not much in the way of pretty vegetation unless you count some pine trees that have taken root.

My daughter was none to pleased to find that visitors to the area had not cleaned up their trash in areas. All in all it was a good walk and we did get to see first hand the result of drought on the lake.

Our First Week of Nature Walks

We went on our first nature walk Wednesday around our yard. It was a nice warm spring day--perfect for exploring. We do not have Handbook for Nature Study or Pinecones in My Pocket yet to read, but I did not want to delay getting started.

Daffodils and cherry blossom trees are in bloom. Our backyard was overrun with bumble bees flitting from flower to flower. After our walk we sat on the patio with our nature notebooks to draw and talk about what we had seen. The children enjoyed their new notebooks and colored pencils. We finished the afternoon by weeding our herb garden to get it ready for new spring plants.

On Thursday we went out for about an hour, this time to our subdivision sports complex. Here the young boys found sticks that quickly became light sabers. The cherry blossom trees were beautiful (see banner photo). Under the pine trees everyone found a small pinecone to take home. We did find a beautiful yellow bush that we'll have to find out the name of (gotta get that book!) so we can plant one in our yard.

Back at home we planted morning glory, salvia, petunia, sunflowers, and zinnias from seeds. For our spring vegetable garden we began from seed cantaloupe, zucchini, romaine lettuce, and cherry tomatoes.

Today's (Friday) nature walk was spent running around our yard and putting out solar landscape lights. The daffodils are at the end of their lifespan and beginning to shrivel and droop. The young boys thought if we picked the flowers and put them in water they will perk right up so our counter has several plastic cups of daffodils for their experiment.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze." ~ William Wordsworth, Daffodils

Last Year's Garden

A few weeks ago the kids and I picked out flowers and vegetables to grow from seeds. Last year we had success with tomatos grown from seed and will try again this year. Here's a picture of our first fruits of the season last year.

Despite the small size, we were thrilled to just have tomatoes. At the time our backyard was home to four rabbits, a squirrel, and from time to time a few deers. For several years our efforts had been eaten by our furry friends. By the fall we had large beef steak tomatoes and cherry tomatoes growing like crazy.

This year we hope to increase our container garden variety and see what happens. One vegetable we will need to learn more about is the bellpepper plant. Our plant grew one pepper and no more.

Do you have a vegetable garden? What will you be growing this year? And, if you have any tips on bellpeppers let me know!

Getting Started

I fell in love with nature photography years ago while on a tour of The Biltmore. The beautiful gardens and grounds filled rolls and rolls of 35mm film. Over the past few months I've wanted to become more deliberate in learning about God's creation--and teach my children.

Beginning in April my children and I will begin a nature challenge and start what I hope to be a family hobby. All of this is as new to me as to my children so if you follow along be forewarned it will be simplicity at it's best. My goals are simple too:

1. Learn more about God's creation.

2. Complete the nature challenge.

3. Introduce my children to nature.

4. Use this blog to chronicle our progression and house our photos.

5. To have fun.