OHC - Meadow Grass

It seemed a fitting thing to do to celebrate the Summer Solstice in our home with a nature walk! We've been a bit out of sync with our OHC as we have had a stream of visitors through our home, and a Friday Shakespeare workshop that we were a part of - all this took us away from our precious nature studies, and I have to say that I personally have felt the effects. I find purposeful time outdoors soothes the soul and helps my mind keep clear of 'clutter'. 

Walking to town this afternoon, I noticed that the wayside was full of meadow grasses. I was immediately inspired to afford some focused time on this little slice of nature. Once our errands were done, we grabbed our scissors to cut some specimens as well as this great little book I found in the library -for identification - (I will certainly be giving a review on this book. It is FABULOUS!)

As you can see from this photo {above}, our first day of Summer has had rather grey skies. It has not been very cold though and the sun has managed to peek through every so often. I just loved how atmospheric the sky was at this point.

We walked along the trail enjoying how all the trees have leafed up and are just so green, noticing a smattering of grasses along the way. The girls were getting very excited at the few they spotted along the path. I knew that at the head of the trail, there was a smorgasbord of grasses, so kept encouraging them to move along ;o) And low and behold, the trail opened up and what allot of grasses there are...  

Timothy Grass, Cocks Foot and a little Fescue

The smell of summer embraced us the minute we left the path to wade through the long grasses - kids just love doing that! They embrace nature so completely! As the girls collected different grasses, we noticed a yellow spider, a few butterflies and lots of little 'spittle pockets'. Miss V-L thinks that they may be where grasshoppers lay their eggs - we will have to follow that rabbit trail up!

The girls were quite exuberant in their specimen collecting - and quite frankly I don't blame them. There was such variety, so many shapes and colours. Each delicate and beautiful. Again I marvel at how being so purposeful in nature study makes one aware of how amazing God's works are! I mean - here I am getting excited about weedy grasses that most people find to be a pest! LOL

Timothy Grass

How pretty the Buttercups look growing amongst the meadow grass!

Pretty pink/lilac Fescue

Miss J-L discovered that each grass head was packed with seeds. She took great delight in stripping them from their stalks and spreading them with joy (which only a child can appreciate ;o) throughout the meadow.

After trekking through the meadow-grass, Miss V-L noticed that some seed had stuck to her top - a great opener to discuss how the seed attaches onto the coats of animals and is thus sown far and wide!

With our hands full of bunches of grass, we headed home to note our 'First Day Of Summer' finds on Barb's free notebooking Page. Standing in near the front door, we now have a lovely fresh display of Summer delights to welcome everyone who steps over our threshold ;o)