It’s a perfect day to find slugs on magnolia petals

and worms needing rescuing from the driveway puddles!

 A day for playing in puddles

and a day for a little bit of drama because one of us was “freezing to death!” It was in the 40′s today after a string of days in the 80′s, so it did feel very cold today. Crazy spring weather!

A great day to stop and taste a magnolia blossom as well! I have to warn you though, they taste like cheap perfume (not that I know what the taste of cheap perfume tastes like)!

Yep, some of those tree blossoms are indeed edible. I would only just have a little taste of some of them, but some taste quite good.

Here’s a list of trees that are “category 4″  or plants generally considered non-toxic to humans (according to the University of Arkansas)-
-Redbud blossoms- Our favorite, highly recommend trying!  They taste just like sweet peas if you nibble them while they are very young. Ours aren’t quite to that stage yet though.
-Mimosa
-Pecan
-Russian-Olive
-Tulip-Poplar
-Pine- Fauna was just complaining last week that she had a pine needle stuck in her throat after eating some, she nibbles needles all of the time. Pine is also a great source of Vitamin C and makes a good tea too!
-Plum
-Weeping Willow
-Forsythia
-Gardenia
-Hibiscus
-Nandina
-Lilac
-Yucca

To learn more about the toxicity of trees, visit the longer list here. Please use caution when eating wild edibles and make sure the id is CORRECT before tasting! There’s the warning, don’t come back to me if you should get sick. I get a little nervous sharing wild edibles on the site because of this, but wild edibles are such a pleasure to my girls and make “knowing nature” fun!

I thought I would share an Outdoor Challenge Participant of the Day from now until the end of April. Today’s picture is from Sherry of Living and Learning; it’s a shame not to show her boy’s cute little face, but this pic is PRICELESS! Love a kid in the mud and a mama not afraid of a dirty kid!

I will try and share more participant pics daily. If you come back here and leave a link on the days you participate, I will know I have permission to share. 

 Visit the other Great Outdoor Challenge players- 105 players so far! It’s never too late to join!

lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, tricia, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, renee, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella, missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen, lisa, stacy, jennifer, tulsileaf, lisa C, morticia, angela, rana, jamie, lisa c, luz, charley, heather, valerie, kirsten, rachel, annie, kendra, beth s, lindsey

“That’s all.”

You need:
-long sleeve shirt with buttoned cuffs
-2 cups of herbs- we used evergreen needles and lavender but of course you could use any herb mixture for this sachet; I think fir needles, dried orange peel, and cloves will be our next mix
-thread
-needle or sewing machine

To do:
1. Cut a sleeve off  the shirt making it 15 inches long from the bottom of the buttoned cuff.
2. Leave the sleeve right-side out, sew a straight seam close to the cut, making a pocket for the herbs.

3. Turn the sleeve inside out and unbutton.

4. Stuff with about 2 cups of herbs.

4. Sew a straight seam to close up the herb pocket. This is a little tricky because the herbs will want to spill out, decrease the amount of herbs if need be.

5. Pull the cuff over the herb pillow so the right side of the cuff is showing, then button the cuff.

There you have it, a sachet for the gentlemen in your life. Now, Dave just laughed when I told him it was a gentleman’s sachet, and the little ladies took off with them and put them under their pillows. They were pretty sentimental about them because they were made from Dave’s old shirts.

Another idea using evergreen needles is Julia Daby’s balsam squirrel, directions at  the wonderful Rhythm of the Home online publication. Be sure to visit all the wonderful articles there! Enjoy!

After watching the video, shown below, the little ladies and I were up for the challenge on this very cold, wintry day. Honestly, I thought it might be a little challenging in the winter wonderland right now, but our imaginations were on fire as soon as we ventured outside. We made all of our art purely from the materials provided to us by mother nature in our yard; no glue, no yarn, or clay was used. After our creations were made, we snapped some photos, then left the creations outside for the elements to do with as they pleased.

 ”Nature Chains Hanging in Oak,” the chain in the background (above photo) is made of thyme and the the one in the foreground is from a shrub in our front yard. To make the chains- cut a fresh stem and simply form a circle then twist one end around the other end of the stem.  If your stems aren’t pliable enough for twisting, cut a slit in one end with a sharp knife, then feed the other end through the slit. The key to this chain is live, green branches and stems.

 Here is Fauna’s “Snowboat” made of sycamore bark, a dogbane seedpod, and a scarlet maple leaf.

Araina’s “Pinecone Swordsman” made of a pinecone, acorn cap, and dogbane seedpod.

Now that you have seen our simple Land Art watch this amazing video created by Richard Shilling called- “Leaves and Light- The Land Art of Richard Shilling”

For more amazing photos of his Land Art visit his Flickr site, his webpage, and my personal favorite- Land Art for Kids  which is full of very inspirational things to create outside, snap photos of, and then leave outside. Now I challenge you to go outside, no matter the weather, and make your own Land Art.

Simply laminate a pressed leaf, trim around the leaf, place the leaf backside-up and you’ve got yourself  a leaf rubbing plate. 

These plates work just as well as the ones you buy from the education stores! These are much cheaper and you can use any leaf from your yard or park.

Poke holes in the plates and add them to a book ring (love book rings) for safe keeping. Label the names of the leaves with a Sharpie to help learn leaf identification. They are so much prettier than those plastic plates!

Thank you everyone who has voted for me for the Best Unschooling Blog Award, please keep the votes coming!  If you haven’t voted yet- vote here.

The first thing to do is go for a hike in your yard or local park and collect 2 leaves from each different kind of tree you find (preferably taken from the ground not off the tree); you also need only one leaf from one special tree. Press the leaves for at least 24 hours, this makes gluing down the leaves easier. We picked leaves from 12 different trees, 2 from 11 trees and a single leaf from one tree.  We have a 23 card deck so far, but we plan to build on this.

What you need:
pressed leaves (at least 24 hours of pressing)- you need 2 of each leaf, and one single leaf like no other
manila paper, construction paper, or cardstock
glue
marker
a laminator or contact paper

Glue on the leaf and label it. I wish I would have had the little ladies include the Latin names, that’s good to know too; actually we will go back with a Sharpie and do this after they know the common names! 
*You might want to add another thickness to the back of the card if using manila or construction paper; after putting the card through the laminator you can see a leaf print on the back. I don’t mind this because I like how it makes the girls recognize the shape of the leaf, not just the color.

 Let the glue dry before placing in the laminator. I got a little impatient at first and put some of the cards in with wet glue, it smeared  the glue and discolored some of the leaves. The leaves I was more patient with and allowed to dry overnight, came out perfectly.

Cut around the cards and they are ready for play. I also punched holes and keep the cards on a book ring to keep them together when not in use.

  The 2 games we play with these cards are like Old Maid and Go Fish:

1. Odd Leaf Out- pass out the entire deck of cards, pull out the matches, take turns taking a card from each others’ deck looking for a match. The first person to match her whole deck wins, unless she has the odd leaf, in which case she will lose.  ;(

2. Go Fish style (my favorite); however you don’t fish unless you have a huge deck of leaf cards. Pick a person, ask for a leaf, if no match it’s the next person’s turn. Once again you win if you match your whole deck, but lose if you have the odd leaf. I really like this one because the little ladies are calling out the leaves’ names looking for matches.

I’m sure there are other games to play with these cards. Of course you could play Memory, but remember to take out the odd leaf.    These would be great to take on a hike to ID trees as well or do a scavenger hunt with them! I want to do an herbal deck too, but that will have to wait until next summer. Ooooh, and a flower deck full of pressed flowers would be pretty! The possibilties are endless! Enjoy!