Explore Outdoors ~ Old Friends

 

 

 

Flower-watching is sort of like bird watching. Except that flowers don't have feathers, and they don't fly. They don't move very much at all ... but they do change over the season. I enjoy looking at flowers at all stages, from buds to "old friends" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not the only one who has flower friends - Last  Friday I shared a book about a kid who befriends flowers.

 

 

This week visit the flowers in your neighborhood. 

Are there any that are growing old and fuzzy?

 

 

My harvest basket is filled with ... books?

It’s been a summer of planting and weeding and now it’s time to harvest! As long as the deer don’t get there first! Here are two books that celebrate farming and gardening. 

themes: nature, seasons, friendship

Seasons on the Farm 

by Chelsea Tornetto; illus. by Karen Bunting 

32 pages; ages 5-8

Sleeping Bear Press, 2025  

Barren trees sprout budding leaves. Melting snow drip-drops from eaves….

Beginning with sheep-shearing, this book takes readers through a year on a farm. Seeds are planted, the corn grows tall, farmers cut and bale hay… and eventually the combines rumble down the rows. Using rhyme, and the rhythm of the seasons, this book shares the daily tasks of farm life.

You might think things slow down once “…wood is cut and fires glow. Fields are covered up with snow.” But no. That’s when repairs get done and planning for spring crops. Back matter helps readers understand how important seasonal changes are for farming. And how farmers, after years of observing the seasons, become experts at understanding their local ecology.

What I like about this book: As a gardener who lives in a farming community, I enjoyed the way the seasons unfolded in the book. The language, slow and unhurried, invited me to linger on the page and immerse myself into the lovely artwork. I would have lingered longer, but … I hear the garden calling!

Speaking of gardening, one of the things we have to deal with in my neck of the woods is deer. They love to nibble on the apples, the flowers in the lawn, and just about everything in my garden (when they manage to get in). I have often thought I should write about those pesky deer, but I don’t have to because …

Oh Deer! 

by Phaea Crede; illus. by Erica J. Chen 

32 pages; ages 5-8

Sleeping Bear Press, 2025 

Jasper the Sasquatch lived in the woods. Alone. Other animals made him feel overwhelmed and worn-out.

I can hear you already: “But Sue, this isn’t a STEM book! It is a work of mythological proportions!” You are correct. And yet it pairs well with Seasons on the Farm because, who gets to eat all those yummy crops. Besides us?

Deer, of course! And for an all-alone sasquatch who wants to harvest his first crop of turnips, deer can be quite a problem. Jasper does not want to share his luscious, yummy turnip tops with anyone – and goes to great lengths to protect them. He tries a fence. He tries netting. He even hangs old CD’s and pots and pans.

What I like about this book: I like Jasper’s inventiveness. I also like how this book is about more than protecting turnip greens. Because, at the end he realizes that there are good reasons to share your veggies. And he discovers a way to have both solitude and a few close friends. 

Beyond the Books:

Visit a farm, if you can. Maybe there’s a pumpkin farm or U-pick orchard nearby, or a ranch. If there are no farms near you, visit a community garden where people grow their own veggies. 

Observe the trees and plants around your neighborhood as the season shifts from summer to fall to winter. What changes do you notice? The study of cyclical changes in plants and animals is called “phenology.”

Drop by a farmer’s market or green grocer and buy a turnip with its tops attached. You don’t have to be a deer to eat the greens. You can cook them in a quiche, bake them for crunchy chips, or fry them up with bacon and a bit of spice.

We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday once they resume. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

https://susannahill.com/blog/

Explore Outdoors ~ Funky Fungi in the Garden!

Just last week or so I was clearing a patch of garden so I could plant garlic, when what should I spy - but these cool and funky fungi!

 

These are cup fungi - and they look just like cups, don't they!

What cool discoveries will you make this week?

 

Explore Outdoors ~ I thought this was a Desert Plant!

 Last fall I discovered some yucca plants growing in one of the yards down in the village. It surprised me because I think of yucca as a desert plant, not one found in northeast gardens! But they have a wide distribution across the US and even up into the southern Atlantic states.

 The cool thing about yucca plants is that their leaves have lots of fibers curling off - I wrote about them in a previous post.

 

 

Those fibers look fragile, but if you spin them together they can make a pretty sturdy string.

 

As fascinated as I am about yucca fibers (and I am, because I enjoy twining and spinning anything from milkweed to grasses), I found their seedpods even more interesting.

The seeds themselves are flat, round-ended triangles, and thinner than I expected. I planted a bunch this spring and managed to get half-a-dozen seedlings (about 50% germination). The seeds took a long time to germinate, and the seedlings are slow-growing. On the plus-side, they seem to tolerate benign neglect. 

Though I may have to bring them inside for winter ...

Explore Outdoors ~ garden denizen

 Of all the spiders hanging out in my garden, I think this one (Argiope aurantia) is the prettiest. Look at the color and design! And look at those sharp claws! These spiders are great garden residents - they eat flies and mosquitoes and bothersome gnats. I admit I feel sad when I see a bee tangled in their web, but everyone's gotta eat...

 iNaturalist calls this spider a yellow garden spider. They also go by other names:  the black and yellow garden spider, golden garden spider, writing spider, zigzag spider, and zipper spider.

What name would you give this spider?

For Plants It's All About The Soil

 

 The Soil in Jackie’s Garden
by Peggy Thomas; illus. by Neely Daggett
32 pages; ages 5-8
‎Feeding Minds Press, 2024

theme: gardening, compost, pollinators

This is the soil in Jackie’s garden.

For those of us who garden, everything begins with the soil. And so it is with this book. Even before seeds can grow, we have soil. And worms. In this cumulative story, Jackie and her friends sow seeds, nurture plants, harvest fruit, and recycle scraps in the compost bin to ensure that the cycle of growth continues.  

What I like about this book: With it’s “house that Jack built” structure, this story is fun to read and will have kids repeating some lines before long. In addition to the story, Peggy Thomas tucks extra information into text boxes: explanations of xylem and phloem, a closer look at root tips and leaves, how plants breathe. Readers will see the garden through seasons of growth, ripening, and harvest. And then there are the close-ups of compost critters – one of my favorite spreads. Back matter contains more information about the soil cycle. 

While I love books that include the occasional vertical spread, I found that having an entire book open that way was difficult for me to hold on my lap. But if you’ve got kids who lay on their tummies to look at books, this format makes perfect sense!

Beyond the Books:

Watch how a seed grows. You’ll need bean or pumpkin seeds, a clear glass jar or plastic cup, paper towels, and an old t-shirt. You can find instructions under “Watch pumpkin seeds sprout” at Patricia Newman’s lit links.

Make some compost. But if you don’t have room to build a compost pile in your yard, you can make compost in a plastic soda bottle. Here’s how. When I did it I used newspapers, banana peels, apple cores, orange peels, egg shells, carrot peelings, and dried leaves.

Plant a bucket garden for pollinators. I use five-gallon buckets, but you can use smaller containers – even a plastic waste basket will work. You’ll need to drill some holes in the bottom for drainage and fill with potting soil. Here’s how to create a $5 bee garden.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

A Farm is a Farm...

 

Outdoor Farm, Indoor Farm   

by Lindsay H. Metcalf; illus by Xin Li 

32 pages; ages 5-9

Astra Young Readers, 2024

theme: farming, comparison, rhyme

 Outdoors, indoors, big or bitty, through the seasons, country, city … Farms are farms no matter where. What’s the recipe they share?

This fun-to-read, rhyming book follows two farm kids through the seasons. One lives on an outdoor farm, where “field meets sky.” One works with their parents on the indoors farm, where trays are stacked on shelves that reach floor to ceiling. Where outdoor crops get sun and rain, indoor crops get mist and artificial light.

What I like about this book: I like the way pen-pal letters bookend the story. And I really like the compare-and-contrast structure of the book. Readers are introduced to two very different ways of growing fresh vegetables. And there’s back matter! Lindsay Metcalf talks about why farms are changing and shares more information about planting, growing, and harvesting on the two types of farms. There are also links to activities, such as how to grow your own hydroponic crop in a bottle.

Xin Li gallery

Being a gardener, I knew I had to ask Lindsay a couple or three questions.

Me: How did the idea of writing about indoor gardens come to you?

Lindsay: A video came to my attention about AeroFarms, a vertical, aeroponic farm in a large New Jersey warehouse. I immediately wanted to write about them in some capacity and made a note in my ideas file. Then, when Vivian Kirkfield’s 50 Precious Words contest came up that spring, I decided my entry would compare and contrast that vertical farm outdoor family farm I’d grown up on in north-central Kansas. My dad and brothers still raise corn, soybeans, milo, and sometimes wheat.

Me: I love the compare/contrast structure - and the seasonal arc. Can you talk about how you came to that structure? 

Lindsay: The compare/contrast element was present from the very first draft. At that time, I was calling the two farms “old farm” and “new farm,” but I decided that language pitted them against each other, when really, I wanted to showcase the innovation and adaptation in both types of farms. The seasonal structure came after several drafts. I realized I needed an arc that tied both farms together. The seasons were a natural fit.

Me: Do you grow veggies? If so, do you have an outdoor garden or an indoor garden?

Lindsay: I do, although not particularly well. We have a couple of small outdoor plots here at home that I’ve been building up with compost for the last few years. Last year we grew several varieties of tomatoes, cilantro, basil, okra, and cantaloupe. My dad keeps a large garden at his farm, usually with potatoes, onions, cucumbers, lettuce, bush beans, and several other things, including a perennial failed stand of carrots. Sometimes I help with that garden as well. I also have a tiny indoor garden that I am planning to set up in the next week or so.

Thank you, Lindsay. Now let’s go do some activities that take us…

Beyond the Books:

Visit a farm. If you don’t live near farms, contact your local cooperative extension office and ask where you could visit a farm. You might find a berry farm or a dairy farm, a veggie farm or a tree farm… or maybe an indoor farm!

Grow your own carrots in recycled water bottles. Cut the bottles off at the shoulder and poke holes in the bottom for drainage. Fill with potting soil. Plant a few seeds – you’ll thin to one strong seedling eventually. Put the carrot water-bottle-planters in the sun on your porch or balcony and make sure they have water. Add a bit of compost every week or so. Carrots usually take 50-60 days to mature. I check to see how big their shoulders are.

Support your local farmers! Visit farm markets and buy some vegetables to make a fresh salad or lunch snacks.

Lindsay is a member of #STEAMTeam2024. You can find out more about her at her website.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Celebrating Seeds and a book anniversary

 I missed this book by a fellow Sleeping Bear Press author when it released last year, so I’m celebrating its One Year Anniversary! Full disclosure: I am a gardener and seed-saver… so yeah, I may be a bit biased.

Every Little Seed  

by Cynthia Schumerth; illus. by Elisa Paganelli 

32 pages; ages 5-8

Sleeping Bear Press, 2023

theme: gardening, rhyme, family

 Grandpa told Mom, and Mom told me: The secret of a plant lives in every little seed.

When spring finally arrives, it’s time to plant seeds. This story follows a girl, her grandpa, and her mom as they plant and tend their garden over a season, We are introduced to a variety of garden tools – a wonderful illustration shows all the different things you might use, from claw-cultivator to trowel! The story brings us full circle, by collecting seeds for planting the next year.

What I like about this book: There are so many things to notice, from the differences in seeds to the small creatures that call the garden home. Some of them help pollinate the flowers; some of them are nibblers, chewing on plants we don’t want them to eat! So I appreciate that non-chemical solutions are shown for dealing with unwanted hungry garden guests.

There’s back matter, too (which you know I love!) with information about what’s inside seeds, invasive plants and animals, and some seed-related activities. And the illustrations are lovely. Here's a sample from Elisa Paganelli's gallery

Since I am a gardener, I knew I just had to ask Cynthia Schumerth a question or three…

Me: Hi Cynthia. I save seeds from the beans and pumpkins in my garden, and from flowers growing in my garden and around my yard. I’ve been known to collect seeds from flowers along roadsides and even from other people’s gardens! With their permission, of course. Do you save seeds? And what do you like to save?

Cynthia: I do save seeds.  Most of the seeds I save are from my annual flowering plants. My favorite are my Cosmos flowers.  When they dry on the stem, their seeds form a star.  You just have to slide your fingers over them and they release like magic. I always save my zinnia and marigold seeds too.  I even planted a lemon seed I saved and it grew into a lemon tree. I live where it’s cold in the winter, so I have to keep the tree inside from October to May. If you pinch the leaves they smell like lemon, it’s pretty neat.  But I’ve never gotten any actual fruit. I’ve also collected milkweed seeds and spread them out in open fields and along the roadside. It’s my way of helping the monarchs who need milkweed to lay their eggs on.

Me: Yes – dried cosmos seedheads are like asterisks in the garden! Did your own gardening experiences inspire your book? 

Cynthia: I grew up in a gardening family.  I had country grandparents who grew mostly vegetables and berries and of course fields of wheat and corn. I spent many hours in the garden with my Grandma picking peas and strawberries and red currants. And my sister and I helped Grandpa collect the corn seeds from the dried field corn. In the city my grandparents had a vegetable garden, and they grew beautiful flowers.  I learned a lot about flowers from them.  In parts of their garden they didn’t collect seeds, they’d just flatten the dried up plants down and let them reseed for next year. My parents had a large vegetable garden and several large flower beds.  They were always working out in the garden and of course we all helped.  I think we ate more than we picked! I guess you could say my grandparents and my parents helped me write this story by teaching me all about gardening and love as I grew up. 

Me:  Do you have favorite seeds and flowers?

Cynthia: While cosmos is my favorite seed to collect, my favorite flower is the violet. My second favorite is the forget-me-not. In our first house I grew forget-me-knots along our fence line and for some reason the birds would come along and cut the stem just under the flower head and all the pretty blue flower heads would fall to the ground. I often wonder why. I think Hollyhock seeds are interesting. It’s just really fun to take a closer look at dried up flowers in the fall and see all the different ways you can find their seeds hiding on the plant. It’s also interesting to see all the different shapes that seeds come in even if you don’t collect them.

Thanks for dropping by to talk about seeds and gardening, Cynthia. And now for one of my favorite parts of writing reviews – doing things that go…

Beyond the Books:

Plant some seeds and watch them grow. Beans, sunflowers, and other flowers are fun to grow – and you can even grow them in pots on your balcony, porch, or roof if you don’t have a garden.

Watch flowers you plant – or that you find growing in your neighborhood – throughout the season. Can you tell when they are producing seeds? Collect seeds from different flowers to examine. Cosmos, calendula, bee balm, and yucca are interesting to look at. What do you notice about these seeds? Plant some to see how they grow.

How do seeds get from a parent plant to a new place to grow? Look for milkweed or dandelion seeds, burdock seeds, and seeds in berries. What do you notice about these seeds? How do you think they end up in a new place?

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

It's Raining, It's Pouring ...

 

A Place for Rain   

by Michelle Schaub; illus. by Blanca Gómez 

32 pages; ages 4-8

‎Norton Young Readers, 2024

theme: rain, problem-solving, environment

Plink. 

     Plip. 

        Plop. 

We watch the raindrops drop.

Children, warm and dry inside, watch the rain pour down, puddle, pool, and fill the playground and parking lot, flood sidewalks, and run off into the road where it mixes with grit and grease. From there, the stream of water runs into storm drains and eventually into creeks, groundwater, or the ocean. 

The kids begin to wonder if they could collect some of that rain for a droughty day. And maybe they could keep it from pooling on the playground. Their solution: build a rain garden.

What I like about this book: I love the language, the onomatopoeia of plink, plop, pitter-patter, splutter-splatter. I like how Michelle Schaub highlights an important environmental issue by showing one solution –  a solution many cities are embracing as they focus on mitigating stormwater damage. And I really like that the Back Matter shows how people of all ages can Make Room for Rain with step-by-step instructions on how to build a rain garden.

A couple weeks ago, I caught up with Michelle (via the wonders of email) and asked her a couple questions.

Me: What inspired you to write a picture book about building a rain garden?

Michelle: I’ve always been passionate about using water and land sustainably, and I planted my first rain garden over ten years ago to help solve the problem of stormwater flooding my driveway. As I worked on the garden with my own children, I thought that the process would be fun to explain in a picture book.

Me: Why do you think this is an important story to share with children?

Michelle: In the face of doom and gloom news about climate change, A Place for Rain provides children with positive, attainable actions they can take to make a difference, whether it’s planting a full rain garden, or simply adding a rain barrel to a downspout to catch and reuse water.

Me: I agree, Michelle! Now for my favorite part of my Friday picture book reviews …

Beyond the Books:

Next time it rains, observe how and where the rain collects. What do you notice?

How much rain falls in a rainstorm? You can measure your rainfall if you have a big bucket and a ruler. Put the bucket in an open spot in your yard or driveway – not under roof eaves or trees. Then, after the storm measure how much rain fell.

Collect rainwater that comes off your roof by putting buckets under the eaves or a rain spout. How much collects? What could you use collected rainwater for? (water flowers, wash your bike, flush toilets…)

Michelle has written many books for kids, including Dream Big, Little Scientists. You can check out my review here on this blog. 

Michelle is a member of #STEAMTeam2024. You can find out more about her at her website.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Explore Outdoors ~ Seeds in the Garden

 I am one of those "lazy" gardeners who doesn't clean up at the end of the season. I leave the seedheads standing, hoping that birds will drop by and chow down on the seeds over winter. And sure enough, they have.

Not all seeds are gone... many of the milkweed pods are still filled with seeds and their fine, fibrous parachutes. Every time we get a strong wind, I expect these seeds to take flight. But no, even though the wind tugs at their fibers, they continue to cling to their cozy pod. Maybe next storm...

What seeds are you finding in gardens and along roadsides?

How to Be an Earth-keeper

 

Caring for Earth (Ultimate Spotlight)

by Sandra Laboucarie and Sarah Reynard; illus. by Julie Mercier
12 pages; ages 5 & up
Twirl, 2023

theme: ecology, nature, environmental protection

Nature is all around. We can learn a lot from nature by observing how plants and animals interact in the wild.

The environment we live in is full of complexity, and this book shows five detailed views of the nature around us. It’s an interactive book with flaps to open, wheels to turn, tabs to pull, and pop-ups. It is also written with a permaculture sensibility, showing how families could create a forest garden as well as develop a fruit and vegetable garden. One spread focuses on a house built with nature in mind, and the book ends with suggestions for how people can create an environment that is good for the earth in their neighborhood and at school

What I like about this book: As a gardener, there are things I definitely liked in this book. For example, showing how to create a raised bed using straw bales. There’s a family in our town who started their gardens this way a few years ago, and now they have deliciously rich soil in their beds. I also like the multi-layered pop-up showing a forest garden and the layers of fruit trees, fruiting shrubs, and flowers that could grow with taller trees in your backyard, local park, or schoolyard.

 And I like that, in the "natural house" they included a composting toilet. If nothing else, this book will provide openings for questions and may inspire you to grow a small fruit tree in your yard for the birds!

Beyond the Books:

Explore nature right out your front (or back) door. What kinds of trees and shrubs live around you? What do you notice about them right now? Draw a picture of your favorite tree and save it where you can look at it later. Try drawing a picture of your tree each month and see what changes you notice.

What kinds of wildlife shares your neighborhood? Maybe you see squirrels, birds, insects. Maybe you hear coyotes howling at night …. Get to know some of your wild neighbors.

Think of three things you can do to make the Earth a better place for all the plants and animals (including people). Write down one of the things – then go do it.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Book reviews are taking a winter break ~ I'll be back with more book talk in mid-January.

Explore Outdoors ~ Spider Flowers

 Last year I planted some of these flowers. They are called "spider flowers" and cleome, and grew as tall as me (five feet tall, if you must know). 

I planted them for the hummingbirds and hummingbird moths, butterflies and bees - you can see where a leafcutter bee has snipped out a bit of petal. And I planted them for their color and their fragile beauty. You may recall a post from late September in which, while looking at the seed pods, I wondered whether they would re-seed.

Yes, they do - but only where I didn't want them. Did the seeds grow in the flower bed? No. Did the seeds grow where I planted lettuce this year? Of course! Plants growing where you don't want them is the definition of "weed". But instead of calling them "weeds," I referred to them as "volunteers." Rather than yank the seedlings out, I let them grow a couple of weeks and have been transplanting them around the garden: to the flower bed, in amongst the tomatoes. I can't wait to see the birds and bees and butterflies visit this year's blooms.

This week, look for "volunteers" growing in your garden and yard. Did they come from seedpods of last year's plants? Did they fly on the wind? Were they dropped by birds or carried by ants? How do plants take root in a new place?

Waiting for Pie

Way back in May I transplanted my pumpkin seedlings. In the intervening weeks, those tiny seedlings have been growing. 

I keep looking for pumpkins, but it takes an entire summer to grow a pie! Here’s where they are right now. Most of the yellow flowers are male flowers – they are the ones that produce pollen. But there are a few female flowers here and there. 

As the pumpkins grow, so do the leaves – shading them from the sun. New England Pie pumpkins take about 100 days to grow from a seed. That’s more than three months, so with luck I might see ripe pumpkins about the time The Pie that Molly Grew hits bookstore shelves. 

Here's the cool thing about pumpkins: you can eat the entire plant. Yep, those  shoots, tendrils, leaves, flowers – even immature fruits – are edible. And tasty, too. Last summer I learned that young leaves and shoots can be stir-fried. Just remember to peel the outer prickly skin off first. And some folks use leaves to make soup. I’ve had squash-blossom fritters before, but you can also toss the flowers into salads or quesadillas (remove the stamen and any sepals or stem).

The Pie that Molly Grew releases August 15th with a blog tour! So you may find me chatting with other bloggers about pumpkins, gardening, pollinators … and pie. You can pre-order autographed copies from Riverow Bookstore, located in historic downtown Owego, NY.

See you next month with some funny stories from the pumpkin patch.

Cover Reveal: The Pie that Molly Grew

 A few years ago I was planting seeds in my garden and musing about the wonderful and yummy fruits of my labor. I started scribbling ideas in my journal … seeds that, over time, germinated and grew and ripened into a book.

Chamisa Kellogg and I are thrilled to share the cover of The Pie that Molly Grew, releasing August 15. We got to chatting on the phone the other day about our book journey.

Me: I have notes in an old “Ideas Notebook” referring to a writing challenge by Susanna Leonard Hill. I think it might have been National Pie Day (Jan. 23 if you’re curious) and Susanna suggested writing a pie story. She tossed out some ideas: the biggest pie, the smallest pie….  Meanwhile I’m thinking of pie diversity: apple, blueberry, pecan, key-lime. I detoured for a brief consideration of pizza (pepperoni, please) … but settled on my favorite, pumpkin. Within seconds a line came to mind and got stuck, like an earworm, until I finally wrote it down: This is the seed that Molly sowed. 

Words are only half of a picture book. Illustrations tell the other half of the story. So I asked Chamisa about the inspiration for her artwork.

Chamisa: I've been lucky enough to have been around gardens my entire life. My parents are both gardeners, and I spent nearly every spring and summer digging in the dirt and watching things grow. It was a wonder to me then and is still a wonder to me now, the way life springs from a tiny seed. For the art for this book, I wanted to capture that feeling of wonder I felt in gardens as a kid (and also now, as an adult), and I wanted the illustrations to have a playfulness to them.

Me: Turns out we both love pumpkin pie, too. One year my kids planted pumpkins for Halloween, and there were so many that I figured they wouldn’t miss one. I baked it and then used the potato masher to smoosh it. That leaves lumpy bits of pumpkin in the mix, but we loved the texture. Another year I didn’t have quite enough pumpkin for a pie, so I added a left-over sweet potato. No one even noticed!

Chamisa: I've tried all kinds of recipes – sometimes I use kabocha squash or butternut squash instead of pumpkin, sometimes I sweeten with dates instead of sugar, sometimes coconut milk instead of condensed milk. All versions are delicious! Plus, any excuse to put whip cream on something is a win for me!

You can find out more about The Pie that Molly Grew at Sleeping Bear Press website. It will hit bookstore shelves mid-August, but you can pre-order it at Riverow Bookshop or your favorite bookstore.

Chamisa and I have already started our pumpkins! Check back in a month to see how they’re doing. We’ll be sharing more about art, pie, and pumpkins on our social media over the summer.

You can connect with Chamisa Kellogg at her website, www.chamisakellogg.com and on Instagram at @chamisafe

You can find out more about my books at my website, www.sueheavenrich.com or follow me on Facebook

The Beauty of Dead Flowers

In the past few days the temperature has taken a dive, snow has fallen, and my garden has gone from the gold and rusty reds of late fall to the brittle browns of not-yet-winter. 

There is a stark beauty to the end of the season. Without the distraction of brilliantly colored petals (and the attendant bees, flies, wasps, beetles, butterflies, caterpillars, spiders, and birds) I can see the underlying structure: the cones that held the individual flowers; the prickles and hairs on stems and leaves.

I can enjoy the beauty in the curves of the leaves…

Seedpods split, filled with seeds ready to fall at any moment …

The details of seeds waiting to lift off in the breeze…

What was once order is now all about letting go. 

Explore Outdoors ~ Dainty Fungi

 Last week I was putting straw down for mulch and noticed this dainty fairy inkcap mushroom. It looks like it is made out of glass! It looks just as dainty from underneath!

 

 

 

 

This mushroom grew from one of the grains in the oat seedhead. Take a closer look at the mulch tucked around the plants in the gardens in your neighborhood. You might find fancy fungi in wood chips or straw mulch.  

It's Strawberry Season!

 I LOVE Strawberries 

by Shannon Anderson; illus. by Jaclyn Sinquett 

32 pages; ages 4-8

Feeding Minds Press, 2022

theme: gardening, responsibility

“Mom, can I grow strawberries of my very own?”

Jolie loves strawberries so much that she would eat them every day if she could. Her solution: grow her own. But that’s a lot of work, and mom and dad think she should wait until she’s older to tackle such a venture. So Jolie sets out on a mission: to show her parents that she is able to take on the responsibilities of a berry grower. She starts by cleaning her rabbit’s cage. Then she devises other ways to demonstrate that she is “old enough” to grow strawberries.

What I like about this book: I like the scrapbook-like entries Jolie puts in her journal. And I love how she sets herself specific missions to show her parents what she can do on her own. And what she does when she finally gets to plant her very own strawberries. Of course there’s a dose of reality: bird attacks, insects, too many berries (seriously, Jolie? too many?)

And I like the backmatter: tips on growing strawberries, some explanation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and some tips for locating U-pick berry farms. Plus there are links to educational activities and videos.

Beyond the Books:

Make strawberry ink. If you’ve eaten all your strawberries, you can use other berries to make ink. Here’s how.

Plant a strawberry seed, or a couple hundred. Here’s how.

Visit a U-Pick berry farm and pick your own strawberries! Then eat them!

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by Media Master’s Publicity

Explore Outdoors ~ Happy Halloween

 

orange and round

we show our pumpkin pride

warts and all!

Earth Day ~ recycling in practice and song

Here in Upstate NY I'm planting seeds for Lemon Queen sunflower.

 I'm planting them indoors so that they'll be ready to transplant into my garden by our last frost date (usually end of May, but given the snow blowing around outside it's hard to say what this year will be like!). My goal this year is to have my sunflowers blooming in time to collect bee counts for the Great Sunflower Project ~ a citizen science project that collects data on pollinators in your garden.

All you need to plant a flower seed is the seed, some potting soil, and a container to put the soil into. I like to recycle containers as pots, so you might find me poking holes into the bottom of cleaned yogurt containers. But sometimes I run out, so I've taken to making seedling pots out of newspapers.

I start with a newspaper. Depending on how big the paper is, I might use a full sheet (it it's my hometown weekly) or just one page (if it's a big paper like the New York Times).

I fold the paper in half length-wise.
 
Then I find a can from the pantry. Soup cans are great for small pots, but for something like a sunflower I want a bit bigger pot. So a can of tomatoes or pasta sauce (not sure how long that's been on the shelf....)

Put the can on the paper so the newspaper extends beyond the can on one end - that will be the bottom of your pot. Then start rolling the can until you've got it all rolled up. The paper should go around three times or so.

Starting at the seam- that's the edge where you stopped rolling - fold the bottom ends in. Keep doing this all the way around until you've got a nice bottom. Then I turn the can over and give it a nice push to squash the base flat.

Take the can out and you've got a seedling pot.
I like to fold the top down because it strengthens the pot, but you don't have to.

Now you've got some seedling pots that can go right into the ground! And you've recycled newspapers. And you're growing plants for the bees.



Speaking of recycling, I'd like to introduce you to Hobo Frog, an advocate for recycling and conservation. Check out this song about Hobo Frog's adventures, written by my back-beyond-the-hayfield neighbor, Trish Engelhard. (really. go to the end of the hayfield, walk down the dirt road, take a left, then a right, go past the pond where Hobo Frog lives and you're practically to her house!)

Wednesday Explorers Club ~ a very hungry caterpillar

I was wondering where the dill went! Having eaten the leaves, this very hungry cat is going after flowers. Eating things right down to the nibs, as you can see. My, what sharp mandibles it has!

I would put it over on the parsley - but there's another cat chowing that down. Queen Anne's lace? All chewed up... guess I'm sharing dill with the swallowtails this fall.

What kinds of caterpillars do you find in your garden, yard, neighborhood park?