Jul. 20, 2008

Simple Backyard Nature - Let It Grow!

There's no doubt that everyone loves a neatly trimmed and manicured lawn.  One kept with grass and landscaped with beautiful store bought trees, shrubs and garden flowers.  But have you ever thought about what might grow in your yard if even just a small part is left to itself?

 

 

My husband has a gifted ability to make our landscaping around our home look wonderful, but he's also well aware of letting nature show off it's own landscaping abilities.  All around the bottom edges of our yard, right where our creek is and where it meets the woods, we allow about a 5-6 foot area to "grow wild".  This is where we've been blessed to be able to identify some of the most beautiful plants and wildflowers (see that patch of Black-Eyed Susans in the above photo?  That's where I got the photo for my blog banner!).  We've also observed countless cool-looking insects and have discovered little bird's nests perhaps built by Sparrows who prefer their nests down low to the ground.

 

 

And another thing that is really neat about God's natural landscaping, is that it changes through the days and seasons!  One week we may have Robin's Plantain growing and the next Chicory, it's always giving us a different view.

 

 

Around the base of trees is also a neat place to "let it grow".  There we may find different kinds of wildflowers and insects.  And we keep a few old logs and rocks around the bases of some of our trees just for those instances when we'd like to turn them over!

 

 

Even if your yard space is limited, perhaps you could spare just a very small area to let it grow wild.  Even in a small space, a new world awaits to be discovered!

 

 

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Comments

Jul. 20, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Dana @ School For Us
How neat! We also had a part of yard growing wild... though it wasn't planned. I'm just not much of a gardner and it went wild. Last weekend, we finally weeded it - the weeds were huge! We found lots of neat bugs... and a moth's cocoon! We brought it in, but after a few days it looked damaged. I'm not sure what happened. Anyway, enjoy your wildness! :-)
Dana, www.alexml.blogspot.com
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Jul. 20, 2008 - Wild yard

Posted by MusingMom
When we first moved into our house, two weeks before ds#1 was born, the back yard was cleared but no yard was put in. It became a wildflower field from where I would take cuttings for decorations with ds#1 in a backpack on my back.

It's all lawn now, with a play set and trampoline. It's great for the kids, but sometimes I miss that wild field.
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Jul. 21, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by blessedwith2angels
I love the "grow wild" space in your yard. When we tried the grow wild space, it was just wild blackberries that we kept stepping on. Ouch!
Pam
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Jul. 21, 2008 - Let it grow, let it grow, let it grow!

Posted by OldSchoolMarm
I simply love the picture of the little nest! Were you ever able to see what kind of bird they were?
I'm thinking of enterring some of my nature photos in our county fair next month. Your photos are definitely
competition worthy.
Thanks for the tip on letting it grow, so much of ours is doing just that :-).
Blessings, Julie
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Jul. 21, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Lynn
Hello Melissa!
I hope your first day back at school is going well. I prayed for you all first thing this morning (which was probably the middle of the night for you ;)
God bless you all
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About Me

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My name is Melissa and I am a homeschool mom of three beautiful blessings ages 12, 10, and 4; and blessed wife to my husband for 16 years. We use Charlotte Mason's educational philosophies of learning the natural, everyday hands-on life way. We especially enjoy learning and growing together beyond the classroom doors in God's amazing creation in nature. Photobucket

"Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young - a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God." ~Psalm 84:3-4


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We Love Mud
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Let It Grow
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Picture Study - Creative Writing Activity
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Nature Study is Education!

Precious Moments in God's Creation
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Finally, the Elusive Pileated Woodpecker
Carving Out Time for Nature Study
Teaching with Nature ~ Math

Charlotte Mason Quotable
"It would be well if we all persons in authority, parents and all who act for parents, could make up our minds that there is no sort of knowledge to be got in these early years so valuable to children as that which they get for themselves of the world they live in. Let them once get touch with Nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life. We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things." --Charlotte Mason, Vol.1, p. 61

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