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/

Wednesday Explorers Club ~ Buds are Bursting

Depending on where you live (in the northern hemisphere), spring may already be on its way. Buds are swelling, opening, flowering... providing the first pollen of the year for bees.

Some tree buds open earlier than others. A good way to get to know the signs of spring in your area is to "adopt" a tree in your back yard or the local park. Visit it every week and take photos or draw pictures of what the buds look like.

• What sort of flowers does it have? 
• When do they open?
• What do the flowers look like close-up?
• How long do they last?
• When do the leaves burst out?

You can become a "citizen scientist" bud-watcher for Project BudBurst and share data with others - check out their website here. One thing scientists have noticed is that buds are opening earlier and earlier each year. People's observations are contributing to their understanding of how climate change is affecting the natural world.

Wednesday Explorers Club - unseasonal observations

Walking through town the other day I saw some trees blooming. Even my forsythia is blooming again. It's October! Granted, we've had a lo-o-ong summer, but the red on trees should be leaves turning color.

Which brings me to phenology: the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena. According to the US National Phenology Network, "Changes in phenological events like flowering and animal migration are among the most sensitive biological responses to climate change. Across the world, many spring events are occurring earlier—and fall events are happening later—than they did in the past." 

You can help scientists by keeping track of flower blooms, bird migrations, insects emerging, and other natural phenomena by becoming a citizen scientist through Project BudBurst. All you need is a journal, a pencil, and insatiable curiosity. Despite its name, you don't have to wait until spring to make observations. You can start now. Have fun!

Spring is Bursting Out

In some places tree buds have already opened to reveal new flowers and leaves. If it’s not quite spring where you live, you can bring some buds inside and encourage them to bloom early.

On a warmish day, head outside with a pair of sharp pruning shears. Look for swollen, plump buds. Cut the branches at an angle and long enough that they can be put into a jar of water.

To make sure your branches don’t dry out, try smashing the bottoms gently to make it easier for the branches to take up water. For the first week or so, keep your branches in a cool location out of direct sunlight. Cover the branches loosely with a plastic bag or spray them with a water mist to keep them from drying out. When the water gets cloudy, fill the jar with fresh water.

After a few days move your branches into a sunny window. After a few weeks you should see your buds blooming.

For the best success try these trees and shrubs: azalea, crab apple, forsythia, magnolia, pussy willow, redbud, rhododendron, serviceberry, witch hazel, cherries, pears and apples.

You can help scientists keep track of when plants bloom by becoming a Project BudBurst buddy. Find out more here.

Tracking Climate Change with Your Nature Journal

Backyard nature-watchers are teaming up with scientists to track the relationships between climate and plants. This isn’t something new – about 60 years ago Aldo Leopold, who observed the plants and birds and insects on his farm, combed through ten years of journals to see how things had changed over time. He found a correlation between temperature and flower blooming.

Later, his daughter moved back to the family farm and resumed nature journaling. When scientists compared her observations to those of her father, half a century earlier, they discovered that over those decades some plants had begun blooming earlier, and some migratory birds returned earlier. Over that same period of time the earth warmed about two degrees.

The study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events is called “phenology”. It doesn't take much to be a "phenologist" - just a pencil, a notebook and a desire to look closely at the world. You can keep track of plants and animals in your back yard. Who knows? Maybe the notes you keep will help scientists in the future. If you're interested in helping scientists collect data for climate research right now, check out Project BudBurst. 

Follow the Season - Spring

Despite this evening’s forecast – 20 degrees and snow – today really is the first day of spring. The vernal equinox. One of two magical days where the length of day is balanced by the length of night. From here on out the days get longer.

The last few days the air has smelled like spring – well, that and hot maple syrup. Chickadees have added upbeat songs to their repertoire; sparrows and juncos cluster on the lawn picking millet out of the dead grass. Spears of daffodil leaves have pushed up from the lawn and the soil smells fresh, sweet.

It’s noisy, too. In addition to the cooing of mourning doves there’s the sound of water running down hill, the gentle hum of honeybees stretching their wings, the schlook of mud beneath my sneakers.

Now is the time to grab a notebook and document the changing season. Maybe you want to map where the sun rises each morning, or keep a lookout for the first bumblebees. Or maybe you want to document when the first flowers bud and bloom.

There’s a whole field of study that documents the timing of biological events in plants and animals such as flowering, leafing, hibernation, reproduction, and migration. It’s called “phenology”, and scientists involved in this field are interested in the timing of such biological events in relation to changes in season and climate.

You can contribute to this research by getting involved in Project Budburst.