Wild Edibles

In 2012, I was able to go on several wild edible hikes. While I've always enjoyed a hike when the guide knew what plants were okay to eat, I became interested in wild edibles recently again after reading The Hunger Games trilogy. The main character, Katniss, is named after a tuber that grows in the water. She was told she'd never go hungry as long as she could find herself.

I first went on a hike with Elkhart Local Food Alliance last spring. I went home with garlic mustard (an invasive species--eat it up!) and other edibles, a few sketches and photos, and an introduction to a few resources on the topic. I tried to drag my husband and three (at the time) boys along with me, but they didn't last long. I learned that sketching the plants gave more details and helped the learner remember the key characteristics better. My sons wanted to pull garlic mustard (that weed we can eat) from the backyard all spring.

About this time, Edible Michiana, a cool local foods magazine, printed an article on foraging and wild edibles in the area which included a recipe for wild ramp pesto. We love pesto at our house! The article had key tips, cautions, and suggestions for foraging. There is also a local foraging Facebook group called Eat Wild. I've just been following this for a few months, but it's been great to know what is in season at the current time, ask questions, and connect with others that are knowledgeable on the topic.

I also went on a couple of hikes with my kids through Elkhart County Parks. The naturalists are always helpful and made sure WE KNEW why it was okay to eat a certain plant. We even ate cattail trail mix cookies as part of one. My son really enjoyed the mint and sassafras teas as well. We also did a fall fruits hike which introduced to some of the fruits available in the woods during the fall.

Can you believe there are games to learn wild edibles? Here is a good basic book on the topic, too!

                                         

Have you ever eaten food from the wild? How did you know it was safe? What resources do you use to learn about wild edibles?

Watch for upcoming posts on how to learn about wild edibles in the area! Check the calendar for hikes on Sunday!

Fairy Houses!

The girls at church are helping make fairy houses for a Fairy Garden event coming up at Woodlawn Nature Center. How much fun is a service project centered on being creative? I would sign up in an instant!

I did a sneak peak to see what they were making. They had paint, glue guns, shells, flowers, sticks, containers, and more! I loved seeing how each young woman's creation was unique and creative!

Some made houses, others worked on swings, ladders, cars, and more!

It will be neat to hunt for these in the woods on May 11th and have fun with the other activities! 

We also saw lots of Fairy inspiration at Linton's last month. Why are things in miniature so cute?

I tried my hand at making some furniture last month as well! It was rather addicting. Looking forward to making more . . . especially since I curated all these ideas on Pinterest! 

Passport to Play: Potawatomi Zoo and Potawatomi Park

Have you heard of Passport to Play? When a friend first told me of it, I was immediately excited! She brought one of the colorful brochures that explain the events. The programs are sponsored by South Bend Parks and Recreation Department, the Reducing Obesity Coalition of St. Joseph County, and HealthWorks! Kids' Museum, though activities can be found at various places around the city. The passports include basic nutrition information, active games to play, and more! Many events are planned and each stamp gets you closer to winning some of cool prizes! Not that we need incentive to EXPLORE the cool things going on around us . . .

I was actually busy this Saturday morning, so my stud muffin husband (his suggested description) took the 4 boys (8, 6, 4, and 8 months) to Potawatomi Zoo by himself. He had been hemming and hawing about going before, but was really glad they went! We hadn't taken the boys to this zoo since we moved back to the area, though I have found memories there as a child. They met the group at the front gate for an early morning tour. This was a specially arranged time, so unfortunately, some who were running late missed out on the zoo portion of the activity.

It was still early in the morning, so many of the outdoor animals were still inside due to the cold temps that morning. However, the lemurs inside were fun to watch.

There were also alligators, snakes, and other reptiles.

The ducks and fish were active outside! They also saw the kangaroos outside. My husband said this was a good preview to the zoo. He would go back and consider purchasing a membership as it pays for itself (at least for our family of 6) in two visits. However, he would go later in the day when the animals are more active. I can think of several fun activities for repeat visits.

While my husband didn't snap a picture of it, my oldest found garlic mustard exclaiming, "Dad, this place has a lot of garlic mustard!" It's sinking in and he's recognizing it all over the place now. Last year was our first back in the area and I remember feeling the same way, like my eyes were opened and I saw garlic mustard EVERYWHERE! We can help control it and lots of places need help to pull it. Our own backyards are a great place to start. (or the zoo, but maybe ask first?)

My 4-year-old saw all these leaf prints on the sidewalk and insisted these were animal tracks! We HAD seen cute animal tracks on the sidewalks at Granger Commons' Natural Playground--I guess he's been paying attention to things to some degree and trying to make sense of it.

After the zoo visit, the group went over to Potawatomi Park to play. It's always great to explore new parks.

I love this guy's smile! He is always so content and happy!

It was a bit chilly and windy, so the crowds didn't stay too long. They enjoyed playing tag and climbing all over the equipment.

Martin's Supermarket also handed out free water. Water is always good, though we usually try to bring refillable bottles and a big jug.

Thanks to all the organizations that helped pull together a great event! Other activities are coming up, such as gardening, healthy cooking, bugs and plants, climbing walls, nautical adventures, dancing, and more!

just goods

After the Earth Day Celebration at Howard Park, we stopped by just goods nearby. I was very impressed with this shop dedicated to its mission. The store focuses on sustainable products, with a variety of clothes, knick knacks, jewelry, household items, toys, and more!

When we entered, we were immediately welcomed. There was a bunch of banging going on upstairs for a jewelry making class! Pretty cool to make your own jewelry and it added to our shopping experience. There are more upcoming classes on making soap.

There are a fair amount of essential oils and other personal care items. The cards and notes had lovely nature themes. I really liked the bike pouches, like the one up on the wall. It made me wish I lived closer to a town where bicycle riding might be more feasible as the pouches just hook on and off very easily.

While not primarily focused only on nature (though by being sustainable, they certainly help nature!), there were natural elements throughout. There were cute felted wool birds!

Organic clothing is for sale. My boys liked the toys and kept talking about them for several days after our visit, seeing how far their allowance would stretch.

There were all sorts of felted wool items, as well as different reusable dishes and household items.

The store carries several lunch container options. We've actually been looking for a good fit for our family. I've read about many of the options for sale here on various blogs. The prices were comparable or LESS than what I've been finding online. The money stays in the community and no shipping is charged. After our time in Japan, bento boxes are just cool! It was nice to have someone explain what she personally liked about the different options, too.

I loved seeing this quote on the doorway! What we do makes a difference! The store follows this inspiration, aligned with its mission, on a daily basis. What have you done recently to be the change you wish to see in the world?

Just down the street was a Unity Gardens plot, which is another group being the change they wish to be in the world.

Unity Gardens

Have you heard of Unity Gardens in South Bend? After the Earth Day Celebration, I saw this little plot tucked in a nearby corner. I learned about them on Facebook first and then keep hearing about them all over the place. They offer FREE gardening classes, various events, community plot programs, and pick for free gardens. Wow! I met several of the members and saw a panel at the Transition Michiana event. These organized people are helping bring fresh, local food to the people by encouraging them to grow, grow, grow more than just vegetables. They grow community, skills, friendships, and more. Here is a video with Experience Michiana about their classes.

They are a dedicated group of people who are helping spread the word about growing! They have a unique mission statement and story. They work hard to accomplish it!

Granger Community Church: Early Learning Center

This morning I met with the director of the Early Learning Center at Granger Community Church. I've been researching natural playscape areas with the intent of creating similar elements at Woodlawn Nature Center in Elkhart and was overjoyed when I found out about one so close to us. I took my family to visit earlier this month. We had a great visit and it was good to see my children interact so much with the natural elements. Here is an introduction video of their program. Their core mission is centered on: Faith, Family, Foundation. This mission was evident in all details of the school down to the symbolism of the dandelion in their logo. The staff is very knowledgeable in the early childhood field. I appreciated that even the teachers take risks. Managed risk is good for all of us!

Chris Whitmire, the director, talked to us about our plans and also the process they went through to get where they are now. One thing about the tour was finding out all the planned details that went into the natural play area, such as the verse inscribed in the carving, the barn beams from a nearby farm, the rocks middle school children picked out a local area, and the 100-year-old pavers from the old homestead. Culture is honored and respected. Oak was milled on site for the play house. Attention to detail was everywhere.

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked as school was in session in most of the rooms; however, many are available here. There was such attention to detail at all levels. Nature was a part of every nook and cranny in the Early Learning Center, from the wooden tables to the themed rooms. The children's artwork shows recycling and their own freeform art, rather than a cookie cutter approach to children's crafts. The mission shined through the active learning.

This is the younger children's classroom, based on the concept of "My Backyard" as learning occurs in our backyard spaces and with our neighbors as the first environment out of our homes. Other rooms are based on Farm Life, the Garden Patch, and Under the Sea. What neat rooms that help children understand nature and the love of learning! Furniture is appropriately sized. I saw dress up, imaginative play, exploration, reading, and lots of SMILES!

Charts, graphs, alphabet boxes and other learning tools were readily accessible and showed evidence of learning.

Outdoor and field experiences are brought back to the classroom and used to further extend learning opportunities. This showed the process of making maple syrup, which was part of a field trip and then brought into the learning area.

There were natural elements throughout the facility. Nature is a HUGE part of the school and learning process. Food is made by a local chef and catered, with as many natural, local, and organic foods included as possible. Looking at the menu, I wanted to eat there! This is a big difference from my children's menus at our local school.

Chris shared the basics of a recent presentation at the Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children Conference that looked at why children need natural play spaces, the benefits of this learning interaction with the outdoors, and the process they took to get to this stage. What a great labor of love!

I checked out their Facebook Page--it's great to see the kids engaged in active learning! I saw field trips to tap maple trees, baby animal visits, worm studies, etc.

Chris also has Nuts & Bolts Playgrounds to help others in their journey to create more natural spaces for learning! She is well versed in helping others achieve their dreams! I truly appreciate her help in thinking through what we want and how to connect children to nature through a natural playscape. She had valuable advice and resources. 

Nurturing Acorns: Insects

We started Nurturing Acorns at Woodlawn Nature Center with a question each child answered this week. We asked which food the ants would eat first. We included carrots, pudding, and cookies for our options. The children predicted which food the ants would eat first.

Since we were already outside and using the chalk, we drew pictures of insects and wrote some or all of the letters for the insect words. This is my son's drawing of a moth. He wrote the oth, I helped with the m. He's getting there.

We even drew a picture of the general body parts of an insect and what characteristics define an insect. Some of the moms wondered why insects have 3 pairs of legs instead of just saying they have six legs. We talked about the head, thorax, abdomen, exoskeleton, and antennae.

We brought our ant experiment over to an area where a mom had noticed ant hills.

Then we headed inside to decorate bug jars and looked at lots of types of insects on cards.

As a volunteer, the baby goes with me, even when I'm talking about lots of different insect parts. :-)
He's mostly accommodating. We read a couple of books and did a color activity. I totally forgot about our songs!

We passed around Encased Insects we bought for our son at Christmas time. These really are nice. I like the small clear blocks and that they are sturdy for little hands. They let us see all around the insect. As we packed them up for class, my son insisted we bring the magnifying glass that came with them. There is still one hiding under the bed somewhere . . .

When we went outside, we checked on our ant experiment. The pudding and cookie were almost all gone and a carrot was gone. I think some boys might have had something to do with it, though. ;-) We didn't see any ants on them at all!

We brought our bug jars outside to collect insects. We also had a scavenger hunt for insects, but it seems like just exploring and looking for insects was enough for today! It was great that we could get out more!

These small little mud piles were all over with a little hole down into the mud. Interesting!

The moms knew where to help us find insects, too! Under logs, rocks, and rotting wood are great places.

We used animal action cards to flutter like a lady bug, blink like a lighting bug, and click like a beetle. Did I mention it felt great to be outside?

While we are working on a natural playscape concept at Woodlawn Nature Center, it's obvious the kids already use the outdoor space as a natural playground!

There is something mesmerizing about balancing on logs and finding woodchuck burrows!

Inside, we had "dirt" pudding for snack, as many insects live in the dirt.

Slurp! My older boys just read "How to Eat Fried Worms "--more ideas!

I love how one girl thought about using the insects on the light table. I thought about it too, but am glad that she came up with it on her own!

During "exploration time" some children made Cootie Bugs or played The Ladybug Game. There are also lots of insects and posters on display in the Nature Center for exploration!

Others did pattern block insects . . .

Played in the sensory bin . . . (did I saw play? I meant scooped, poured, categorized, etc.)

We made out insects with an insect puzzle, counted beads, and more! What a great time to learn together and EXPLORE NATURE!