Journaling about nature can be a fun and creative way to spark curiosity and improve your observational skills. Nature journaling can also be a benefit to your annual record-keeping by prompting you to observe your garden more closely, track seasonal changes and interactions, and make comparisons over the years.
Conferences, workshops, teaching strategies
Best all-around for content, lessons, recommendations, supplies, nature journaling community
Blog with journaling tips, YouTube videos
Blog, podcast, International Nature Journaling Week
Workshops, books, tools
Ideas to get started: (1) I notice …, (2) I wonder …, (3) It reminds me of …
Various approaches or languages; start with your comfort zone, then add
Words -- descriptions, stories, poems, questions, lists, location, landscape (forest, wetland, garden, etc.)
Pictures -- drawings, boxes, arrows, maps
Numbers -- counts, time, date, charts, graphs,
When facing a blank page, start with meta-data, maybe a block on top with:
Date
Time
Weather
Temperature
Location
Then add some boxes or circles for a note, a sketch, a map, break the page into small sections for focusing on different aspects
On the first page of new journal, maybe:
Favorite quotation
Goal
Table of contents (or opt for an index at the back)
Focus your attention on something that catches your interest
Focus on the process, not the page
Prepare a journaling bag—that you keep by the door or in the car—that might contain:
Current journal
Favorite writing utensils (pens, mechanical pencils, colored pencils, whatever)
Binoculars
Small jar or plastic bag to collect something
Tape measure or ruler
Handheld magnifier
Small watercolor kit with water brush containing water in the barrel
Have fun — It’s just for you — Doesn’t have to be perfect or anything you ever share with anyone else