Twitter as a way to find Nature!

Nature is all around you.  Even on the computer.  I KNOW.........you expected me to tell you to GO OUTSIDE.  AND......I usually do.  But even those of us who love nature occasionally need inspiration. My daughter is really into social media and I have to admit I kind of love it too.  So as I build my Twitter life I have found some fabulous resources to share with you! 

http://squigglemum.com/ is so creative.  She has a backyard treasure hunt, a rope ladder, and even an outdoor mud kitchen. 

http://movingsmartblog.blogspot.com/  is all about getting your child outside to play and move!  They even have blogs about creating a little environmentalist. 

http://www.theoutdoorsguy.com  has a blog about how to fish with your kid. 

Sometmes the simplest things are the best!



So go onto Twitter and find some like minded friends and I promise you will also get ideas for just about anything you can imagine!

Where is the best place to find informaton on Play in Nature?

Start with Richard Louv's book Last Child in the Woods.  It is a GREAT resource for those of us who spend our days getting Chidren outside to PLAY IN NATURE!  He also has a new book called the Nature Principle which is a follow up to Last Child. 

Organizations in your area have resources too!  Do you have a local Nature Center?  If not contact ANCA ( Association of Nature Center Administrators) and I am sure they can tell you where to find the one closest one to your town.  Association of Nature Center Administrators   

Another great resource is Green Hearts Institute for Nature in Childhood!  Green Hearts has a fabulous Parent's Guide to Nature Play that is one of the best resoruces ever! 

Some organizations like Chicago Wilderness have gone as far as creating a Childrens Outdoor Bill of Rights! 

So what ever the day brings...............be sure to get your kids OUTSIDE to play! 

Pilcher Park Nature Center is having some really awesome bat events this summer.  Bring your family out for Bats Live or leave the kids at home and come out to play bags with us and drink some beer at Beer, Bats and Brats!



Gardener's Flea Market at Bird Haven Greenhouse

You certainly know by now one of my favorite nature play activities is gardening.  Gardening is the most gratifying thing I do.  I plant something and then weeks or months later I have this beautiful thing that I created.  Because I like instant gratification sometimes I just buy something beautiful.  That's where Bock's Greenhouse comes in. 

This one was so big I picked it first!

For the last several years I have purchased fabulous HUGE hanging baskets at the Gardener's Flea Market at the Bird Haven Greenhouse.  This year was to be no different.  Kevin, the Head Horticulturist, told me I could go to Bock's and get baskets early this year if I wanted.  I was having a little party for my mother's 85th birthday so I needed some instant color. Kevin called them to see when they would be delivering to the greenhouse and they told him to tell me just to come on over.  OMG!  This place is amazing.  Two greenhouses in the backyard with the most beautiful array of bright beautiful BIG hanging baskets all for the minute sum of $25.00 EACH !  Really!  $25 dollars each! 

So before I even got to the flea market I had five of my favorite things for this summer.  However, once we arrived at Bird Haven Greenhouse ( a recently restored Lord and Burnham Greenhouse) there were hundreds of other things I really needed for my house/yard/ life.  A few years ago my husband said we needed more whimsy in our yard so I set off to create a more magical experience.  I bought Bernard ( our big ugly bird planter) for him for Father's Day.  I found the most wonderful bike, or should I say half bike at the Gardener's Flea Market a couple of years ago. 

This year my fabulous finds included two really nice recycled glass pieces. First one was a green glass whimsical garden stake and the second one is a chandelier I can place a votive in for my gazebo.

You can find whimsy for your garden at your local flea markets and garage sales too.  I found the scale holding the hanging basket at a local garage sale.  I used the old whicker furniture my neighbor was throwing away for years as a pot holder until it totally disintigrated.   For those of you around the Chicagoland area Bird Haven Greenhouse is open 7 days a week and they still have plants at VERY reasonable prices from their plant sale. 

Bird Haven Greenhouse

227 North Gougar

Joliet, IL 604732

815-741-7277

Facebook   Bird Haven Greenhouse

Bock's Greenhouse

13105 U.S. Highway 6

Mokena, IL 60448

815-485-2165

Mon-Fri 9-6

Sat 9-4

Closed Sunday



 

What a spectacular day!

The sun is out and the day is bright.  All is well here in Pilcher Park.  This is very much like living right smack in the middle of Dolly Parton's song God's Coloring Book!  Every day there are new things to see and new colors that appear that were not there the day before. 

The more you look the more you see.  Today, as I stopped at McDonalds to get coffee on the way to work I saw a mother duck with her babies walking down the sidewalk.  As I sat in my office later I saw a deer running down by the pond. Every day, every minute something new and spectacular!



Each minute the light changes, the rain sparkles on a leaf, the wind blows something new and spectacular into place.  Whenever there is the slightest bit of doubt that we are all part of something awesome and amazing all I have to do is walk outside and watch the changing landscape.  

Bluebells, Jack in the Pulpit, Trillium.............spring has sprung!




Virginia Bluebells

 

Here in Pilcher Park, in Joliet Illinois we have acres upon acres of Virginia Bluebells each spring.  It is the most spectacular thing to stand in a patch of bluebells, turn around 360 degrees and all you can see is blue in every direction! 



Marsh Marigolds

Another wonderful feature of spring here in Pilcher is the enormous patches of Marsh Marigolds. We have several seeps here in the park and each one has a patch of Marsh Marigolds.  Some of these areas are over three acres. 



Squirrel Corn

We have Squirrel Corn growing in the woodland as well.  These look alot like wild Bleeding Hearts.  The leaves look almost like Dutchman's Breeches but the flower is different.





Jack in the Pulpit

Jack in the Pulpit is a fun suprise to find on a walk.  The little stamen in the middle of the flower is supposed to be Jack the preacher speaking from his pulpit in the woods. 





Yellow Trout Lily and White Trout Lily are some of our most prolific wildflowers.  We have thousands of the rare Yellow Trout Lily  here in the Park.  

We would love to see you ........

Come out and visit us soon before these spectacular flowers are hidden again for another year. 

Spring is here and the Little Sprouts are out and about!

It is spring and our Little Sprouts Nature Based Early Larning Center is full of excited children!  These kids are lucky enough to get to go outside everyday and play while still learning the basic preschool type lessons.  And while they are outside they see the changes that have come to their forest.  

As they look under logs and at the forest floor more and more flowers are blooming every day.  And the magic of children's imaginations take over and the stories begin.  Faries live under May Apples and Jack in the Pulpit REALLY has a little man in the middle. 

So as you go about your day please remember to look at the world through the eyes of a child and you too will see the magic that awaits!

Vilt's Greenhouse

I admit it.........I am a plant-a-holic.  Every spring I spend LOTS of money buying beautiful plants.  I could just stick with the hundreds of perrenials I have planted but no...........I NEED annuals.  Annuals that are interesting and different.  Vilts Greenhouse http://maps.google.com/maps/place?rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS341US341&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=vilts+greenhouse+il&fb=1&gl=us&hq=vilts+greenhouse&hnear=Illinois&cid=17261193357804410097 is fabulous.  In years past I would go there and look around in mid July and always fill my car and come home wishing I had gone there earlier. 

They always have the most unusual plants.  I LOVE geraniums because they are workhorse plants.  They are beautiful and resiliant.  They are good for color and grow almost anywhere.  Vilts has amazing geraniums.  They have colors I have only seen there and they have the most fabulous varigated leaves. 

A couple of years ago I couldn't get Lemon Zest Petunias and I thought the summer was a disaster.  So this year I started early, went straight to vilts and today I went out and got my first flat of Lemon Zest Petunias!  Life is good!

Happy Gardening!