ACCORDING to the official calendar it is still winter, but out in the bush all the world knows it is spring. Although the week’s heavy rain has drenched and spoiled the laden branches of the cultivated wattles—the golden-hued Cootamundra and the earlier Queensland—their paler sisters in the neighbouring bush have survived the downpour, and are shedding their nutty sweetness through a damp world, and the air is fragrant with early spring scents. Amy Mack

Today is a beautiful winter’s day. The sun is shining. I only need a long sleeve t-shirt and all the windows are open. I can sit in the sun with my cup of tea and soak up the sun. Ummm!

This month is a great month to start reading A Bush Calendar by Amy Mack. August is the first month in her book. If you are not an Aussie then it is still agreat book to compare with your own climate.

What is the weather like where you are?

What brings you joy in August?

Please let me know.

Next time you are at the library you might like to search out this title.

Catriona Hoy is an author that I have liked in the past. Her book Grandad Marches on Anzac Day is one of the books I use for Australian Book Traveller. Now I have another of her titles that I recommend. It is called Puggle.

The story centres on a baby echidna that is taken to a wildlife carer.  As Puggle is cared for and grows we also see sick animals nursed back to health. Over time each of the animals are well enough to leave. Some go back into the wild, others are found new homes.

Catriona does a great job of helping you connect with the animals without personifying them.

Andrew Plant’s paintings are realistically captured and vibrant in colour.

Details

Publisher: Working Title Press

ISBN 9781921504013

©2010

For more Australian nature stories have a look at our book list and free downloads.

I wrote this a few years ago after we visited a nature park near our home.

A Family Visit to the Lily pond
‘Hey kids, after lunch we’re going on a nature walk.’ I announce with enthusiasm. 

The kids reply in monotones, ‘Great!’

Not the response I was hoping for.

After lunch I bark out orders. ‘Get hats, get water, get sketch books, get pencils, not those shoes. No! you can’t take Beary. No! you can’t take your scooter. Ok! Beary can come but he has to stay in the car.’ Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

We are finally on our way. As we drive, I hear all the different reasons why my kids think a nature walk is a bad idea. 

We park the car, lather ourselves with ‘mossi-stuff’ and off we go.

We walk, talk and absorb our surroundings.  One child has a headache and is complaining about the heat, another hates big ants. I dash to rescue a tree that is having all its fruits pulled off, I then give a short lecture on preserving the native flora.

We set up our watercolour pencils and sketch books and begin to draw in this peaceful place.
After an hour, we climb back into the car, happy and refreshed, wanting to bring some friends next time.

I had been reading A Bush Calendar by Amy Mack. The first entry is made from August. This book always motivates me to get you out and about. I want to see if I can find what she has found in the bush 100 years ago.

So this morning we set off for an early morning nature walk.I am lucky I live 5mins from a nature reserve.

I was nicely surprised to find some of the things she saw. We photographed what we could and then spent some time identifying the plants when we came home.

I was on the hunt for birds. I was hoping we might see a few if we looked early.

The nature reserve is full of spotted and iron bark gum trees. We went off the track. Trying to be quite was hard for our feet crushed the broken twigs and brush below us.



I was rewarded for I saw some wrens that I had never seen before in the wild.

A little pair of blue wrens

 
They are so cute and tiny about 2.5 cm high. I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo but I have an illustration.



We also saw:

A Crimson Rosella

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

 
And a duck in a high gum tree (a bit odd).

Here are our wildflower discoveries

Purple Coral Pea Orchid

Dyllwinia Egg and Bacon

Wattle Acacia Ulicifolia or Juniper Wattle

Asparagus Fern

Which is apparently a plant from South Africa that is considered a weed.



We also saw some we couldn’t identify.

Do you know them?

And these white bells with pinky-purple inside.

 
Smiles

Michelle

“Let them once get in touch with nature and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight and habit through life.” Charlotte Mason

I think that learning to observe nature has enduring value. We have been nature journaling regularly for three years now and I can see the benefits. All of my children have become aware of their surroundings and this brings delight to them and me.

We first began our nature journaling drawing pictures, making observations and reading. The Wonderland of Nature was one of our first adventures into nature reading.

We are currently reading through Amy Mack’s A Bush Calendar and The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady simultaneously. These two books go perfectly together as they are written at the same time. One is set in England whilst the other is on the East Coast of Australia.

For the different ages of our family nature appreciation looks different. Our oldest boy (Master 13) just likes to listen to the reading.

Our oldest daughter (Miss 12) prefers to write her observation. Here is her entry from yesterday.

The warm soft days of spring have past early this year. November, has exchanged its gentleness for a scorching heat not fitting to its normal soft warmth. Even in the morning hours the heat starts to build. The wind, usually refreshing brings no comfort today as it blows hot air on my face. The pavement burns my feet. If this is spring—what will summer be like?
The house is cool, the blinds and curtains are shut, keeping out the heat. Under the big tree in our yard it’s cooler. Leaves shade the ferns and other plants that prefer the cooler weather. The plants are all green thanks to all the October rains.
The gum tree sways in the wind, our rose, once without bloom is the queen of the garden, and its soft pink flowers climb the side fence.

Master 9 and Miss 7 still prefer to draw what they see and take photos.

I think nature observation is often not thought of as “real science” > I do not agree. Chemist, Hideki Shirakawa of Japan, winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry (2000), said that long hours of nature study were critical in his formation as a scientist.

To find out more about Nature Journaling with Kids

visit our website.

“August–According to the official calendar it is still winter, but out in the bush
all the world knows it is spring.” A Bush Calendar by Amy Mack 1909

The above little phrase has been going over in my head all week as I’ve enjoyed the last few days of winter in Australia. The weather has been so warm. I’m back to T-shirts and shorts and 5 loads of dried washing in one day. This week we went to the beach with a friends and much to my chagrin, two of my children ended up swimming fully clothed in the surf. That put an end to the shopping trip on the way home!

Amy Mack’s A Bush Calendar was written exactly one hundred years ago. The first chapter begins and ends with observations she makes in August 1909. And even then we had warm days at the end of winter. Sounds like an anti-global warming statement doesn’t it –maybe it is!

“Rare, indeed, is it to find a coachwhip building so early in the year, and to
come across a nest with a full set more than repaid me for my long wet walk.And
when upon my homeward way I met the first butterfly of the season, a pretty,
bright, brown thing, with black-veined wings, I felt that, despite the rain,
which was once more beginning to creep up, spring was indeed well on her way.” A Bush Calendar by Amy Mack 1909

I am so glad that we can read about what it was like 100 years ago. This book was a gift from Amy Mack to Australian nature lovers.

Michelle

This week-our first spring day for the year, we did some nature journal entries. I started by reading from Banksia’s and Bilbies and then I told the kids to go outside–it was a gorgeous day, and see what the could find that told them spring is here. Well my son found a few things that he could observe plus a few things that he has heard from books (there are no bears coming out of houses around here).

I find it quite helpful to preempt their nature journaling with some reading first. That is why I like to have a large range of nature books at home so we can access these when the time is right.

Last year, I began to read more about nature journaling. I was reminded that using this tool could help my kids to observe the intricacies of nature; give them an outlet for their artistic and written expression; inspire them with the wonders of God’s creation and help them see nature as more than just scientific names and processes. I wanted to cultivate this habit now, so in the future they would love nature and its Creator.

For some Australian nature book links look at http://www.homeschoolingdownunder.com/booklists/living_books.html

Our Nature Journaling with Kids ebook will give you some more ideas.