[FIELDNOTE] Rattlesnake Plantain

Welcome to the Woodland Studio - my little corner of the blogosphere, where I can record my family adventures, share my love of nature and the creative endeavours that are inspired by this little rock in the big sea - Bowen Island, BC Canada.

I have always tried to bring nature into our home - when the kids were little, we would set up 'living labs' inside our house or on the balcony. We've had reptiles, amphibians, insects and lots of different terrariums set up to study throughout the years. We've raised tadpoles, salamander nymphs, crayfish and even caddisfly larvae.

With two dogs going crazy in the house, and the kids now bigger and more interested in their friends and video games, the living labs have ended. We do, however, still find ourselves exploring our seaside bluffs and forest paths on a regular basis and collecting little snippets of nature to record in our journals or house in glass vessels. We (or maybe it's just me) love researching the plants we find and learning more about what makes them unique to this part of the world and how they have been used throughout history. I thought I'd start this blog off with one of my favourites - Rattlesnake Plantain.

RATTLESNAKE-PLANTAIN | Goodyera oblongifolia 

GENERAL: Evergreen perennial from short creeping rhizomes, with fibrous roots; stems 20-45 cm tall, stout and stiff, glandular-hairy; spreads rapidly by vegetative multiplication. 

LEAVES: In basal rosette, thick, dark green, mottled or striped with white, especially along midrib, oval or oblong to narrowly elliptical, 3-10 cm long. 

FLOWERS: Dull-white to greenish, petals and 1 of the sepals form a hood over the lip, numerous in long, dense, downy, terminal spike with most of the flowers oriented to one side. 

ECOLOGY: On humus among mosses in dry to moist, shade, coniferous forests; common from lowlands to middle elevations. 

NOTES: According to the 'Doctrine of Signs' early settlers believed that because the markings on the leaves of the rattlesnake-plantain resembled snakeskin markings, this plant could be used in treatment of rattlesnake bites. Presumably, it was also thought to resemble a plantain because of the similarity of the flattened basal leaf rosettes of the the 2 species. Some northwest coast peoples, such as the Saanich, used the plants as a good luck charm. Stl'atl'imx children used to make 'balloons' from the leaves, by rubbing them until the top and bottom layers separated and then blowing through the stem to inflate them. This plant was known to some interior plateau peoples as a medicine for childbirth, and as a poultice for cuts and sores for which the leaves were split open, and the moist inner part placed over the wound.

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So if you made it through all that, then you MUST be a nerdy nature lover like me. It's a pretty cool little club - and if you glazed over half way through (like my son does) that's okay too...I'm just happy you popped by. xox

[DOCUMENT] Road Trip Pages

Oh this poor little journal has been so neglected the past couple years! I always have the best intentions to keep it updated but day to day life always seems to get in the way. Apparently the same rule of thumb follows suit with my photo albums! Remember I said I was going to get caught up...well, ya, that never happened. I did make progress, however, on my 2015 album (yes I know...it's almost the end of 2017)!! I do have bits and pieces started of other years, but nothing completed to date. One day.

Some of my favourite memories are of our family road trips. We have made very good use of our little Glamper we purchased a few years ago and have combed our coast with it in tow. For our album, I have created a title page for each Road Trip and designed a layout for informational pages that document where we visited.

I have changed the layout slightly of how I document our text and have followed my favourite layouts from when I participated in Project Life in 2011. I love the simplicity of the font and simple layouts.

I have just about finished 2015 and am half way through 2016...whew! One day I would love to go back even further to when we became a family in 2007 with the birth of my beautiful boy...but that was before the iPhone, so I may be lacking with imagery but I'm sure I can pull something together.

I think it's time to make these albums and journal a priority again...they really are pretty special xox

[TUTORIAL] Simmering Potpourri

A couple years ago, me and my littles started creating stovetop potpourris during the winter months when our wood stove was pumping out the heat 24/7. We got pretty creative with some by adding lemon peels, snippets of pine and some mysterious items that left some questionable smells in our living room. Here's one of our favourite mixes for you to try out during this cold snap to simmer atop your wood stove, burner or crockpot. Enjoy!

First collect your spices and either dry out your produce or if using right away, keep fresh (the cranberries look much prettier when fresh). You can add some bits of pine, some whole nutmeg and lemon peels.

I used dried cranberries as we will be gifting some of our mix and have noticed that when simmering, it creates a cloudy appearance to the water...still smells great but does not look as nice. We keep our mix going on our wood stove for up to a week while topping up the spices and keeping the water level up. It gets a very robust scent that is lovely.

Gift it - put some of your spice mix in a glass mason jar, add some pretty Christmas paper to the lid or fabric, wrap with twine and spread the joy!

[DOCUMENT] Photo Garland

Professional Day + Rain + Cozy Fire + Hot Chocolate and a ridiculous Fred Movie = Craft Time for Mama.

A couple weeks ago I ventured into Michael's to drool over the illuminated tin shapes that are worth a small fortune and lo and behold...THEY WERE ON SALE. After the well deserved happy dance ended, I dove into the bin and pulled out the most perfect, galvanized heart. I instantly fell in love (and who wouldn't at 70% off) and yesterday I found the perfect spot on my window. Of course, this little addition to the living room meant redecorating the entire room and taking a closer look at this window. It needed a little something something so out came the scrap booking supplies, washi tape, glue and Instagram and voila.

A photo garland!! I've seen this idea for weddings and birthdays but why not everyday. I downloaded some of my favourite Instagram images and printed them at 3.75" x 5" and left some photos as a square with a white band below for text and some I cropped to fill the entire rectangle.

On the square images, I added strip of washi tape and a bit of text. The rectangle images were left as is, or had the addition of some fun cutouts I had in my stash.

The small prints and text are from an Ali Edwards Project Life kit that I've had for ages...glad I didn't sell it. I love it!

[FAMILY + NATURE] Island Living

No we don't have malls, skate parks (although, that would be fun) movie theatres or even an indoor swimming pool, but we do have beaches, tide pools, meadows and trails. We made really great use of all those 'facilities' this weekend. First up, the Nature Dive.

Chloe and I had so much fun on Saturday, that we decided to go back to the dock with the boys to show them all the little starfish and gunnel fish we had found.

Next we headed down the road to the meadow and tried our hand at fishing off a little bridge that crosses a creek. It was filled with beautiful rainbow trout and crayfish - we caught five trout and a couple crayfish!

Last on the list was to have a bonfire at the beach to cook our bounty, but the weather had a different idea and instead we headed back with our friends to our place to BBQ, have the first fire of the season and listen to the thunderstorm. Island living bliss.

[FAMILY + NATURE] After School Home School

We are so blessed on this island to have the most AMAZING community school. The class sizes are relatively small, the teachers are top notch, community and parent involvement is encouraged, nature is at the centre of their everyday learning (heck, they back onto a forest) and we are kept in the loop of everything that is happening both in the class and out. We couldn't be luckier. The academics, physical activity, music, languages and social interaction is all covered, which leaves us the freedom at home to focus on what we're interested in without sacrificing any of the above.

So how do we 'homeschool'? We dive into nature. We pack up our explorer pack, we grab our nets, our buckets our test tubes and head out. We collect specimens, we research and we share. Our classroom is the beach, the forest, the front yard. We have been invited to help create a nature table in my daughter's classroom...to say I'm excited is about the biggest understatement of the century! It was as if the trees were listening to that conversation, as this week has been naturepalooza at the Degner residence!

First find was this amazing juvenile Northern Alligator Lizard which was spotted at our local eatery. We captured him/her in a coffee cup and got down to business creating a temporary habitat.

We researched what they eat, where they live, how they defend themselves and how large they are when full grown. And hey, did you know that Norther Alligator Lizards give birth to live young??!! Neither did I!

As if that wasn't enough excitement, we also found a birds nest on our property which looks as though it used our dogs fur to make it nice and cozy inside. During our lake walk yesterday we discovered a beautiful dragonfly, a dragonfly nymph casing, mystery eggs in the lake which we are guessing are snails, a beautiful large, blue crayfish claw and some small white eggs under a log. Our classroom never disappoints!

[GLAMPING] The Okanagen

Travelled from our moss covered island rainforest to the dry, tree speckled hills of the Okanagen for five glorious days. The bright green vineyards against the dry desert landscape and silvery sage bush creates the most beautiful colour palette. The neutral backdrops of this land makes every little colour POP with intensity and purpose.

[NATURE + EXPLORE] Forest Beaches

I love summer! I love the long days, sleeping in, fresh veggies from the garden and endless possibilities. What I don't love at all is the heat...I know, I know, boo, hiss, what is wrong with you, you're thinking. Perhaps it's my rather well insulated physique that stops me from enjoying those golden rays of blistering death or maybe I'm just more of a spring/fall gal. Either way, I always find it a bit of a challenge to find things to do with the kiddos that does not involve mountains of sunscreen and sweaty sun hats.

Lucky for us, we live in a lush rainforest that always has plenty of shade and dappled sun to keep us me happy and endless exploration ideas. One of our FAVOURITES is spending the day at a Forest Beach. There's cool water, 'tide pools', rocks to turn over and plenty of critters to put in our buckets.

Yesterday's adventure involved the girlie and me packing up our Adventure Pack and walking to our local creek for an afternoon of fun. The temperature was perfect, the forest smelled amazing, and the sounds from the neighbouring farm kept us amused. We packed a delicious lunch, brought a bucket and net and settled in for hours of play.

We found lots of beautiful baby trout, caddisfly larvae, some disgusting grubs and a clutch of mystery eggs on the side of a rock in the water which we later discovered are fresh water snail eggs!

So if you are anything like me and want to have a shady day play, we would love to have you!