The Forest Mom Program

04/12/2022

The sound matching game that teaches you how to visualize bird song.

04/10/2022

April's Forest Box for Kids theme is Birds! Can you tell? :)

April's Forest Box for Kids theme is Birds! Can you tell? 🙂

04/07/2022

A seagull gave me a much more unpleasant 'gift' when I was at the beach and throwing crusts of bread. I like crows a lot better!

Because it's good to be friends with the birds!!!!!!

04/01/2022

Have a good one!

03/22/2022

Our March Forest Box for Kids is on the way, with a new audio story that features cool wilderness survival lessons I learned from white footed mice and seven red squirrels in a nest in an apple tree!

It follows our Wilderness Survival theme and it's part of our mission of delivering skills, stories, crafts, nature crafts and journals, directly to families and kids.

Our next month's theme is Birds, just in time for spring. You can get a Three Month, Six Month and Twelve Month subscription on our website in the comments below!

Great gift for chidren, for grandchildren, and for anyone who wants to learn more about nature and getting outside.

03/17/2022

My first experience with a barn owl was in Claverack, NY, when I was staying with my mom for a few days. She lived on an old farm that had about ten different barns and outbuildings on the property, mostly all with very little human activity going on. I think it was in mid October, so the nights were crisp, but there was a full moon rising in the east, across the flat fields, and I decided to step outside to 'feel the night'.

I walked to the edge of the field, and saw the deer that usually were feeding in the alfalfa that was growing uncut. I heard a raccoon scurrying through the cottonwood leaves along the edge of the creek. I drank it all in and was grateful for this moment of connection.

As I walked slowly, quietly back to the house, I paused in the deep shadow of the barn, looking up at the trees where the moonlight was illuminating the silvery branches.

From the open loft hay window behind me, a screeching, rasping hideous noise stabbed me into a fearful statue. I didn't know what it was, but the hair was standing on the back of my neck and I couldn't move. It screamed again, and this time, I turned my head a little to see the pitch black opening in the loft.

(Even writing this makes me shudder down to my core, remembering that moment.)

I saw a small pale shape move on the worn wood, then take flight, curving away towards the fields, on silent wings.

This was before the internet, so, after a few deep breaths and some recovery time, I grabbed my bird field guides and an old birdsong CD (remember those?) and went inside.

I listened to about thirty birds before I found the recording for a barn owl, and knew what it was. I will never forget it.

Sadly, where we live in Otsego County I haven't seen or heard a barn owl in 20 years, and they seemed to have declined in numbers in recent decades.

It's an amazing bird, beautiful in shape and function, and I have admired them for a long time. I hope they make a comeback, and like the meme says, 'have a new plan'!

That way, they can scare some kids on a moonlit night in the near future!

03/12/2022

This is cool! We haven’t heard any frogs here yet but we do have a major snowstorm right now going down! 12” here we come!

Anyone else hearing frogs lately?

02/23/2022

The February Forest Box for Kids is all about developing leadership through risk assessment, awareness, helping each other on our adventures and learning first aid and carrying what we need!

I've included a lot of personal stories that I have learned along the way too, in our Forest Story audio...

02/01/2022

Good things to remember and practice while parenting!

02/01/2022

It’s a great time for snow tracking! Get outside and observe, and see what’s going on in the natural world!
Questions to Ask:
Who or What made this track?
What was it doing?
Where did it come from (direction)?
How big is it?
Male or female?
How heavy is it?
How long is it?
What is it looking for?
Are these tracks made at one time or lots of different visits?
When did it make these tracks?
Is this normal behavior or something unique?
How does the cold or weather affect it’s behavior? Can I tell this from the tracks?
There are so many things we can learn about the magical beings in nature around us, if we can ask the right questions and look close to find the answers!!!!
Why this is important: when we learn at a young age to ask these kinds of questions of our surroundings, to go below the ‘surface’ assumptions, we are training our children to become powerful critical thinkers. This gives them a natural advantage as it allows them to quickly assess situations and also discover many different possible answers or solutions while others are still ‘getting their bearings’. The value of this skill in terms of leadership cannot be understated. It’s just a critical ingredient that, when learned early in life, becomes a natural, easy ability that inspires others and produces incredible results.
Get outside and go tracking!

01/07/2022

It’s that time of year here in upstate New York!