Nature 365

Flora and fauna abound in our little corner of the world. We live in a park after all!

This past spring PapaBear and I took turns recording the flowers that were blooming along the trails in the park, like this columbine that grows under the power lines way out in the woods.

We're not creating your ordinary nature journal though. I call it Nature 365. This recipe box holds 365 notecards - each with the month and day written in the upper right hand corner.

When we see something, like new leaves on the trees, we write the year on one line and then the observation. It's hard to read, but the card in the picture reads "2009 - Eagle over picnic shelter" One card will hold at least a decade of observations specific to one particular day of the year.

It is our goal to be able to look back and see the trends in when the ice goes out on the lake, when the grass turns green, when the flowers bloom, what animals live in the park (and where).... I think it will be a great keepsake to look back on our time here and have a record of all the things we've seen.

We also want the kids to learn to value the environment and really see what's around them, like this cool vine that is along one of our trails.

What projects has your family done to instill a love of the outdoors in your children?