Winter Break Walks-Time That Speeds By

"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

She is not a little pup anymore. She is only six months old but she is a good size dog already. She loves to walk with us on our rambles in the woods. She loves to explore and sniff and encourage us to go a little further each time. My son affectionately calls her the Lovable Labrador but her real name is Kona.

Even though we have been on a break from our regular school studies, we are still making time for lots of nature walks. It is the perfect time to enjoy each other's company and to share some adventures.

Today on our walk we had the unmistakable scent of a skunk just about the whole trip down the canyon and back up again. We didn't see the skunk at any time but he was very close by. We have been seeing signs of other animals along the trail....some holes scratched in the trail's bank and lots of mole holes in the little clearing. The buckeye fruits are starting to be nibbled on and left by the side of the path. The trails off into the woods are becoming more distinct as the ground become wet and the animals follow the same path every time....muddy trails up the banks and off to the deep part of the wood.

There are plenty of interesting things to look at as we walk along. This winter weed is pretty all brown and full of velcro-like stickers.


The ferns are really growing now and the shades of green found in the different varieties are showing very clearly.

With all the leaves gone from this oak, you can see clearly the mistletoe growing up on the branches.

Here is a try at a close-up of the mistletoe hanging up high in the tree. I could not find any information on mistletoe in the Handbook of Nature Study which surprised me.

I am testing out a new book (see below) for my boys to use in their nature study....something with a little more depth than the Handbook. I am looking for a book that will supplement the Handbook of Nature Study when it does not cover particular subjects that we have in our area of the world. I am beginning to think it is totally unreasonable to expect any one book to cover all the bases and that is why I am going to be checking out a few other resources for our family to use. I will keep you posted how this book works out for us over the next few months.