Identifying Nature's Wonders!

Hello Readers!  I need your help!  I have some photos that I took that I have not shared due to the difficulty I am having identifying the subjects!  I would love it if our readers would help me identify these creatures so I can put the proper names for them in our slide show!  Remember that these photos were taken in Michigan in case you want to look up a species for identification.

One of my main things is to go outside and just take pictures of the interesting things I see or wildlife found.  I have hundreds of photos like this.  This first photo is of a butterfly that was resting on the trunk of a tree (Photo taken July 10, 2009), notice the coloring of the wings and the bark are similar if I hadn't seen it land I probably never would have noticed it there:

Another photo I took of a Dragonfly resting on a blade of grass in a field (Taken July 10, 2009):

Last but not least, a small turtle that was trying to cross a very busy road that we intercepted while on a walk (Photo taken on June 20, 2009):

To give you an idea of the turtle's size:

So what do you think?  Just reply to this post and let us know what species/type of wildlife you think are in these photo's.  If you have a link to a website or book you found the species in, please cite them so we can take a look and see what you came up with!  I would love to add these photo's to our slide show:)  If this Identification project is successful, maybe I'll do this again in the near future as a regular thing.  I would love to have you all join the discussion!

Thank you all!

Sincerely,

Khrys @ GreenSpot-On

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Great Video for kids and people of all ages

Happy Earthday Everyone!

Happy Earth Day! Just a reminder that we can practice good stewardship for our environment and earth not just today, but everyday! There are many things to do to help; plant a tree, clean up litter, educate others, and be earth conscious in your daily decisions.

A great start for kids is to learn early the importance of our environment and natural resources, so start early. There are many sites that offer program and activities to get children out and involved if anyone is interested. Here are some links to get some ideas on activities that can be done at home or with your family, to get involved with nature...

http://www.ecokids.ca/

http://www.arborday.org/explore/families/

http://www.outdoor-nature-child.com/

http://www.nurseryactivityideas.co.uk/category/outdoor-activities

I hope these sites will spark some interest, and I know for myself and my daughter we got started earlier this week and planted trees and plants earlier on in the week and enjoyed a nice bike ride today! As always we try to stay conscious about recycling, turning off lights when they aren't being used, and reducing our waste. We like to get outside as often as we can. When my nephews come to visit we often will take family hikes and little explorations, it is a very rewarding experience seeing what they take from those experiences :)

Happy Wheatland!

The 36th annual Wheatland Music Festival took place this weekend in Remus, MI from 9/11-9/13. Man, did we have a great time! I was very happy to attend with one of my best friends Joy (whom also happens to be one of the originators of this blog) because she has been going for around 20 years now with family and has a lot of memories to share with someone like me. Compared to my measly two visits, I can say that Joy is well-versed in the art of a wonderful Wheatland experience.

So what is this all about? Wheatland Music Organization, Inc., founded in 1974, is a charitable and educational organization that has grown from offering a single event, to offering activities year-round, to meet its mission of preserving and presenting the traditional arts. Traditional arts are considered those learned person to person, passed from generation to the next, and influenced by culture, family, ethnicity, and era. Over 200 traditional artists from across the nation are contracted each year to present at the annual festival, traditional arts weekend and many community education outreach programs. Their yearly highlight is is the Wheatland Music Festival.

The annual Wheatland Music Festival is held the first weekend after Labor day in September. Each year at the festival thousands of people converge on a 160-acre festival site to enjoy a wide variety of activities, as well as the star-studded lineup on the main stage. There is a juried arts and crafts show, a raffle, children’s activities, teen and young adult activities, instrument and dance workshops, music, food, fellowship, and fun. Impromptu jam sessions can be found throughout the campgrounds all weekend long.

After arriving to the festival grounds on Friday, Joy and I set up our campsite and began enjoying ourselves. We learned a lot about the music, experienced the social aspects, ate some great food, and witnessed some very interesting prospects for the blog, the community, involving children, and green-living in general. A list of the performers can be found here. Also, here are a few of the photos that I shot (the others can be found in my FB album entitled Wheatland 2009):

On a side note, we would also like to showcase some of the information that we garnered from a booth at Wheatland that was dedicated to the Mount Pleasant Discovery Museum (there is a photo of their Wheatland Returnables Initiative in the slideshow above.) Suprisingly, this is a new opportunity in the Central Michigan area that is dedicated to developing a children's museum for the greater Mt Pleasant, Michigan community. Joy and I were extremely excited about this for many reasons... the main one being that there is no such environment like this in the area. It would be wonderful to establish a museum of this type for the community.

The mission of the Mount Pleasant Discovery Museum is to spark creativity, nourish learning, and inspire the curiosity of children through self-directed discovery in an engaging, hands-on environment. Core values include the following:

• All children deserve respect.

• Families are important as children’s first teachers.

• Learning occurs in different ways.

• Stewardship of the Earth is everyone’s responsibility.

• Communities are diverse and connected.

Below is a good taste of what they're all about. If you're in the area and are an advocate for developing a learning environment for the area's kids, we suggest at least checking out the website.






So as you can see, we had a great weekend and hope that our readers can also check out these green gatherings.

Happy Wednesday! Cheers- BA