My Nature Journal

Hello everyone! I think it is finally time that I give you a post about my nature notebook. I have been writing a series of posts about my journals (both for school and private use) and this notebook is highly deserving to be mentioned. 

My nature journal is probably one of the most difficult (and yet most rewarding!) journals that I have ever attempted. Why? Because it is a mixture of art and poetry, journaling and sketching, observing and copying, personalization and exact duplication. My nature journal is really quite unique from all other journals. 

Though this book is scheduled on my school checklist, I can do it whenever I want, and it is not restricted to school hours. This means that I can take this journal camping, to the woods, hiking, or wherever else I might be inspired to use it. That factor really makes my nature journal unique and diverse. 

So, what is a nature journal? Well, I think the best way to explain that to you is to tell you about a nature walk that I might take. During my nature walk, I keep on the lookout for a bird, animal, plant, insect, or any other living thing that is beautiful and that I want to remember. When I find it, I sketch the specimen in my journal and take the journal and specimen (if possible! If it is something like a bird or tree that I can't take home, I take a picture of it) back up to the house and finish drawing it with watercolors, colored pencils, and other art tools. While at the house, I look up (either in a field guide or on wikipedia) information about the specimen and write it down in my notebook. Sometimes I put a note about the day's weather the nature walk that I took. 

As you can imagine, between observing, sketching, drawing, learning, writing, and journaling, the information really sticks with you. Not only this, but you have a beautiful and special journal that holds memories and information that is interesting and helpful. A nature notebook really helps you appreciate the awesomeness of God's creation, and how vast his works are. Job 12:7-12 says:

“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind." How true this is! As we learn more about God's creation, we learn more about Him. That is the purpose of a nature journal.

So, how do you start your own nature journal? Well, all you need is a notebook, a pencil, and some inspiration. However, as you become better at journaling, and you spend more and more time doing it, chances are you will want to step up your game. I use this travelogue journal and these  Koi Watercolor brushes when journaling. Once you have your supplies, you are all set, and all you have to do is begin!

Though a little daunting at first, a nature notebook is very rewarding, and, once started, hard to put down. They truly bring satisfaction to the author, and are a useful tool that can be shown to others to help them in identification and inspiring them to make their own nature journal!

Resources that may help you:

https://bryanajohnson.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/june21journal.jpg

This is a picture of one of my good friend's nature journal page. Check out her blog for other beautiful drawings!

http://www.wildlifenorthamerica.com/index.html

This is a handy website that has an extensive list of animals in North America. Good for identification.

http://www.wildflowerinformation.org/

This website has tons of information about wildflowers in North America. Very helpful and detailed. 

https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species

On this website, you can find a very concise list of the birds (listed by species) that live in North America. 

https://www.youtube.com/user/JohnMuirLaws

This man has some very helpful videos on nature journaling. Take a look at his website for more!

My Century Book

       Hey all! A few blog posts ago, I mentioned that I was starting a series of posts about the journals that I keep for school, and personal use. My first post was on my Commonplace Book. In this post, I will explain my Century Book.

       My century book is simply a journal that I keep to remember important events and people in history. When I read about people or events in history that really stick out to me, I put them in my Century Book so that I will remember them years later. By the time most people are adults, they cannot remember some of the most amazing parts of history, and why they are important to the shaping of the world. That is why I keep a century book. As you can see from the picture on the right, I have a page in my century

book for each century. When I want to put something or someone into my century book (George Washington, for example) I simply look up the year of his birth and death, write his name on the line that has the year he was born in, and put in the dates. On the right page, I will sometimes draw a picture of the person that I put into my century book, or something that relates to them (in the above picture, I have a drawing of a stamp with George Washington's face on it, and the Washington family coat of arms). I also have a spot on my page that is designated to facts about all the people and events from that century. I can put whatever people, events, and drawings into my century book that I want. I cannot express how helpful this part of my century book is. Just by flipping through this book, I can remember some of my favorite people from history, and any facts or drawings that I have about them in by book. Pretty awesome!
       There's more, though. Also in this book, I have a section in the back for maps. Every week, I have one day when I draw a map (copied from Winston Churchill's series, History of the English Speaking Peoples) in this section. First, I copy the map in pencil, tracing the path of the rivers, country boundaries, roads, lakes, and cities. Once I am happy with how the map looks, I go over the whole thing in pen. Pop in a guide to the different markings, label the map, and you're ready to go! I love this part of my century book almost more than the first part. Let me say that drawing maps is not easy. It's actually really complicated. Getting all of the lines and places to match up with the other lines and places on the map is difficult. It took me several months to really figure out how to draw maps, and I am still learning, but every map gets better, and it is really rewarding to see the map go from an confused jumble of words and lines to a useful and functioning tool! It is definitely worth the try, no matter how poor of an artist you are.
       So, in sum, the century book is a fantastic journal that allows us to keep track of history and it's most amazing events and people. As Martin Luther King Junior said: "We are not makers of history; we are made by history." This is so true! History really does impact the future and everyone in it. We are impacted by the actions of our ancestors. In history, we find patterns that repeat themselves. We can predict the outcomes of wars, treaties, and current events by using patterns from history. Everything is impacted by history. In my last post of this series I remarked that a commonplace book helps us remember. Well, it turns out that that is what a century book is all about- remembering. When we remember, we learn, and when we learn, we become better people- and isn't that the whole purpose of this thing we call life?

What is a Commonplace Book?

Hey everyone! Recently, I posted a selection of poems by J.R.R. Tolkien, one of my favorite authors. I mentioned that the poems were (largely) collected from my Commonplace Book. Today, I would like to explain what my Commonplace Book is. This is the first of a series of posts about the different journals and notebooks that I keep. 

The idea of a Commonplace Book started many years ago, when authors and poets wanted to keep track of their favorite quotes. They would scratch down a few lines, and later, they could reread the quotes and think more about them. Many notable authors of commonplace books include Mark Twain, Sir Francis Bacon, John Milton, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Adams, and Henry David Thoreau. Now, many people wanting to remember a special quote do the same. I have found, personally, that keeping a commonplace book brings me great enjoyment, and helps me record my favorite parts of my favorite books. It is also quite helpful if I need a quote for a specific reason (i.e. for a birthday card, a blog post, etc.)

In reality, a commonplace book is quite a simple thing, you only need an empty journal, a pen, and a little inspiration to make one, but I find that it is not the book itself, but what is inside the book that makes the difference.

God calls us to be remembering people. Over and over in the New and Old Testament, Jesus says "do this to remember..." Perhaps the commonplace book is simply another tool that helps us remember. It helps us to remember our highest aspirations, our ideals, it helps us remember who we are and who we want to be. As Louisa May Alcott says: "Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead." (That's one for the commonplace!) I think that this little book is just a way to remember our highest aspirations and hopes. A commonplace book helps us grow, because it helps us to remember how we want to grow. And that is why I keep my commonplace book, to remember who I want to be, and how I want God to use me in this world, because, as Gandalf says "All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us."