July 2011 Blog Posts (12)

Turn off the screens—the television, the computer, the video games. Take time from work, from chores, from the day-to-day tasks that keep us busy. Adults and children, take it outside. Each week I will challenge you to see and hear new things—to hunt the woods for wildflowers, to find shapes in…

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My husband and I have been married for 10 years now, and occassionally we forget our romantic beginnings. We met during the design and construction of the George S. Bryan Discovery Forest Treehouse at (what is now) the Chattanooga Aboretum and Nature Center in Southeast Tennessee. I was the nature center’s director and Monty was the artist / contractor who designed and built the 750-square-foot treehouse in the arms of a 250+…

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Dated June 2011

 

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but sometime between my son Henry’s third and fourth birthdays we lost touch with the outdoors. I’m not talking about being outside at one of the local playgrounds, or going for a stroll through the streets of Newburyport eating candy from Richdale’s, or sitting on the waterfront spooning Gram’s ice cream into our mouths—because we have, of course, maintained that minimal level of connection with “the outside…

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Baan Fah Sighy Home of Blue Skies…

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We don't have many neighborhoods in Homer. We're a small, spread-out, Alaskan town with many large yards and few sidewalks sandwiched between the ocean and a shrubby bluff of sandstone. On the outskirts of town, few people make an effort to gather with distant neighbors, and kids are rarely seen playing together in groups outdoors. Where houses are close together, next-door neighbors hardly interact with or even get to know each other. The vacant lots, side streets, and climbing trees… Continue

On Monday, August 1st, Sacramento Splash invites you to hear documentary filmmaker Kenny Ballentine share the inspiration for his latest project: a feature-length film called Nature Kids. His intelligent, impassioned call to save kids from a life without nature will leave you hopeful and inspired. Please join us to…

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Do you have 15 minutes to spare? If so, you can be a citizen scientist. Over the past few years, citizen scientists -- ordinary people who help scientists and organizations track the count and behaviors of such creatures as birds, hummingbirds, butterflies, bees and others -- have been active and helpful information gatherers. After all, scientists can't…

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Taiga Trekkers took off today on another fabulous section off the paved trail network that weaves its way all around Anchorage's greenbelt system. This town's trail system/bike path is phenomenal and an environmentalist's dream. It allows those who take advantage of it so many opportunities. My husband has rarely used his truck in weeks, preferring to ride his bike or run to work on it. You never have to deal with the inherent danger of crossing a road once (a huge relief for parents). Their… Continue

I'm a newbie on Children & Nature Network but an 'old timer' when it comes to the idea of children growing up in nature. I am a former elementary teacher turned stay-at-home-ridiculously-busy-mom to three young children. Recently I wrote a book entitled "It's Time to Play…

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The Rose in My Garden is a wonderful collaborative work by Arnold and Anita Lobel. This cumulative book is filled with descriptive text and detailed illustrations that draw the reader in and beg the question, “What’s going on in this garden?”



The story starts with a simple sentence: “This…

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I'm Lisa Finerty, of Your Garden Show's Bee-a-thon 2011, a free, online "town hall" event broadcasting live July 16th to shed light on the plight of our native bees. I've attached the mailing at the bottom that I've sent out to multigenerational groups' newsletters and community groups earlier…

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