I’m a wimp in the cold. Much as I respect the Charlotte Mason “get out for a walk every day, no matter what the weather” principle, I don’t live by it. No well-bundled foul-weather treks for me, invigorating though they might be. The children are encouraged to get outside for fresh air every day, but if they want my company, they have to settle for the sofa, the fireside, and a good book. Preferably one full of heroic wilderness adventures in the elements.

But as soon as the weather begins to turn, oh, I’m there. Just try and keep me inside. Housework? Pah! The floors can take care of themselves. The kids and I have paths to tread, shoes to muddy, trees to meet.

In addition to field guides and the indispensible Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock, there are a few other books that leap off the shelves at me this time every year:

Wild Days by Karen Skidmore Rackliffe

Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth

Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots and Sunflower Houses by Sharon Lovejoy

Mrs. Greenthumbs by Cassandra Danz (for adults only)

Noah’s Garden and Planting Noah’s Garden by Sara Stein

Onward and Upward in the Garden by Katharine White (A collection of gardening essays by the wife of E.B. White).

These old friends keep us busy during the wet and chilly days of March. Come April, we’re outside living the adventure instead of reading about it. I am intrepid! I am daring! No breeze is too balmy, no creek too melodic, no backpack too full of snacks for this nature-loving mother.

That is, until the weather turns hot.