Tag: nature journaling

Nature Journaling Sit-Spots

My break lasted longer than planned. As our wedding approached, time sped up, punctuated by frequent thunderstorms. The periodical cicadas came and went in their screaming glory. Pennsylvania has slipped into the dog days of summer, and Sirius rises high over us in the nighttime sky. The lake calls me, and I resist the urge to swim all day, every day.

When I first moved here in the summer of 2020, I worked from home each day. During my lunch breaks I would dash to the dock and slip into the water. I could take a dip at the boat launch and crawl out on the bank at the other side, undisturbed. I’ll never know if the park rangers let me have fun or chose to ignore my small-town antics.

While visiting earlier this week, the launch was quiet enough for me to sit at the end of the dock to nature journal. The sparkling summer lake was a fun challenge to capture in a pencil drawing. Beneath my feet, bluegill hovered around the dock pilings, their fins glinting gold. One snuck up to my foot to check me out, sucking in water through its nostrils to detect my scent. I drew the scene in my journal, delighted as the fish gathered near me.

Other delights found themselves in my journal. Several bass were jumping out of the water- from predation or delight, I won’t ever know. I captured the blue-fronted dancer that rested on my knee, and a green dragonfly that swept around my face. Tufts of algae floated by me, caught in the wake of a speedboat and my nature journal. After filling the page with pencil drawings, I packed my journal away to lay on the dock and watch the clouds.

Having a sit-spot, a place to sit and journal at many times over a period, is a common practice. Sit-spot recommendations include spaces that are at home, or if not, very close to home. My first sit-spot was on my porch, a safe and secluded spot where I could experiment with my journal in peace. Soon after, I started taking my journal on lunch break walks, and I developed a second sit-spot.

Bald Eagle Launch, where I was earlier this week, is my second and favorite sit-spot. I can sit anywhere on the property to journal… on the dock floating in water, under the pavilion, perched on the trail bench, or draped on the grassy hill. Every angle is beautiful, every corner of the area holds some fascinating bit of nature. Long before I kept a nature journal, I wrote in my diary here- and many, many pages of daily nature observations.

I’m not alone in having multiple sit-spots. One of my nature journal inspirations, Clare Walker Leslie, journals at several places. In her books, she shares pages from her spot at Mount Auburn Cemetery, her country home, and her city home. As she cycles through locations, the seasons pass and she captures snippets of time all over.

I know Bald Eagle Launch will remain as my most favorite sit-spot. Yet, I’m always on the hunt for a new spot- a place for me to visit every so often and witness nature throughout the seasons. The rest of this summer, I plan to attend Centred Outdoors events and journal my way through every outing. You can check out the schedule online and make a plan to join me!

A Nature Journal Week: Spring 2025

On The Keystone Naturalist Facebook page, I have been sharing my daily nature journal pages. I’ve been loosely following along with The Wild Wonder Foundation‘s monthly nature journaling prompts.

March 20 – Spring Equinox has come and with it a project- a year of exploring the nature at home. Every day (or nearly) I’ll take my journal out and explore my home. Today I drew wild garlic, which grows in my yard. I plucked a handful to bring inside. The pungent smell filled my kitchen. As a little girl, I’d pick this in my parents’ yard until my hands would stink. Mom would give me a hot bath and forbid me from touching it again. Somehow, I’d always end up in it again, stinking all over!

March 21 – On the second day of Spring, a crocus bloomed in my yard. In five years of living here, it’s the first one to ever appear. I feel blessed to know it’s growing here, yet sad because it’s an invasive species like my daffodils and hyacinths. I won’t even try to remove it.

March 22 – Right in the front yard, a big clump of showy daffodils are budding. I expect them to bloom sometime next week. Each year, they grow back bigger and showier. I adore them. I think the buds swell up each time the rain falls, leaping up and reaching towards the skies. I would do the same.

March 23 – I took a walk to the launch today, searching for some peace after a busy weekend. The sycamore trees dominated my thoughts, towering high over me and loaded with seed pods. The water is low, revealing the lake bed. Lots of people are out fishing in the water. Robins are everywhere. I counted thirty on the hill over the parking lot. Song sparrows call incessantly, naming their territory with sweet liquid voices.

March 24 – Today is my 30th birthday. The pussy willow bush is blooming. As much as this bush perturbs me and obstructs my view of the backyard, it is beautiful in the Spring. The catkins are soft like Oliver’s paws. The weather was beautiful today, and it felt like the whole world was celebrating the season with me.

March 25 – As I walked up the sidewalk, I noticed a new flower in the yard, a dandelion. I plucked it and brought it in to draw. Taraxacum officinale, the Common Dandelion, is naturalized to Pennsylvania. Originally from Eurasia, it was brought to our country by early colonists. While I don’t mind them in my yard, I think it’s interesting how this “noxious weed” so many love to hate is the result of the actions of colonists.

March 26 – Rough, cold winds blew and prevented me from journaling outdoors. Instead I sat in my car at Millbrook Marsh Nature Center waiting for the bird club meeting to start. The bark of a Paper Birch tree blew in the wind. Pennsylvania is at the southernmost tip of its natural range. If it continues to warm, will we still have the Paper Birch growing freely in Pennsylvania?

March 27 – The remaining forsythia bush in the yard is close to blooming. This shrub is pretty in the Spring, but an annoyance at any other time. I hesitate to call it horrible, but that’s how I think of it in my heart. I can’t wait to remove this one and burn it to ashes this summer. The current drought is preventing me from burning anything.

Have you been keeping a nature journal this Spring? What changes in the environment around you have you noticed? Please share in the comments!

Nature Journaling and Me

The sky hangs low and grey, threatening rain. Mist shrouds the mountains, adding an eerie ambiance that’s hard to shake. Journaling has been difficult with the birds few and far between at my feeders. With the mists, watercolors smear and pencil lines fade, so journaling from my window is best.

I started nature journaling this past year. It’s been a fun challenge to stretch my abilities and explore a new way to record what I see. I started keeping a diary when I was a preteen, and have always made comments about the natural world. When I was in college, I started writing poetry while doing field work. I would compose a poem on the back of worksheets and field notes, on napkins and in texts to myself.

Keeping a nature journal felt like the next step. Words are something I don’t struggle with- as the miles of diaries attest- but art is hard. I’ve never been artistic, despite loving photography and handcrafts. I would struggle through a drawing, but would abandon it as it didn’t meet my standard for perfection. I dropped art and returned to words, but after I felt like my journals were missing soul.

I came to a turning point this past fall, when I participated in an online nature journaling workshop. John Muir Laws, with Take Me Outside presented on how to start nature journaling and bring it to others. For the first time, I realized that nature journals don’t have to be an artistic experience. While drawing and painting are intrinsic to the concept, nothing has to be perfect.

My inner perfectionist felt relief. I didn’t have to exactly render the things I was seeing. Simple is a great starting place. I didn’t have to have a MoMA level piece on every page- even a scribble is better than nothing. I drew my first entry and made notes in the corners of the pages. It was not the beautiful aesthete work of John Muir Laws- but it was my work. What I don’t have is the decades of experience of him and the others online, but one hour’s worth of experience.

That first hour has turned into a few more… and now a weekly routine. I’m more connected to the landscape around me than ever before. While I’ve taken thousands of pictures of the park and my walks, taking the time to draw has created more depth. I’ve enjoyed exploring my yard the most- there’s more to see each day I go out with my journal and pencil.

Coming in the next few weeks will be more supplies, rounding out my kit. One of my goals for 2025 involves working in my nature journal at least three times per week. I’m starting off strong with Nature Journaling January with the Wild Wonder Foundation. Each day will have a different theme and reason for breaking into my journal to reflect on the world around me.

On top of my goals and planned projects, I’ll be starting a nature journaling group at Bald Eagle State Park. Our first meeting will be on January 18th at 1:00pm in the Environmental Learning Center. We will be journaling about Pennsylvania fossils using samples from my collection. I’m excited for this club and am looking forward to meeting other nature journalers in my area.

I’m leaving 2024 with a strong sense of accomplishment. Besides starting my nature journal, I started this blog, which has brought a ton of joy to my life. One of my life’s goals is to write about Pennsylvania’s outdoors and natural resources. Exploring this topic via my blog and nature journal has helped me feel fulfilled and excited. Without these two things, I wouldn’t be as excited as I am for 2025!