Nature Journaling Phenology Wheel-Covid Journal for May by Meera Rao
I made this Phenology wheel in May because I always wanted to do a nature journal that way. I did it on printer paper bigger than my Journal so set it aside in a watercolor pad. Out of site meant out of mind until I picked up that pad couple of days ago. I then right away photographed it for the blog, before it slipped from my mind again !
I spent many hours trying to figure out how/what I wanted to illustrate in the wheel. There were many tries before the template felt 'good enough'. In the end it all hinged on the size of the wheel- four sections, one for each week (9 days the first week since there are 31 days in May) and I decided to concentrate on a nature find, moon phase and something fun for each section. I noted temperature highs and lows for each week and in the center noted the coronavirus cases for May in our little town! I tracked down average rain fall, average temperature, humidity, sunset/sunrise times foe may1 and 31. I did not have any trouble filling the sections each week. The bread is in there because its sour dough made from 'scratch' harvesting 'yeast' from air :)
Sheltering in place has meant lots of time to really observe nature in my backyard. And it is so much fun :) I have always known much goes on out there but this is the first time I have been recording some of them a little more diligently! Last year for my Virginia Master Naturalist class, I started nature journaling and have found it very satisfying. Because it was just regular printer paper I used color pencils, not watercolors. I saved the template for the wheel, so I may try again soon may be for another month or on pie piece for each month in a year :)
