Explore Outdoors ~ Lichens and Moss

 There's something about lichens that enchants me. I love the idea of cooperative housing (fungi and algae living together) and how they are such pioneers. Lichens grow on rocks and tombstones and old picnic tables and even trunks and limbs of trees. Here are some I saw over the past week. Granted, the moss is pretty cool, too!

What kinds of lichen have you found lately?

Explore Outdoors ~ Colors of a new season

 

 

There is an aging slab of concrete in my yard. Rumor has it that when the commune was here, that was the floor of the goat barn. The commune is long gone; the concrete remains - but over the years it has been colonized by mosses and lichens. This time of year the mosses come into their own, showing off their colors. There's an occasional flower, a rosette of hairy leaves, grass... but mostly it's moss with a variety of textures and shades ranging from green to russet.

This week, look more closely at the mosses growing in your neighborhood. 

• Where do you find them? 
• What textures do they have? 
• What colors do they come in?

Explore Outdoors ~ tree trunks

Splotted and splattered

there's more to tree trunks

than bark

What do you see

when you look at your trees?

Explore Outdoors ~ Windows to What's Under the Snow

 Warm winds blew in for a week, and snow began to melt. What was underneath? Bright green mosses, soggy leaves in shades of brown, rust-colored pine needles. It smelled like a garden after rain, but colder.

What's poking through snow-windows in your neck of the woods? Or if you don't have snow, what's starting to grow? Scribble words, brush paint, stretch like a small plant reaching to the sun or shrugging off the snow.

This year I'm encouraging everyone to spend 1,000 hours outdoors. So on Wednesday I'll be posting ideas for nature breaks, field trips, and outdoor play. The goal: to have fun!

Teachers and homeschoolers who want to use nature breaks as field trips can grab a sketchbook or journal, something to draw and write with, and some watercolors, colored pencils, crayons, or markers. Think cross-curricular: art, language, science, math, engineering, movement, exercise! And come back Friday for some STEM book-talk.
 

Wednesday Explorers Club ~ ecological succession

Years ago a large tree fell down at the bottom of our hill. It was too big to cut with a chainsaw, so it sat. Through wind and rain and snow and hot summer days - soaking up moisture - and now it is getting hard to recognize. Mosses cover much of the top. Leaves fallen and composted year after year have created compost that now provide a place for grasses to root.

Over time the tree is going through phases of decay. Mosses, lichens, and fungi push into the bark, furthering the process of decomposition. Later, other plants will take their place. As the wood rots and cracks, small animals will move in, carving their homes and nests.

Each group of occupants changes the log - making it suitable for the next plant and animal inhabitants. The process is called ecological succession.

What will our neighborhood tree trunk look like in two years? In five? In another decade?

Do you have a fallen tree, old patch of cement,  or patch of crumbling pavement that is undergoing succession?

What's growing on and in it? Can you see lichens? Fungi? Mosses? Are their plant stems stretching across the surface? Stems and leaves sprouting from the cracks?

What kinds of insects and other animals are using it?

How does it change over the next year? Document what you observe using photos, drawings, and notes.

Wild Outdoor Wednesday

Look for mosses. How many colors of mosses do you see? Use colors, images, and words to record your observations.

Remember to take your sketchbook or journal with unlined pages, something to draw and write with, and something to add color ~ watercolors, colored pencils, crayons, or markers.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday