Crinkleroot

 

I would like to meet our new best friend.  His name is Crinkleroot and I will allow him to describe himself with his own words. "He has a long gray beard and bright red hair, and he carries a walking stick shaped like a bear.  He's not very tall but he needn't be, because a snake on his head makes him six foot three."  The quote is from Crinkleroot's Nature Almanac which opens with a song introducing Crinkleroot and his friends. 

The Almanac was not written first and it was not our first.  We started with Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing Trees.  The Guides are the best of the Crinkleroot books.  We used this guide to help us learn about the trees in our neighborhood.  We took one of our walks and collected some fallen leaves.  Then we came home and tried to match them with the deciduous trees in the book. 

Froggy fell deeply in love with Crinkleroot.  We have since read the Guide to Knowing Birds as well.  It is a great accompaniment to our reading of Burgess.  Our nature study this semester is focusing (for as much as we ever focus) on birds.  Much more accessible to little people.  We put up a bird feeder which has turned our backyard into a wonderful little sanctuary.

 

It took a couple of tries to get the feeder in the right spot so it feeds the birds not the squirrels.  I have yet to get a good picture of the birds eating because they are so skittish but we are enjoying watching them.