Nature walking

Since the weather is slowly but steadily improving, I decided it was time to start walking again, looking for signs of spring. Kiddo and I have done walks like this for years. Kutey only remembers doing it last year. She has a cold, so I wasn't sure a walk was the best plan. Kiddo, however, needed to get out and get moving. He has been bouncing (somewhat literally) off the walls this week. So we determined we would go for a walk, but that we would take a route that allows for a shorter walk or a longer walk.

We started out, listening to the birds as we walked. We heard one call we didn't recognize, nor could we see the bird. First thing to look up when we get home. Kutey ran for about 2 blocks, which made me think perhaps she was feeling better than I thought! But then she hit a wall. Her leg hurt (stop running!), she was tired (walking isn't as hard as running), her hair wa staticy and in her face (if you would ever let me put something in it, this wouldn't be a problem!) and she started whining. At this point, we had two choices, turn around and walk home, or continue on. It was only a smidge closer to turn around and go home. So we kept walking.

Kiddo noticed a crow, and we commented on how big it was. Since we have studied birds in science, though, we knew it likely wasn't heavy. And since we studied weight in math, we decided to guess how much it weighed, to be checked when we got home. Second thing to look up when we get home. Our guess? Less than 2 pounds. By then we had reached the park (this is where Kutey truly began whining and I made the choice to keep walking).

Two weeks ago when we walked through the park, we saw red-winged blackbirds. Early arrivals getting the best spots for their nests, we thought. It seems, however, that they did not stick around. We saw no red-winged blackbirds this time. I told the kids to listen for them, too, because we might not see them. Kiddo couldn't remember what they sounded like, though. Third thing to look up when we get home.



Kutey paused in her whining long enough to do some more running with Kiddo, then resumed as we turned the corner to leave the park. I was able to distract her by spotting a ROBIN! We have only seen a few, they are just starting to really arrive here, so it is very exciting every time we see one. Last year by this time we had seen flocks and flocks of them. We had also seen flocks of cedar waxwings, which we haven't this year. We watched the robin as it hopped about in the grass. I told the kids I guessed it was a male, because they come back first. But we have never really looked at the markings of female versus male robins. Fourth thing to look up when we get home.

It is about three blocks from this point home, but there are two routs you can go. One is the hypotenuse of a triangle, the other is the opposing sides of the triangle. Kiddo likes the latter, particularly now because there is a lake covering part of the sidewalk and he likes the challenge of getting around it. Kutey, however, just needed to get home. So she and I went the short way and Kiddo went the long way. We met at the other corner. Kiddo loved the independence of walking 2 blocks by himself, since normally our walks are together. He had lots of sites to report from those two blocks!

We (finally, according to Kutey) made it home. In spite of the whining, it was a wonderful walk, full of things for us to research further.

Spring is in the air!

A friend in the south mentioned that they are expecting 80's this weekend! We are nowhere near that. We still have snow on the ground (especially in the big piles), but the weather is improving. I'll take 50's over teens any day!

Yesterday it was warm enough that the kids and I went for a walk. We saw all sorts birds! Sparrows, finches, crows, a blue jay (which was screeching!), a possible robin, ducks, and red-winged blackbirds. This is the first sighting of red-winged blackbirds this spring for us. I love red-winged blackbirds. Kiddo remembered this when we heard them, which touched my heart. I love them because my mother loved them. My mother loved them because her father loved them. Maybe my kids will love them because I do.

Later in the day, we stepped outside and heard the creek behind our house rushing. We HAD to investigate, of course. Our creek is really just drainage, so melting snow and rain make it flow much more than normal. It flows into a small river that is just a bit away from our house--the yard two houses over touches the river. The river is expected to flood in the next few days.



It was beautiful. Kiddo explored closer to it than Kutey and I. He loved it. Awesome. Nature is awesome.



We saw a fairly new looking woodpecker hole up in one of our dead trees. Kiddo noticed all the older holes first (they are numerous). But this one looked fairly fresh.



We also noticed deer tracks in the snow. We see them sometimes in the summer, but I haven't seen them this winter. Obviously they have been around, though!

It was refreshing to be able to be back in the great outdoors. I was born and raised here, but the cold of winter still gets me. I don't tolerate it well, so this day, this warmth was a gift.

Glacial Potholes

After our trip to Folsom House, we had a little time. My grandfather is buried in Taylors Falls (he grew up there), so we headed to the cemetery for some genealogy. The hosts at Folsom house encouraged us to look for Folsoms in the cemetery as well. We spent some time walking around to view the stones of our ancestors. We also noticed a number of very old stones, read the years, and talked about what was happening in the area at the time. There are many that date from the 1860s to 1880s.



After that we headed down to the St. Croix River and Interstate State Park. I am told I have been here before, but I have little recollection of it. It is a very interesting park geologically speaking. There are at least 10 different lava flows visible in the park and 2 distinct glacial events. There are also glacial potholes.



These holes were formed by the Glacial St. Croix. Here, fast moving waters ground rocks in whirlpools against the rock, wearing it away like sandpaper. The park contains more potholes in a smaller area than anywhere else in the world. These potholes are also some of the deepest known in the world, and they are found right here in Minnesota! There are trails that let you walk amongst them, and one you can even go into--at the bottom, where the rock was worn away at the side, too.



The kids were fascinated by the holes (but they like rocks in general, so I wasn't surprised). The unfortunate part was that there wasn't enough time to explore as much as they would have liked. I will be adding this park to our list of places to visit again next summer!



For more information:
There is a video walking tour of the potholes here. It is meant to be loaded onto a video player and carried through the area, but it gives a information and photos of the potholes. There is a nicely done pdf of the formation of the area here. General information about the park can be found here.

Our Classroom Today--October 12

We went to the same campground as last week! We had so much fun there...it really is a great space. This time, however, we admitted we would likely want to stay until dinner time, so we planned dinner and stayed all day long. There was less drawing today, but more fort building. There was no hike today, but there was a great deal of running about in the woods. We also had a mini birthday celebration for our friend J. We roasted different foods (potatoes, broccoli, and tacos), and somehow managed to not have s'mores--I am not sure how that happened!

The weather is getting cooler (it was 86 the end of last week!). Temperatures in the 60s are one of the best things about fall. We know our days of good weather to be outside like this are numbered for this season. Taking advantage of this time is important. It is like the harvest at the end of the season that will sustain us until the warmer weather returns.

It was another beautiful day with good friends in nature. Makes me wish we could do it every day.

While we were gone...

Our caterpillar made a chrysalis.

We left our caterpillar with Daddy while we went camping with Aunt J. He noticed that the caterpillar stopped eating and then was hanging from the bottom of the cover to the peanut butter jar butterfly habitat. By the time we got home, the butterfly was in a chrysalis. Three days from the time the kids brought it home. We would have liked a few more days to watch, but we are still looking forward to the next stage!

There isn't much to watch right now, but the chrysalis is quite pretty!

There is caterpillar poop in my van

Because we got a new pet!


Grandma L. had monarch butterfly caterpillars on her milkweed this summer. The kids went with Daddy to visit on Saturday and came home with one. Kiddo held a large stalk of milkweed for the entire 30 minute drive, carefully watching the caterpillar to make sure it didn't fall.

I wish I could say I was more prepared, that we had the perfect butterfly habitat ready to go. We didn't. Daddy took a recently emptied peanut butter jar (thank goodness it had run through the dishwasher already!) and quickly drilled some holes in the top. That became our new pet's home. I have been letting the milkweed grow in our landscaping, partly because I love the blossoms and partly to attract butterflies, so we have a ready supply of food for our little friend. I am as excited as the kids to watch the process unfold! We never did this when I was a kid, we only ever caught woolly bear caterpillars. They would go into cocoons, but never come out. Let's hope we are more successful with this one!

We have already noted that he is a prolific pooper. And that he eats constantly (hence the pooping in equal amounts). It wasn't until we were watching him, and saw the pooping, however, that Kiddo mentioned that he had done that in the van. And that it had fallen to the floor. And that he had no idea where it had gone. Sigh. Guess I need to vacuum...

Outdoor Hour, Challenge #1

I have long intended to start the Outdoor Hour Challenge series based on the Handbook of Nature Study. We just never seemed to get to them. Winter is not exactly the time I wanted to start something like this. While we could do it during the winter, it would have been much less rewarding than now. If we get into a good habit, then we might continue through the winter. We'll see.

The first challenge was fairly simple: spend time out side, talk about what you saw, investigate further.

We spent our time in the back yard. The kids brought all sorts of things in with them: tree leaves and seeds, flowers, pine cones, grass, a little of everything. Then we sat down at the table and looked over what they found. There were some new things to identify, and some things we already knew. Kiddo wanted to put his things on sheets of paper so he could write down what they were. What a great idea! Kutey followed suit, but she was less interested in the writing part. The tape was the fun for her! She moved on to coloring once everything was taped. Once Kiddo had everything taped down, we started learning more about many of the items on the pages. We identified the maple trees in our yard as silver maples based on their leaf shape and seed shape. We learned more about dandelions. We learned that the small purple flowers that have been growing everywhere in our yard are common blue violets. We learned that our evergreens are some sort of spruce tree, though we are still uncertain as to which kind.

The most interesting thing we learned is that we have lots of wild edibles in our backyard: Dandelions can be eaten, the maple tree can be tapped for syrup and sugar, the common blue violet leaves and flowers can be eaten, and the creeping charlie is used in various edible forms, such as tea. We're planning a feast from the wilds of our backyard! It makes me even happier that we have not sprayed our yard in 9 years. We can consume these items with out worry, as long as we pick from our yard!

So, what wild edibles do you have in your yard?

A Mother's Day Nature Walk

For the last couple of years, I have made it my Mother's Day wish to go hiking with my kids. I grew up camping and hiking, so I want my kids to have the same experience. While we live in the burbs, opportunities abound nearby for nature walks.

Today we drove to a nearby lake that has a path all the way around it. The path is over 3 miles long, so Kutey rode in the stroller, but Kiddo walked almost all the way around. As we walked, we identified a multitude of things from the landscape. We tried to remember what we had identified, but I am not sure we got all of it!

Here is what we remember:
Aspen trees
Norway (red) pine tree
Dandelions
Ants
The song of a red-wing blackbird
The call of a crow
A turkey vulture
sparrows
Sumac (with the seeds from last year still attached)
Great blue herons
A duck (we think it was a coot)
Canadian geese
Beaver cut trees
Huge rabbit
Dragonflies
A swarm of little bugs
A crow
The song of a cardinal
A cardinal

I know there was more. I also know that we walked past a lot of things that we did not identify. It took us plenty of time to get around the lake as it was! But it is so much fun to see kiddo so interested in identifying things. At one point he said "Let's identify EVERYTHING!" obviously that wasn't possible, nor is that what he really meant...he meant let's identify everything I want to identify :)