After all our drama, and after I came to my nature study senses, I sat the girls down yesterday with the Handbook of Nature Study and told them that we needed to pick ONE are to focus on for the first few challenges. They had a hard time choosing, but in the end, and after quite a bit of dizzying back and forth-ness (like my new word?), we finally decided to study trees.
At church on Sunday, our homeowner asked if we had found any pecans in the yard or if the squirrels were eating them. Pecans? We are pretty clueless about these things and never bothered to look for the pecan tree the last time Mr. M mentioned it. So the girls and I decided that that the first order of business for our tree study would be to find the pecan tree.
We went online and Googled pecan leaves so we knew what we would be looking for. You just have to love Google, don't you? Up popped hundreds of pictures of pecan trees/leaves and my oldest daughter says, "I know where those are!" So out we stumbled into the yard. Imagine my surprise when I found that the mysterious pecan tree is only about 20 feet from the back door. Doh!
We checked out the tree, gathered some sample leaves and nuts and then headed back into the house as the crazy mosquitoes swarmed.
The girls were pretty eager to check out the inside of the nut. We got out some screwdrivers and pliers and went to work.
We didn't find much on the inside...I guess that's why the squirrels left these behind.
In our study we learned the scientific name for the pecan tree (Carya illinoinensis) and that it is a deciduous tree related to the hickory. Next week we are planning to see if we have any hickory trees in our yard. We did some leaf rubbings and in the next few days I'd like to do some bark rubbings since e have some smooth and rough-barked trees in our yard.
We did not make a list as the challenge suggested, but our goal for this study is to identify as many of the trees on our property as we possibly can. We live in the woods so I don't think we'll run out of material.
The girls did a great job with their journals.
Sydney (9yrs)
Delaney (6yrs)
Sadey (3yrs)
Mom (not 9, 6 or 3)
2 comments:
Wow, you can draw! I sure hope you found/find some pecans to eat. They are YUMMY! Now, if I recall correctly, they only "flower" (grow nuts) every other year. You can probably get a nut cracker tool at Walmart, much easier and safer than a screwdriver.
How did the moss story go?
I love pecans! What a great tree story in this entry....amazing what we see once we start really looking even in our own backyards. :)
I LOVE your nature journals...gorgeous job!
Thanks for sharing your link,
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
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