F Is For Foraging, Fiddleheads And Fun Outside

Kids like funny, disgusting things. What could be funnier than a fiddlehead fern. Sure, it got its name from looking like the end of a fiddle. But after they are cooked, they could double as green worms. Forget the fact they taste somewhat between asparagus, broccoli, and that  dreaded other green, spinach. They look disgusting! Besides the joy of eating disgusting things, collecting anything is one of kids' happiest pastimes. How many stones, shells, sticks and have you stuffed into your pockets on an "expedition," as my granddaughter calls a walk on the beach or through the woods?
Connecting kids and nature with foraging is certainly not a unique idea, but one that some consider too risky. The only edible fiddlehead is the ostrich fern. Gathering information with your child before you forage is just as important as enjoying the end dish. Link to this You Tube video to find out more about the ostrich fern.

Bring Children Back To Nature Flower By Flower

Bring children back to nature: flower by flower; bird by bird, tree hallow by tree hallow. Curious By Nature  will be explore wildflowers, birds, and many other unique natural wonders one by one.  Just as knowing the name of a person connects you to that person, a child who  knows the name of a wildflower or bird will appreciate its importance and want to preserve it. To begin this adventure,  I will follow Frederic William Stack's book, Wildflowers Every Child Should Know published by Doubleday, Page & Company in 1909. Stack organizes his book according to color. I would like to explore each species by season. So check back for the first amazing wildflower that every child will remember by its smell, if  not its other characteristics. That's right. It is one of earliest plants to appear in New England.  By January or February you should be able to find this  Skunk Cabbage popping up in a still very cold bog along the side of a country road.  I'll be back with my own photo and more interesting facts about this member of the lilly family. Join me for this new adventure, flower by flower, bird by bird.

A Robin Wintering In Connecticut

Sometimes Nature reminds us that even the very familiar can be special.  Even though the robin is a common backyard visitor and often the  harbinger of Spring known to every child,  this  puffed-up, haughty fellow sitting in my evergreen  on this very cold February morning reminded me how Nature can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary if we are willing to take a moment to appreciate it. You can see the look in my visitor's eye. Can you hear him saying? "I know I am the most handsome..."

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Sharing The Wonder of Birds With Kids by Laura Erickson

Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods

When I started this blog, I knew I wanted to show and share my respect, my amazement and awe about the natural world with my readers. I always felt those scarlet poppies growing around my sandbox, those hydrangeas forming a natural gate between my house and my grandmother's and her cherished apple, pear, and nut trees hold a special place in my childhood memories.
I also remember the move when I was ten to a track house with two by four boards bridging the driveway to the doorway to avoid the mud; and not a tree on the property. The change was devastating.
Oddly, reading Richard Louv's book, Last Child In The Woods, all these years later, explains the loss I felt, but never identified. That loss is nature-deficit-disorder.
Today, as the grandmother who has the glorious opportunity to share my wooded forest with my granddaughter, I understand and value this gift.
The strength of Richard Louv's book is the overflowing, readable research which, at first thought, is profoundly self-evident, but overlooked or ignored for generations. These obvious facts startle the reader; first, because we know allowing the natural world to decay with such a blatent neglect is simply wrong; second, acting on his information, recognized by the 2008 Audubon Award, will connect future generations to nature. It truly is a very simple cause/effect relationship that no one can reject and everyone should embrace.
Just as important as the references, statistics and philosophy are Louv's personal anedotes and those he offers from others. One friend told him that if you cannot name a tree, plant, or animal you will not appreciate its value. I found the same analogy true after many years of teaching. Learning a child's name was the first, sometimes only, step needed to improve his behavior.
Taking the person out of personal is similar to taking the nature out of natural. We must strive to move our technology forward without losing sight of the individuality of nature.

A Simple Treasure

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Dandelions: Stars In The Grass

Age 4-7

Dandelions (Early Nature Book)

Age 7-10

Did You Know?

The word dandelion comes from the French name "dents de lion". Look at the jagged edges of the leaf. Do they look like the "teeth of a lion"?

'MATTER OF FACT'

The dandelion is a member of the Aster family. Every  country boasts this species. What is the the myth behind its ubiquitousness? 

Connect With Nature Every Day

August 30,2008

Curious About Nature is a blog about Nature's curiosities that make this earth such an exciting place to save. Participation in this private or public quest knows no age or physical boundaries. A toddler collecting a twig,  a marine biologist saving a whale,  a passerby nudging the lazy turtle across a busy road, a child's awe at the blinking firefly, an old man feeding the pigeons, neighbors creating a garden between sidewalks...our experience with nature is limitless. Sharing each one with someone-whether its a devastating hurricane or a rainbow after a rain storm-strengthen our fortitude and love for our planet.

Share a picture, a thought, or experience about nature with someone today.