Now, I know mushrooms grow a lot bigger than this, but this is the biggest mushroom we’ve ever had in our yard.  It measured 11″ across the cap and about 3″ across the stalk!  I guess they like all this hot steamy and wet weather we’ve been having.

BUT, when our neighbor spotted this baby mole, all was forgiven of these cute creatures. I mean after all they are just doing what they do, and that’s dig. Maybe they’ve just gotten a bad wrap.

The little creature was alive, but I’m not sure where it’s momma was. Hannah, as usual, was willing to assume the role, but after I explained that we couldn’t bring it home she proceeded to cover it up with a leaf and say a little prayer that it’s family would find it.

I found this wildflower by the creek side. I was particularly excited to find this one because I think it’s so unique in a couple of ways. First, the petals are super thin and plentiful and also have neat little nubs on the ends. Second, it has huge maple-like leaves (I’ve never seen a wildflower with such big leaves).

Another wildflower which I have seen before but got some beautiful pictures of today is the Common Chickweed. Despite how large it looks under macro photography, these flowers are really small, so small you might step over them and not even notice them. But oh how beautiful they are! Something I highly recommend is training yourself and your children to notice the little details in nature. When you take nature walks keep your keen eyes focused and stop frequently to bend down and point out even the small things. For our family this has fostered our love and appreciation of creation, including even the tiniest of things.

And two more of my favorites are starting to bloom: Philadelphia Fleabane and the simple but beautiful Red Clover.

]]> http://inthesparrowsnest.com/2010/04/new-wildflower-discovery-goldenseal/feed/ 4 http://inthesparrowsnest.com/2010/04/rue-anemone/ http://inthesparrowsnest.com/2010/04/rue-anemone/#comments Thu, 15 Apr 2010 23:27:45 +0000 Melissa http://inthesparrowsnest.com/?p=1019 New Wildflower Discovery! I found these beauties blooming up on the creek side in the woods. They are called Rue Anemone…aren’t they gorgeous?!

Kentucky Wildflowers in Spring

Yep, you guessed it, or maybe you didn’t. Seems Mr. and Mrs. Toad were doing their “spring thing” and my son caught them in the act. Now, after I reprimanded him that he should have left them be while they were in this delicate state, we were all quite amazed at getting the opportunity to actually see this! The female is the larger toad on bottom, full of eggs, the male is the smaller toad on top. He waits patiently until the female lays her eggs, which look like a string of black pearls, and then he deposits his necessaries upon the eggs as they exit the female to make them start growing into tadpoles. There’s a little “birds and the bees” lesson for you.

The male made a quick getaway, so we were able to observe the female more closely.

She’s quite large, definitely full of eggs. My youngest agreed to “pet” the toad. She doesn’t quite know what to think yet of these strange hopping creatures. Regardless, the bumpy skin felt neat to her.

Then she reluctantly agreed to hold the big toad. It didn’t last for long though. The female hopped back into the creek. A few minutes later we could hear the male calling to her. I hope they got reunited!

And when we got to the back part of the trail we all gasped at the beauty. The woods floor was carpeted with Spring Beauty wildflowers!

These tiny, delicate flowers come out very early in spring on the wood’s floor to catch the sun’s rays before the leaves fill in a canopy overhead.

They are such a welcome sight in spring, with their oval white petals with candy pink stripes.  And don’t you just love the beautiful pink anthers?

I know that Spring Beauties won’t be in bloom for long and then they’ll be gone for another year, so we took plenty of time to enjoy them.

Here are “my spring beauties” having fun collecting bunches of these beautiful wildflowers. We will be pressing some of these for our nature journals.

Oh, please don’t miss out on these beautiful moments with your children in nature this spring!

Where man sees but withered leaves, God sees sweet flowers growing.
~Albert Laighton

Yet another month has past! And we have officially welcomed in springtime here in my area. April, to me, speaks of everything new! There are so many things springing up new in nature in April, at least where I live, and that is reason to celebrate AND get outside! Our family has been taking almost daily nature walks to observe some of the wonderful happenings in nature. Several early wildflowers have begun to bloom, the magnolia trees are in bloom and even the frogs and toads have began to sing. Lest I forget that I should remember an Easter not too many years ago when it snowed! But, we’ll enjoy those gorgeous days in between anyway.

Magnolia Tree in Bloom at Park

Here are some April nature noteables:

• April is a time of new growth of new beginnings. And also since Easter is in April, this is a great time to talk about Jesus’ resurrection and how God uses the springtime to parallel and show this new beginning.

• Early spring wildflowers are well into bloom! This is an excellent time to start a wildflower notebook or just start taking walks to observe all the amazing varieties. During the spring there will be different types popping up almost every day! So be on the lookout!

• Creeks and rivers are on the move. The spring rains almost always assure that! Now may be a great time to take a walk along the creekside to observe signs of life. Look for frogs jumping off the sides, crayfish beginning to emerge and water striders all over the creek’s surface. Also notice the erosion from the winter time and the rains. Creeks are an excellent place to observe erosion.

• Take time for peace. The springtime, with it’s warm and gentle breezes and beautiful birds singing, is a great time to teach your children the art of listening and appreciation in nature. Depending on their age have them sit for a few moments or more and just listen quietly. Talk about the five senses and what they are experiencing through each of those at that moment. Talk about how grateful we are to such an awesome God to give us such beautiful moments.

• Not only are wildflowers blooming but trees are blooming too! If you are fortunate enough to live near an Arboretum be sure to take weekly visits to see all the trees budding and blooming. Or just visit a park with a wooded area, you a re bound to see a variety there too.

• April 8th is International Bird Day. Use this day to focus in on birds!

• April 22nd is Earth Day. Learn about the importance of nature in our world and best of all plant a tree!

• April 28th is National Poetry Reading Day. Pick some of your favorite nature poems to read aloud and try your hand at writing some too!

• April is National Gardening Month.  Put on your gardening gloves and don’t be afraid to get muddy, your kids will love you for it! Whether you have small container gardens or several acres of gardens there is much to learn from the planting of a seed.

• Frogs and toads are starting to come out of hibernation and are singing for a mate. Keep on the lookout for eggs beginning to appear. Frogs lay eggs in jelly like masses, toads lay eggs in long strings that look like black pearls. I have lots of experience with raising tadpoles. Visit THIS link and THIS one. Raising tadpole is a bit of work, BUT oh so worth it!

• Frogs and toads aren’t the only ones looking for a mate right now, in fact most animals in nature are! Keep on the lookout for baby animals, especially noticeable are baby birds, baby squirrels and baby deer.

• It’s still thunderstorm season in April! Be sure to take this opportunity to study all about thunderstorms and lightning. Visit the book of Job in the Bible to find out what God thinks of thunder and lightning!

• April is full of colors! It might be fun to keep a nature color journal, making note of all the different colors you find in nature in springtime.

• April is usually wet and temperatures are warming which usually brings on lots of fungus! Look on trees, fallen logs, around creeks and even in your yard to find all sorts of fungi!

• April is often muddy which means it’s an excellent time for finding animal tracks. Especially look around areas where there is water.

• Here are some applicable NaturExplorers units for spring:  Wonderful Wildflowers, Frogs and Toads, Everchanging Erosion, Beautiful Birds, Animal Signs, Delightful Deciduous Trees, A Fungus Among Us. Visit the Shining Dawn Books website to find out more information about these units and see samples of each!

I’ll be back very soon to share some of  the wonderful photos I’ve been taking of our adventures outside!

The steep banks were covered with mud and patchy moss on both sides. Erosion from the wintertime has exposed lots of new roots from trees.

Since the weather had gotten pretty cold again there wasn’t many signs of life in the creek, except for an abundance of water striders skimming the surface. You cannot see the striders very well, but if you look closely you can see the ripples they are making in the water. I look forward to when the frogs begin to sing and bring this creek alive with their enchanting symphony.

In several areas the water was making a beautiful babbling sound as it trickled over the rocks. It had rained terribly hard the night before which always keeps the creek on the move for a couple of days.

On my way back to the house I noticed the moon becoming visible in the eastern sky as the sun was setting to the west.

Do you have a creek nearby to you? Perhaps at a local park? Don’t miss out on an opportunity to take a peaceful creek walk for yourself!

Perhaps this wetland will be where they have their little ducklings.

Do you see the irridescent green head on Mr. Mallard? You can also see where the sun is not reflecting and his head feathers appear black.

Seeing this Mr. and Mrs. Mallard reminded me of the most wonderful book Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, you may be familiar with that one. If not, be sure to check it out!