trails Archives - Fairharbor

A Place in the Leaves

October 29, 2013/in Children and the outdoors /by natasha commander

This beautiful photo was taken by Amelie, one of the hikers in the group!

On our hike to today we had a contest to see who could collect the most nuts. I called them my nutty bunch! They have a great deal of energy and it is always a challenge to get them to notice the things around them. I love that they get to run, but exploring can be part of the adventure too! After our hike the kids returned to the barn with their stash of nuts to see who was the winner. Of course we all knew that Matt would be the winner because his pockets were practically hanging down to his knees. But then something happened…. some of the kids decided to add to Matt’s pile…. so I think then they all decided they were winners!! Matt was okay with that and which made me sigh with relief!

Wiggly worm find!

Love my nutty bunch…. it was a fun day!!! xoxox

OH NUTS!!!! (and seeds)

October 18, 2013/in Children and the outdoors /by natasha commander

Today was a glorious day for taking a look at some of our trees at Avalon. Most notably the Black Walnut and the Hickory Tree!

Both produce these interesting multilayered nuts. But most of all they are exciting to SMASH open. That’s exactly what we did. Each of my enthusiatic outdoor-kids were ready to take a turn breaking open these nuts. How do those squirrels do it????

We tasted the black walnut which Shannon said had a strawberry flavor in it!! They were yummy. These odd looking nuts are hidden undercover on the trees inside these lime colored looking fruits. When they are ready, they drop to the ground and proceed to rot and turn black. Before you can get to the nutty insides you have to peel away a messy dirty layer….. yuck… then there is the treasure!

But first how do we get to the inside. Well luckily Miss Sue did some research beforehand and she brought the wrench for holding the nut (also to protect her hands from getting smashed) and a hammer. Before long they were cracked open! Everyone was eager to try it.

We were less successful with the hickory nuts, of which are all over the place but dried out inside… what a disappointment. But lot’s of fun to collect!

We continued our walk along the wildflower fields which are slowly turning brown… with seeds all ready to fall to the ground for next year’s blooms. The milkweed plants are in their glory with all of their pods popping open to reveal the amazing layers of seeds attached to little “wish” machines which will help the seeds float away to their new homes!

Amazing milkweed, amazing smile!

Happy Trails

Sue

“THIS IS THE LIFE!”

“This is the life!” Max yelled as he ran down the trail with the other kids…. I can only smile and feel my heart warm to hear a child experience the joy of being in the great

outdoors. It was a simply beautiful day for our first class of Natural Patterns. An opportunity for K-3rd graders to discover patterns that are always around us. On this day we talked about trees and the patterns they make against the sky. There is a wonderful book Sky Tree by Thomas Locker, which shows the same tree throughout the year and the surrounding sky. The illustrations are so peaceful and done with such loving care.

Our hike was full of laughter and running and stopping to spin below the trees, which frankly made me dizzy as ever!!! The kids seemed to have no problem .

It is always so thrilling to see how excited the kids get before our hike. You would think I was offering them candy! Nope, no candy just time to be free and learn about respecting our time with Mother Nature. Yes it is “the life”.

One final word… Juliana said to me, “sometimes when I get up in the morning and I look out the window I see the sky looks pink and purple.” Way to go Juliana!!! Keep those eyes open.

When was the last time you saw a beautiful purple morning sky? I saw one today and thought of Juliana.

Here are some pictures of their inspired tree art! Until next week…… happy trails!

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