Mrs. Plum and Hitty June led the Upper Grade Girls in a nature hike today. Mrs. Plum started the walk at a shady Oak tree, and put the class to gathering the abundant acorns scattered about underneath.

When the basket was filled with plump acorns, Hitty June told the class that there were many uses for the nut. First, of course, squirrels depended on the acorn for their winter's food. But the acorn also has domestic uses. Mrs. Plum takes the entire nut back to the school kitchen. There she strips off the 'cap', and sets it aside for further use as bowls and sometimes hats for the little boys. Then, she scrapes out the nutty interior and dries it. When the nut is dried, she grinds it fine in her grinder, and uses it as flour for bread and animal crackers. The acorn flour can also be used to flavor soups. She has promised that this winter the Upper Grade Girls will make homemade bread with the flour.

Mrs. Plum and Hitty June taught the girls the rudiments of fire making if lost in the woods. First, they all worked together to clear the area of dry pine needles (which Hitty June says can also be woven into baskets) and other combustible materials. Then each girl laid a stick onto the fire stack in turn. Mrs. Plum explained that you lay down a handful of shavings, pine needles, or dried leaves, and follow that with small dry sticks arranged in a tipi fashion. That is followed by larger dry sticks

Hitty June said the weather was still too hot and dry for them to really start a campfire today, but she promised that when the weather turned cooler and the snows came, they'd have a cookout with the entire school and the Upper Grade Girls could make the fires.

Hitty Pansy Parkinson and Hitty Iris Raikes discovered a Hemlock tree that was dropping pinecones, and so they gathered a huge basketful to take back for arts and crafts.

Fleur Delacour picked a huge bouquet of wild flowers. She plans to press them in her flower book. Fleur, an exchange student from France, has never seen such an abundance of wildflowers as surrounds the school. Mrs. Plum and Hitty June asked the girls if they would be interested in starting pressed flowers books, and all agreed it would be fun. Everyone was allowed to gather one sample of each wildflower. Hitty June thought this would be an excellent way to introduce some science lessons, also, since they would be looking up Latin names for the flowers.

The girls discovered a wild cache of grape vines, and each tried a grape-but Mrs. Plum told them that the grapes would be sour until after the first frost.

The girls were disappointed that they weren't sweet enough to eat, but are all looking forward to bunches of grapes come the first frost. Mrs. Plum will make some of the grapes into raisins in her food dehydrator. Raisins are a great winter snack around the fireplace.
-------------------------------Hitty Iris Raikes, School News Editor

Field Trip Finds!

On the class field trip the Upper Grade Girls found many exciting-and free for the picking up-- items in the woods. If your girls would like to take a field trip, here are some of the things to keep an eye out for:

• Tiny Pine Cones. They can be found under Hemlock trees. The cones can be used to fill a decorative basket, or glued to a tiny wreath for Christmas.
• Acorns. These nuts come in a variety of sizes, and can be found under Oak trees. Use the caps as bowls. They also make a nice decorative accent on a wreath or in a basket.
• Pine Needles. The long Pine needles can be found under most pine trees. The needles can be woven into tiny baskets if you have LOTS of patience, or can be cut short to make chopsticks. They can also be stuck into a wooden thimble and used with dried flowers as an arrangement.
• Wild Flowers. Look for tiny wildflowers. These can be hung upside down in a warm, well-ventilated area to dry. Use them in a wreath or in floral arrangements.
• Fall Leaves. Leaves from the smaller plants can be plucked and dipped into regular household wax to preserve them. Use them as a fall decoration.
• Wild Grapevine. The smaller tendrils of a grapevine plant can actually be woven into small baskets or grapevine wreaths. Harvest the grapevine in the early fall after the frost, and allow it to 'cure' for a few weeks. When you want to weave the basket or wreath, soak the grapevine in warm water for fifteen minutes.
• Other items that can be found: Tiny shells, bird feathers, pretty stones, white birch bark (never take this from a live tree!) and bird's nests.

What can YOU find?