The Magnifying Glass

Gifts from Nature: Felted Rocks.

Not too long ago, our family discovered a wonderful local beach.  Rather than sand, it is covered with beautiful, smooth stones.  Of course, a number of these rocks have found their way back to our house, and in fact, these days our seasonal nature table seems to have become a collection of beach rocks, acorns and not a whole lot else.  Anyway, I thought that felting some of the rocks would be fun, and indeed, it turned out to be an easy and satisfying project.  The result is a pile of lovely, fuzzy little rocks that look great on display and would make a fun gift, perhaps paired with pictures of your family collecting the rocks or a children's story about the trip to gather them. 

 

Materials:

Rocks of your choosing

Wool roving

Dish soap

Bowl of hot water 

Bowl of cold water

To start, mix a few tablespoons of dish soap into the bowl of hot water.  The water should be about as hot as you can stand it and really, really soapy.  For children, you can make the water less hot, but expect that you might have to occasionally dip their rock into your really hot water to get it felting again.  This worked fine for us, and Mariam's rock turned out nicely.  Also set out a bowl of cold water without soap.  This is helpful for when your rock gets really soapy but you want to assess how far along you are in the felting process.

Choose some roving and a rock.  Spread the roving out and lay the rock down on top.  Wrap the roving around the rock.

 

Take another piece of roving and lay it down so that the fiber runs the opposite direction of the first piece.  Put the rock on top and wrap the roving around it.

 

Now you have a nice little bundle of wool and stone and you can begin the felting process.

 

 

Dip the rock into your hot, soapy water and begin using your hands to rub the roving together around the rock.  Be gentle at first, dipping the rock and rubbing it between your palms to flatten the roving and begin felting it.

 

As the roving begins to change texture and become more like felt, you can start to handle it more firmly.  Press the rock in between your palms and use considerable pressure to really rub the roving around and flatten it against the rock.  Focus on working out any bumps or loose spots and work the roving around to cover any bits of rock poking out. Keep dipping the rock into the hot water and then rubbing it between your hands.  Dip in the cold water occasionally to rinse some of the bubbles and see how far along you are in the felting process.

 

Your rock is done when the entire thing feels as though it is covered in a tight little pocket of felt.  There shouldn't be any loose spots.  Squeeze out the soap a bit and dry the rock somewhat by wrapping it in a towel and applying some pressure to soak up excess water and soap.  Set aside to dry completely.

 

----Annie 

 

 

Gifts From Nature: All Natural Menorahs

In addition to preparing for Thanksgiving, our family is preparing for Hanukkah which starts next week. The highlight of the Festival of Lights, is the nightly lighting of the menorahs. We have a wonderful collection of special menorahs...one was a wedding gift, several were lovingly made by Noah and Camille, one from Adam's grandmother, a couple were bought on different trips... we usually have all of our menorahs on display in the window of our home. I love the way they flicker and dance in the windows on those cold, dark nights. Those bright lights tell the story of a miracle, they tell the story of our family, and they also bring hope, warmth, and joy to us and to those walking past our window. When we made this big move halfway around the world, we had to leave many of our belongings in storage. I miss those menorahs that we carefully put into storage, but I also have to admit that I enjoy creating menorahs that are unique to our time here in Sicily.

Since we live on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Ocean, many of the natural objects we collect on hikes are related to the ocean. We put together three different menorahs using shells and rocks from recent winter beach trips. I love the idea of celebrating both the miracle of light and the miracles of the natural world. These could also be easily adapted for use with advent candles and Thanksgiving decor. We made these menorahs for our home and we'll look forward to officially lighting them next week, but they can easily be wrapped and given as gifts with a note on how to "assemble" them. I also think it would a fun and thoughtful way to celebrate Hanukkah or Winter Solstice by inviting friends to join you on a special nature hike to gather items for making your own menorahs together.

 

Rock Menorah

Line up 9 tea light candles in a row. Place the middle one (the shammash...the candle that is used to light all of the others) on top of a flat smooth rock. Surround the candles with rocks.

  

Sand Menorah

Collect and clean 9 small glass jars (or plastic cups like we did several years ago). Fill each jar with sand. Add seashells to the jars. Add a candle to each jar.

  
 

Shell Menorah

9 tea light candles, 9 decorative bowls, and shells to surround each candle.

  

 

During this holiday season, our family sends you wishes for many peaceful, joyful, and magical experiences!

----Lucia

Mayamade's DIY Natural Wreaths

I love wreaths made out of found objects of the season and when I saw these gorgeous examples from mayamade, I knew we needed to share them with you all.  

Seed pods, grasses, and feathers could all be used to customize your wreath to your area of the world.  And what a better use for tidying up a cluttered nature table!  Here on the Virginia Coast, I think ours would have to include a few shells.

Pop on over to her site to read full instructions.

And for a full list of our ever-growing list of Gifts from Nature, please visit our Gifts from Nature page.  And if you and your family are making holiday gifts from nature items we would love to post it to our page.  Just email me!

(photo credit mayamade)

Turkey Trivia Quiz

Turkeys are such interesting birds, aren't they.  Some would say they are so ugly they are quite beautiful.  One of my boys favorite things to do is to search for and collect turkey feathers on my parents land in Texas.

At one of our favorite farms, there are several turkeys what stroll around proudly and will let you gently touch their feathers.  My youngest especially loves the turkeys.

So in honor of "turkey day" I thought I would give you a little test to see how much you all know about this native species of the United States.

 

Turkey Quiz

 

1.  What is a male turkey called?

 

2.  What is a female turkey called?

 

3.  What is a turkey babies are called?

 

4.  Who wanted to name the turkey the national bird of this U.S.?

 

5.  Female turkeys lay their eggs where?

 

6.  Wild turkeys can fly and run well, true or false?

 

Post your answers in the comments section.

For those of you who will be celebrating with your families and friends this weekend, we at The Magnifying Glass wish you a very happy Thanksgiving!

Fall Nest

They build with moss, bark and thistledown. They build high and low in the nooks and crannies of the forest. They build in the spring but in the fall, with the trees bare, their hiding places are revealed. This week on one of our hikes we were reminded that fall is a great time to find those amazing nests birds work so hard to build. 

The nest we found this week was right next to the trail we walk often. It was wild to think how many times we walked past and did not see it during the spring and summer.

We were happy this one was low enough that with a gentle touch we could easily bring it down to take a closer look.

We talked about construction materials. This nest is made up of an outer shell of beautifully woven birch bark and an inner lining of pine needles. Pine needles never looked so comfy. 

The kids picked a few birds that they thought may have made the nest. One disadvantage of finding a nest in the fall is that you can't wait around for the owners to come back and tend to their nest. You can identify birds you have seen in the spring and summer, look up their nests and make your best guess based on what you know. Then wait until spring to see if you were right. We have some guess but still are not sure who made this one. I think a guide to birds' nests might just be making it's way onto our guide shelf soon. 

If you would like to learn more Northern Woodlands has a great article by Bernd Heinrich about bird nests.

Please keep in mind that while many birds build new nests each year there are some who come back and refurbish old nests. Please consider leaving nests found in the wild where they are both for the birds and for other nature lovers to observe and learn.

Have you had a bird nest experience? We would love to hear about it.

~Dawn

 

 

Gifts from Nature ~ Sand and Shell Candles

 

Today we have a Gifts from Nature submission from our good friend and TMG reader Cindy of Zach Aboard.  While waiting for their most adorable new baby girl to arrive, Cindy and her son Zach made beeswax candles using sand collected from the shore.  And I love the ideas of little seashell candles as candle vessels too.  I think these could be adapted to use as advent or hanukkah candles, maybe in a bowl of sand or other collected nature items.  How pretty that would be!

Please follow the link to Cindy's blog for specific directions.

Thanks Cindy and Zach for the great submission!

Please visit our TMG Gifts From Nature page for a full list of gift ideas inspired by nature.

A Family of Trees

This weekend I got to spend some wonderful time with my little boy looking at trees. I love it when I get one-on-one time with my little ones and spending that time in nature is icing on the cake of life.

After spending the rainy morning inside doing all matter of crafts, games and reading we finally got our chance to get out. And we took it!

He loves trees and we headed straight up to the oak forest behind our house. We were looking at the bark and started talking about how we can tell the age of a tree. We have talked about counting rings before but not about how to tell the age of trees that are still alive. As we observed the different oaks we started talking more about the bark. He noticed that the big trees had rough bark. We took a closer look and saw that as the trees got bigger their bark changed too.

He said that one tree was like the Mama oak and the others were her babies. So taking this concept we broke it down even more…

A smaller oak is like a little kid oak, an oak bigger than that one is like the Mama oak, bigger still would be the Grandma oak and the biggest oak in the forest the Great Grandma oak. It made total sense to him and I loved that we made a "family tree."

Not only were they growing bigger as we moved along our “oak family tree” but we noted that as oaks age their bark gets rougher and rougher.

Then he remembered that on another hike we had seen some really tiny oaks down the hillside on the other side of the meadow. Off he went in search of them.

   He found them and discovered that they had very smooth and green bark much different from the bigger oaks.

   We examined the buds already formed, waiting for next spring.

We talked about how all the trees we had seen started out just like this little baby tree, which started from a tiny acorn.

He was excited to find more “tree families” and we were off.

He found pines families.

He found birch.

We looked at maples and the tall cottonwoods.

It was a beautiful time to spend with my little man observing the life around us. Life that was here before we were born and may just be here long after we are gone. What a gift to share this place with them.

This is a great time to observe trees. With many of them almost leafless it was neat to focus on their bark and structure. It was fun to see him stand tall at the base of those straight birch trees looking up, getting a true sense of their height.

The next day we read Trees, Leaves and Roots. Like the other Fun with Nature Take Along Guides it was a great introduction to what we saw.

With about 600 species of oak in the world we think we narrowed ours down to red oak with the help of our tree guide.

If you like to draw or have an older child around who would be interested in learning more about drawing trees the book How to Draw Trees by Henry C. Pitz is wonderful.

Once this crazy rain stops and the trees get a chance to dry out we are going to do some bark rubbings. We want to make a "Book of Bark" with our rubbings not just identifying the trees but also the families of trees with their changing bark.  

What have you been out and about observing in nature this fall? 

~Dawn

Gifts from Nature ~ Cinnamon Pine Cones

There are at least two pine trees in front of every  house in our neighborhood.  Which means there is a never ending supply of pine cones for projects.

So this year we are making cinnamon scented pine cones for our neighbors and friends as holiday gifts.

The boys are even thinking of selling them as a way to make their Christmas money.

Here is how you make them...

Supplies:

• Gathered pinecones
• Cinnamon oil
• Cinnamon sticks
• Brown paper sacks or large garbage bag
• Mesh or muslin bag 

Directions: 

Place a good amount of pine cones in your large bag.  Sprinkle cinnamon oil on the pine cones and seal the bag up.  (Be careful, cinnamon oil can be irritating to the skin)  Place the bag in a dry place (like the garage) for 3-5 days, shaking it every day, allowing the oil to soak into the pine cones.  

Orange oil can also be used and citrus peals can be included with the pine cones for another variation.

Fill the mesh or muslin bags with good smelling cones, tie them up with a pretty ribbon and a cinnamon stick or two.

These are great as fire starters or siting in a bowl on a table as a decoration.

Hope you are enjoying our new series.  For the full list of projects, visit the Gifts from Nature page.

--- Eren

On The Move: Fall Migration

One of the most mind boggling aspects of the natural world is migration. Whether it be Monarch butterflies or humpback whales, it is pretty amazing that these creatures, not only make these treks more than once a year, but that they somehow know exactly when and where to go. And now that I am a mother who has made several long road trips with kids in tow, I have an even greater appreciation for the idea of traveling great distances without any of our human luxuries of cupholders, GPS, or audio books to counter the inevitable question of "Are we there yet?".  Seriously, those massive "road trips" aka migration are pretty darn impressive!

A few weeks ago while camping, we stumbled upon a large gathering of white storks and black storks who were resting on their long journey between Northern Europe and Africa. It was truly awe-inspiring. Lots of large, very large birds gathered along the beach and occasionally rising as a speckled cloud of feathers to find a better spot along the beach.... it's one of those experiences we will never forget and yet it is just part of their natural rythm. A journey that happens over and over again with all of its exhausting and risky moments.

Moving to a new part of the world means we are slowly acclimating to not only a new culture, but also new signs of changing seasons. And as our mornings are staring to get chillier, I have noticed that we are no longer greeted by the house martins  swooping and chirping by our bedroom windows. They spend the summers in Sicily building mud nests under our eaves and taking care of lots of babies, but as the days become shorter and cooler, they join the storks in heading south to Africa for the winter months. For us, their departure is a seasonal marker; for them, it is part of their survival and shapes the course of their existence (when and where to breed, feeding patterns, etc).

 

What animals are traveling to/from/or through your part of the world at this time of year? Wouldn't it be fun to have some kind of map to track Magnifying Glass sightings? I am not savvy enough to create that, but please share your migratory observations in the comments section. I am very excited about our new Gifts from Nature series and wish there was some way to bottle up our recent stork sightings and give those to friends and family as holiday gifts, because those moments in the natural world are the gifts that really stay with us forever, aren't they?

 

Want to learn more about migration? Here are a few of our favorite resources on the topic:

Winged Migration: this French documentary is truly a spectatular piece of work and I find myself not only in awe of the birds that traverse hundreds of miles, but also the film crews that follow these journeys. The companion book is also wonderful. 

Bird, Butterfly, Eel: a fabulous picture book.

The National Park Service Notes on Migration: Nice, concise discussion about migration

Animals on the Move: A very thorough reading list

World on the Move: Check out this cool BBC site complete with maps and podcasts

***photos of the storks are courtesy of Caner Cangul and Stephen Daly

---Lucia

Gifts from Nature ~ Kindling Bundles

As the weather turns cold and we spend a few more hours of our day inside our minds can't help but turn toward making things for the upcoming holidays. There are many different traditions and reasons to celebrate coming up in the next few months and we try to make, rather than purchase, as many gifts and decorations as possible for our celebrations.

Being nature lovers we also love to incorporate nature into our creations. In that spirit, we here at The Magnifying Glass are excited to start a series called Gifts from Nature. Over the next two months we are going to be sharing some gift ideas that use those wonderful items you empty from your pockets when you arrive home from nature walks... those treasures on your nature table or in bowls and on windowsills around your home. Special things you and your little ones have collected and would love to share with others in the form of a gift. 

 
So to kick things off I would like to share with you the idea of making kindling bundles. My kids love to collect sticks. We have lots on our nature table and various other locations around our home. There does come a time when I wonder just what to do with all of those sticks. 

Last fall I read a wonderful book called A Handmade Life. In it he talked about making bundles of kindling from twigs and fallen branches. He also suggested having your little one make a bundle to set aside for the lighting of a special fire. He noted Christmas but I was thinking it would be the prefect thing for our Solstice Celebration. Fall is a great time to make these because there are usually lots of windy days to knock down those loose twigs and branches and it gives the kindling enough time to dry out for the special fire. 

In addition to what could be gathered from our "collection" of sticks Hurricane Earl provided us with more than enough fuel for our bundles. With eager little hands that love to help out we were on our way.

 

We start by gathering all of the twigs in one spot. Then the breaking begins... this really is the fun part.

Then they get stacked in piles. We usually have a few piles going at one time so we can spread out the different size twigs.

Then they get tied. My little guy chose to tie the Solstice bundles with wool rainbow yarn. And he made five of them. One for each member of our family and one for Mother Nature. I guess he plans on having quite the bond fire. Those were set aside in a special spot in the shed. 

We have plans to give some of the other bundles away as gift in kindling baskets along with some other "fire starter" materials I will share soon. 

In the mean time start gathering up your acorns, rocks, pine cones, dried leaves, driftwood and sea glass. There are some fun and exciting gift ideas coming up. 

Have you started making gifts for the holidays?  Please leave us a link or post pictures to The Magnifying Glass flickr group. We would also love to see what you have been making from the things you are finding out in nature.

~Dawn