PLAYING WITH POKEWEED

Do you have Pokeweed growing at your house? 


 The plant is poisonous to humans, from its roots to the leaves and berries.
Did you know it is only in the very early spring, that the very young shoots are edible? 
But you need to know exactly where the pokeweed grew to be able to identify the new growth. You will notice the hollow dried stalks turned white and bent over from the winter and the new shoots will be emerging right there. If you are not 100% sure, never never eat it.

We love watching the transformation of this perennial plant. It can reach 10 feet tall and leaves can be 12 inches long. The stems starts out green and turns a gorgeous magenta color, 
The berry cluster starts as white flowers then green to dark purple berries.

Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana)

Even though the plant is poisonous, with awareness and caution, children CAN come in contact with this plant. Tell them all about the plant and why they shouldn't touch it. When children know the reasons why, it all makes sense to them.

Pokeweed is a value to wildlife and quite attractive in the landscape. It would be a shame to rip it out in fear of its poisonous aspect. 

Pokeweed berries are an important food source for wild life. American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, Mourning Dove, Gray Catbird, Eastern Bluebird, Northern Cardinal, Great-crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Eastern Phoebe, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, European Starling, Brown Thrasher, Cedar Waxwing, Red Fox, Virginia Opossum, Raccoon, and White-footed Mouse all eat the berries.

We drew the plant in our nature journals. It was fun coloring the bright colors of the stems and leaves.


Then . . .we donned disposable gloves, picked the leaves, scrunched them and made designs on paper. The berries were the best part, we squished them and drew with them noticing which berries made the brightest color.

                    

Some other fun activities with Pokeweed: 

• make dye from the berries and dye wool roving, yarn or muslin
• make ink from the dye and write with a quill pen. It is said they wrote the Declaration of Independence with Pokeweed ink. 

happy day!

OUTDOOR EDUCATION

The best education a child can have is in the outdoors -
exploring . . . discovering. . .observing. 

And Mother Nature provides it all.

Sometimes it's enough to just sit and be . . .with all your senses.

Nature helps children develop powers of observation and creativity and instills a sense of peace and being at one with the world              
~Wm Crane


happy day!

TOGETHERNESS

The Mallards are back! 
Each year they return to our pond in mid April and stay for a week. We noticed them yesterday, a male and female, swimming together. The other day a drake sat alone on our bridge. 

We stopped the car and just watched. Their arrival heralds spring and each year we eagerly await their visit. 


 I got out, to get a closer look with my camera, and they swam faster in the opposite direction. . .

not knowing if I was friend or foe. 

He seemed to hurry her along . . . 

                 faster and faster . . . 

until he felt she was safe. 

Can you see her?


You can tell he was comfortable because he started to preen his feathers. . . 

He swam just past her, but every now and then would stop and look around.

He knew she was close by, safe and sound, camouflaged in the cattail reeds

It's the little things in life, and the unending joys of nature, that make our hearts sing and enrich our lives. Being rich has nothing to do with money.

happy day. . . happy spring!

GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT- FEB 18-21

What birds visit your yard? Take a few minutes to watch them and join in The Great Backyard Bird Count. It starts tomorrow, Friday February 18th, and it lasts for four days,until Monday February 21. It's free, fun and easy and it is quite helpful to the birds. You can spend as little as 15 minutes or as long as you like.

Read how to participate here. You can even print out a bird checklist.

It's a great way to get the children involved, and other adults who are not familiar with birds. 

We take part in the GBBC each year, and it inspires us to keep a running list of our bird visitors the rest of the year, for our own enjoyment.

Why don't you give it a try!


   happy day happy birding!

OUR BIRD HAVEN IS A JOY

Our Bird Haven that we made on our deck is as beneficial to us as it is the birds. We have a close- up view all day long of them visiting the feeders. They are getting used to us moving about and don't fly off as quickly anymore. But many times we peek through the edge of the curtains so as not to alarm them.

    It's amazing how many birds will visit at one time. Can you count them? Click on the picture to enlarge it.


         (Click to enlarge and see if you found all of them. Look for the yellow stars)

                                We keep pen and paper nearby to write down the names of our bird visitors. It's fun to go back and see what bird visited on what day and when certain seeds or suet were offered.


 The field guides are kept by the window to look up the birds we don't know. These are the two we use the most.

We also have our bird chart hanging by the window, especially for people who visit. Before long they are trying to identify the birds themselves. Birding is contagious.

The birds visit the haven in all weather.

There are those who hang out and wait their turn.

sometimes on a nearby fence.

BUT there are others who come and partake of the birds' food. . . 
 but after all, they are living creatures too, I guess there IS room for all. 


The squirrels are quite brazen and and don't even care when we appear at the window.

They are fun to watch.

The hens have discovered good eating here too, and make their way up the deck from their coop

The Bird Haven has also been quite the entertainment for the kittens in the house. Each morning they sit atop a chest by the window and watch. Sometimes they peek through the curtains .

or sit in their bowls. I know, silly silly kittens!

Children LOVE the Bird Haven. Perhaps you would like to make one. You can see how we made it HERE. You can make one now, even if the ground is frozen where you live, just buy potting soil from the store.

Activities to do with the Bird Haven.
- keep a list of the birds that visit and the date

- notice their markings, beaks, what they eat and where they eat 

- look up the birds in a field guide and learn more about them

- take pictures of them
- draw them as you watch them, or from the pictures you take
- paint them with watercolors or use watercolor pencils
- make a bird book, telling what you know about each one or create a story
 - fill the feeders and add suet. We provide black oil sunflower seed, shelled peanuts, niger (thistle seed), saffllower seed, and suet.
- put out a very shallow dish of fresh water


Supplies:
-colored pencils ( we love Prismacolor)
-drawing paper, watercolor paper
-watercolors
-paintbrushes
- field guides on birds
- camera
- binoculars



A great activity for the Hands On Homeschool blog carnival.
happy day!