Our family has been volunteering alongside goats. Yes, you read that correctly. Not with goats. Alongside goats. We've been helping remove invasive buckthorn. And so have they. It all started when I saw an Instagram post from our local naturalist club describing their eco-goat program and asking for volunteers. Having recently finished the Ontario Master … Continue reading Volunteering alongside … Goats?
It all began with a library book, our Firefly Nature School subscription, and our Wild Life camp kit. You see, everyone had the same idea. Build a moth trap. It's actually the simplest thing in the world. You need a black light, a regular light, and a white sheet. Shine the lights on the sheet … Continue reading Making a Moth Trap
What's so great about a vernal pool? A lot, it turns out. For us, it all started with a picture book. A beautifully illustrated picture book by Kimberly Ridley called The Secret Pool. It's a book that is absolutely packed with information about vernal pools, seasonal ponds that provide a habitat for a variety of … Continue reading Homeschool Nature Study: What’s so Great about a Vernal Pool?
"Mom, look!" She stoops beside a rotting log, her voice loud with excitement. "Look at the way this fungus is growing — it's shaped just like a rose!" We stop in our tracks, all four of us. Even the littlest one bends low to look close. I've been asked before just how it is … Continue reading Charlotte Mason and Richard Louv: Nature Study and the “Powers of Observation” (Thoughts on “Home Education”)
The first day of autumn. The milkweed is beginning to puff with seeds. It won’t be long now before they brazenly burst, and the breeze will carry wisps of white bearing kernels of life. Everywhere, the asters are blooming boldly—purple New England and white heath. There’s chicory, too, first brought by the early settlers as … Continue reading Goldenrod Days: New Seasons and Letting Go
Our feet are noiseless on a trail of packed dust that winds along a tree-covered ridge. We are in Niagara wine country, and the chatter of our three little girls is punctuated by the sounds of bird bangers in the valley below—propane-fired cannons used to ward off hungry avians. Overhead, the constant whirr of sight-seeing … Continue reading This Week in the Woods: Late Summer Wanderings and Back-to-School Ponderings
My girls love getting mail. And they love magazines. Even the ones who are not yet reading fluently love to look at glossy magazine photographs. They also love nature. So when I stumbled across Nature Friend last year, I was ecstatic. All the things they love bunched into one monthly subscription? Sign me up! Nature Friend … Continue reading Product Review: Nature Friend Magazine
When we left, the morning quiet enfolded the city like a mantle despite the lateness of the hour. After stopping briefly to watch a ship make its way through Burlington Canal. we drove until we were out of the city, then through another, and then another. When we were finally free of the lingering smog, … Continue reading This Week in the Woods: Weekend Adventures in the Near North
God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of the earth.” (Genesis 1:26, The Message) Dominion. What does … Continue reading Join Our Stewardship Challenge!
The forest is bursting with colour and life. My mother has taken the children for the afternoon and I have several, glorious hours to roam the woods, iced coffee in hand and camera dangling from a strap around my neck. I don't always realise when I'm peopled out, but as I meander down the empty … Continue reading This Week in the Woods: The Importance of Alone Time
