Nature Thursdays—life in logs at County Farm Park

I now know the difference between a millipede and a centipede. It's not knowledge I coveted, but if I'd really minded I would not have taken Calvin to the "living world inside a log" Nature Thursdays program today. Or I might have, but I would have quietly watched from a few paces away instead of actually touching all the multi-legged inhabitants we discovered in the logs that are in the process of returning themselves to the earth. What I would not have done, however, is tiptoe through the forest and screech every time a bug was mentioned as being nearby, or threaten his head if he so much as thought of bringing such "creepy crawlies anywhere near me". We actually had one of those on this trip. I think the guide almost asked her to leave.

In the quieter moments, when we got a bit away from the 20+ kids and their parents, some more squeamish than others, we found some pretty great things. Like an inch worm, a millipede, a cabbage white butterfly flitting through the dappled sunlight, and a plethora of daddy longlegs. We saw red squirrels and one rabbit. We even spotted a Flicker woodpecker, along with scads of other birds. Like last time, at the end of the program Calvin and I picked a spot for lunch, then headed back into the woods for our own quieter, calmer hike. We found a creek, which was clearly swollen past its banks but a month ago and is now down to a surprising trickle. We found a meadow that was teeming with butterflies and dragonflies and beautiful wild blooms. We found more squirrels, more birds, and a great hunger for more days just like today. We sketched nature, and we talked about it. Though a month ago I complained about the unceasing rains, and lately I've been begging the skies for more of it, the warm, sunny weather with the cool, dry breezes has been a perfect joy.

We finished our nature day with a stop at the park of my childhood. Slide hair and a beautiful, ancient tree, bathing in warm afternoon sunlight and calm, joyous laughter.

Nature Thursdays—turtles at Independence Lake

We are fortunate to have a really wonderful naturalist with our County Parks and Recreation. We've done several hikes and other presentations with her in the past, and this summer she is offering Kids' Nature Thursdays in which she will cover a different topic at a different park each week. I knew that it would be a lovely program because I know she's great with kids in the way that I like people to be great with kids—by talking to them as equals and giving them respect and space in which to learn. Today was the first of the summer Thursdays, an hour all about turtles. We touched shells we learned some facts, we played with a couple captives, we went looking for the real things in the lake, and we scouted out some nests, finding two in tact (and putting protection over them) and many that had fallen victim to raccoons (which allowed us to come home with shells, and I had forgotten how rubbery they are, not at all like chicken eggs, something Calvin noticed right away).

I learned today that the snapping turtle, unlike most others, has very little shell on his underside, which means he has to be more aggressive and ornery. I learned that my son already knew that, and what a reptile was, and what it meant to be cold blooded. He'd been reading up, unbeknownst to me, in preparation for today's session. I think that was my favorite new bit of knowledge for the day.

Then, being already at the park I figured that Thursdays would be a great time to get Calvin out hiking on his own two feet. He's been out many times before, of course, but really only in the backpack. Today he and I did a mile trail through the wetlands after turtle appreciation hour. We took lunch and ate it sitting atop the lookout, where we promptly got lightly rained on, but to no ill effect. So the weather was iffy at best, we had a great time anyhow.

We identified milkweed, poison ivy, yarrow, and a number of trees. We also saw many butterfly species, including the cabbage white, lady skippers, spring azure, and peck's skipper. Calvin is pretty good with the cabbage white (and a number of other butterflies that visit our own yard regularly), and he knows most of the plants already, but we took some laminated identifying pamphlets with us for fun.

Rain and all, it was a great afternoon, and Calvin is really excited about what I have dubbed "nature day" next Thrusday. He's also asked to go on another hike this weekend, and with the cooler weather it seems like a great time to explore another local path. We'll continue breaking him in on increasingly long trails as the summer progresses. I have images of us hiking into rustic camping already!

My only disappoint from the trip was that, after getting a-hold of nature journals and remembering to pack both them and colored pencils, it was too wet to get them out. When we got home, though, Calvin was quick to jump at the opportunity. So these are not nature illustrations the way that I had them in mind, with the two of us sitting and sketching what we see (and oh, how often will it occur that I imagine an event one way but have to be content with another outcome), but they are his impressions of our hike today. The first is his sketch of us eating lunch on top of a wooden lookout. The second is his sketch of the trail as seen from above. And then, of course, the jounral entry. I was surprised that he didn't add a picture to this as well, but if he does so in the future I will come back and add it.

I linked this post to share at Saturday's Artist.