How to Make a Nature Notebook

I have had a notebook for almost two years. My entries are rather sporadic. They vary from griping about the weather, to future plans, to pictures.
But so many people would like to start one, and so many people do not know what to put in it.
I think of it more as a 'notebook' than a journal, and I put anything I please into it. I don't have to please anyone but myself!

The book, is a hardbound, plain paged journal I got from Barnes and Noble. You can get them pretty much anywhere though... prices vary.


I have notes dating back two years... to when my daughter was a baby!






I drew a rose... but messed up the shading, and I drew a picture of my baby (oh the mother's heart!!).
I made observations and jabbered a lot!





One time we collected shells from the river beach. I took them home and experimented with my watercolours. I was not totally pleased with the result, but put them in my book anyway!

Another time I drew the view from my window during a storm, and complained about tornadoes passing through.

I even commented on a caterpillar inhabiting one of my plants... it was one of the more interesting caterpillars I had seen!
If a poem catches my fancy, I will cut it out or print it out, or copy it out into the book.
I have been known to compose one or two, but there are many more out there that are great poems I want to keep.
I have Shakespeare, Wordsworth and the one shown by Mary Oliver. Some poems are scraps of paper kept inside the pages. Others are actually part of the book.
On the left page is the last verse of Wordworth's Daffodils poem.

Each page has the date and weather noted on the entry. The temperatures are approximate, the weather usually what is happening right at the time I write.

I have some garden plans in there too. Partly to help me remember what I have planted and partly to preserve it for posterity.
I like to think that one day some descendant will be reading it and maybe want to re-create something I have done!


My latest entry is a mixture of garden plans and notes of the new plants I bought last weekend, with some drawings of plants and stuff in the garden.

Nothing special, elaborate or ornate, just my own observations and notes on what I drew!




So you see... making your own nature notebook can be fun! By having one, you can be the example you want to be to the children. They will be interested in what you have done... and some days, they will sit beside you and draw.
Other days, they'll be off exploring... but it is all fun!