Gardening with kids workshop!

Hello my Friends!
I know this is the week to post my reflections on Chapter 6 of the Daily 5, but I'm sorry to say that I am a bit behind! I am taking a Horticultural class this week. It's a wonderful class - all about teaching gardening and growing to kids, but it is taking up most of my time right now! Many field trips and projects to complete in just a few days! Last night I was up until 11:00 p.m. completing an assignment for hands-on learning in the classroom. I plan to post the project here when the class is over! So...... because I really want to write a thoughtful post about the Daily 5, I am going to try to get a post written when my class is over - perhaps later today......

Yesterday we visited one of our very few tall grass prairie conservation areas here in Urbana, Illinois. It is so interesting to imagine what the first settlers saw when they came across our area so many decades ago. To me the prairie is beautiful, but I am sure if you were traveling the area in wagons or on horseback, it would look menacing! I learned yesterday that drought is a naturally occurring part of our climate pattern here in Central Illinois. Apparently drought is good for our native species of plants and they are equipped to handle it when it occurs. If you look at the pictures, you can see that the plants do not look stressed at all; unlike the corn and beans in our poor fields!

 This is a picture of our sad soil. This was taken in the prairie reserve and as I said, the native species of plants continue to thrive. They put all their energy into their root systems, so they are able to reach the moisture below ground level unlike their European cousins that have no idea what to do when they can't get to water!

Okay enough of my prairie reflections! Have a wonderful day and I will try to get Chapter 6 reflections posted as soon as I can!