It’s Time To Get Our Hands Dirty

Spring is in the air, flowers, and buds; it’s everywhere! What an excellent opportunity to get out and explore, plant a garden, or create collections. Even journaling Spring and the vast number of new beginnings it fosters can be a wonderful way to “science” or spend time in nature just for fun.

There are many ways of journaling. You can find things and sketch them, even make a journaling pack; with a small sketchbook and charcoal pencils. If you prefer a splash of color, cake watercolors or colored pencils work well while out uncovering hidden treasure.  A mixed media journal works best if you want to keep your options open and use both dry and wet media. It can be a simple as stashing some things in a fanny pack or how about retrofitting a backpack. You may just want to pack a camera, then once you have your prints made they can label, cut, and arrange to their little hearts content! Another option would be carrying a sack to collect samples and put them in the journals later. There may be some trading going on back at home!

A fun idea for smaller children would be to go on safari! This would work even in a small backyard. I once did this by letting the grass grow up, then mowing a path.  Dollar Tree and Walmart carry dollar safari animals. I even found a motion sensor screeching bird with a clip. Birdie found a new home perched on a twig near the path. You can buy dollar packs of footprint cut-outs and lay them at the beginning of the trek. The little ones enjoyed this quite a lot. Finding suckers along the way added to the excitement! After all, you may get hungry on such a journey.

How about rolling up our sleeves and grow; both the plants and kiddos. Have you noticed how much they learn by introducing them to different experiences? You may be a seasoned gardener or wish you knew more about it. There are some things you can add to your garden if you grow one every year or simple ideas to get your toes wet if you’re still wondering about everything.

If you are familiar with gardening, you may want to allow the kids to have their own garden space,  let them install some terracotta toad homes, make paths, or pick out seeds.

Ideas that work for both the seasoned and novice gardener; and one of my favorite things is unique, funny, or uncommon vegetables and plants. The kids seem to get extra excited about this variety of plants as well.  Many times they require less effort than more standard fare, such as carrots and celery.  Yard long beans come to mind,( they make an easy and great summer teepee), and purple potatoes. Fun squashes are pretty simple, and many keep for a long time.

Whatever beckons to you this spring I imagine you will feel greater joy allowing yourself the time to follow that yearning. It has often seemed that I find so much more than the tangible things that I discover.

Links:

.) http://www.rareseeds.com/

The folks at Baker Creek are not only excellent at cultivating and preserving wonderful varieties; their photos are strikingly beautiful!

.) http://www.eburgess.com/

This catalog has long been one of my favorites. It is straightforward, and you can try some of the zaniest varieties all in one place at an economical price!

Fun Variety Options:

Rare Seeds/Baker Creek-

.) Purple Podded Yard Long Beans

.) Big Apple Gourd

.) Wonderberry Bush

.) Spaghetti Squash

.) Rouge Vif D’ Etampes (Cinderella) Pumpkin

.) Purple Sweet Potato

Burgess-

.) Luffa Sponge

.) Vine Peach

.) Serpent Cucumber

.) Banana Cantaloupe

.) Knucklehead and Lumina Pumpkins

.) Pyramid Strawberry Garden

Sonya Payne is a blessed, happy, homeschooling momma of four! Her school theme has always been, “that they learn to love learning!” Sonya is excited to be a part of The Schoolhouse Writers team and is currently pursuing publishing and licensing. She is passionate about art and writing which has been passed onto her children. When not writing and creating art she loves ranching and exploring nature with her family in their mountain home.