Our weekly nature study with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Autumn Series 2011 was to compare a pear! Or several! And against apples! Well this was a tasty idea, and worked out fine with the upside-down weather we've been experiencing. No need for a sunny day. We can just pull up to the kitchen counter for this one.
Storm damaged Bradford Pear. The dog loves the fruits. |
Anyway, though there were no true pear trees, there were plenty of the edible fruits coming into season at our local grocer. We also picked up several varieties of apples to com-PEAR.
Following the Autumn Challenge guidelines, we first went to the internet and found some great educational pages on pears. (California is very proud of their pears; a-pear-antly, they make it part of their school curriculum!) We read about their surprisingly interesting history (really? pears?). Here's what the Fact Sheet had to tell us:
- The Bartlett pear was developed in England in the seventeenth
century by a schoolmaster named John Stair. He
sold some cuttings to a horticulturist named Williams, who
further developed the variety and renamed it after himself.
Early Americans brought pear seedlings across the Atlantic
to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1812, nurseryman
Enoch Bartlett discovered the pear variety and, unaware of
the pear’s true name, distributed it as a “Bartlett.” However, it
is still known as the “Williams” pear around the world. Bartlett
cuttings eventually came west when the forty-niners headed
for the great California Gold Rush and continue to grow in
California today.
Our sacrificial apple revealed its star-shaped seed cavities. |
Inhaling the scent of the "gift of the gods." |
Below is a notebook page Barb included in the Autumn Series Challenge for pears. Now to get some new pear recipes to use on all those varieties I saw in the store this week!
I see some words to add to the spelling list, but she gets an A for effort. |
Yummy nature study...great job on the observations and the follow up journal too. Thanks for sharing with the OHC carnival.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the best bits of OHC, is seeing how differently we all approach the same study:) Love your writing style - so funny, and easy to read :)
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