How to Create a Nature Journal
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Taking time to observe nature throughout the year is a simple way to reconnect—with the earth, with your thoughts, and with yourself. A nature journal is just a place to notice what’s happening around you. Creating your own nature journal doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, it works best when it’s not.
What to Observe
Nature observation can be as broad or as specific as you want. You might pay attention to:
Plants
Birds
Bees and other insects
Trees
The changing sky
Sunlight - how it changes throughout the day or season
Or you might choose one thing to follow over time—a single tree in your yard, a patch of wildflowers, or even just the way the light hits your porch each morning.
There’s no right way to do this.
How to Record What You Notice
Use all of your senses when you’re outside:
What do you see?
What do you hear?
What do you feel (temperature, wind, texture)?
What do you smell?
What do you taste(only if you’re absolutely sure it’s safe)
You can:
Sketch what you see
Write a few sentences
Make a list
Track patterns over time
If you want to go deeper, bring tools like binoculars or a magnifying glass. When you slow down and look closely, you start to notice things you would normally miss—the veins in a leaf, the texture of tree bark, or the subtle color shifts in a single flower petal.
A Simple Example to Try
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved dandelions. They were always the first flower to bloom around my elementary school and it meant two things: spring was finally here and school was almost out for the summer. As a kid, I would pick the dandelion and bring it home - only to find it wilted and sad at the bottom of my backpack. As an adult I’ve learned the best way to enjoy a dandelion is to leave them be and watch them grow.
I still find dandelions just as enchanting and sign that summer is right around the corner. When I look at them I notice:
Low green leaves spreading across the ground
Bright yellow blooms opening toward the sun
The transformation into those soft, wispy seed heads
and finally watching the breeze turn the flower into wishes
Watching that full cycle play out gives a surprisingly clear sense of time passing. I know when the dandelions are finished blooming, that lilacs will be next, and then the roses, and so on and on. I mark seasons by what I see in bloom just as much as with a calendar or planner.
Track the Seasons in Real Time
Your journal can also be a place to track:
Daily weather
Temperature changes
First signs of seasonal shifts
If you like a bit of structure, you might try a phenology wheel—a circular way of tracking changes in nature over time.
Nature journaling isn’t really about journaling. It’s about paying attention.
It’s a way to:
Quiet a busy mind by focusing on something tangible
Get outside and support your physical and mental health
Build a deeper sense of connection to the natural world
Notice the things we usually take for granted—clean air, clean soil, healthy trees, and seasonal rhythms
Over time, it also builds a kind of quiet compassion for the earth. Observing nature from a young age has instilled me an awareness of the impact we have on the earth. I am by no means perfect when it comes to enviornmentalism or sustainability, but I do strive to do my best to be a good steward of the natural resources around me.
Inspiration for Everyday Life
Nature journaling naturally feeds into other parts of your life.
It can inspire:
Seasonal or Wheel of the Year celebrations
Creative projects
Writing, art, or photography
There’s a reason landscapes have been painted, written about, and studied for centuries. There’s always something new to notice.
Let It Be Imperfect
This part matters.
The goal is not to create something beautiful or impressive.
It’s just for you.
You don’t need to:
Journal every day
Fill every page
Make it look aesthetic
Do it when you can. Skip it when you can’t.
If you tend to get hung up on consistency (I do too), this is your reminder that it still “counts” even if it’s occasional. I practice nature journaling often in my weekly letters to readers. I describe virtually the same scene over and over - the view from my back porch that stretches across a river valley. Every time I write about this, I see something different or new.
My Instagram is kind of like a makeshift nature journal - if you look at all my photos, you’ll see that 90% of them are of nature, often repeating the same scene or subject in different seasons.
Start Simple
All you really need is:
A notebook
Something to write or draw with
A few minutes outside
That’s it.
Everything else builds from there.
If you would like help getting started, I’ve created a free Nature Journaling worksheet. Happy journaling!
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Celebrating Springtime - Recommended Reading & Resources
This post may include affiliate links and I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. Mabon House only features products that I use myself or that I believe my readers would enjoy. Thank you!
Celebrating Springtime - Recommended Reading & Resources
Springtime has finally arrived here in the Northern Hemisphere, bringing with a sense of renewed energy and activity. This is the perfect time of year to reconnect with nature after a long winter of being inside. In this post, I’ve gathered a curated list of books, resources, and activities to help you welcome springtime in your own way - whether that is by yourself, with your kids or with friends and family.
The Green Witch & Gardens
Spring is the perfect time to get outside and connect with the earth. Whether you’re an experienced gardener or just starting out, there are countless resources to help you grow your own plants, herbs, and flowers. Gardens have long held a special place in spiritual practices, including those of the Wheel of the Year, and adding intentionality to your garden can bring a touch of magic to your growing season. Beyond the joy of planting and nurturing, gardens offer lasting rewards—dried herbs, flowers, and foods that can be used to bring warmth and beauty to the colder months.
The Green Witch's Garden: Your Complete Guide to Creating and Cultivating a Magical Garden Space
The Green Witch's Grimoire: Your Complete Guide to Creating Your Own Book of Natural Magic
Enchanted Plants: A Treasury of Botanical Folklore and Magic
Celebrating the Wheel of the Year
Ostara and Beltane are two key springtime celebrations in the Wheel of the Year, marking the season’s beginning and its mid-point. Ostara, the spring equinox, celebrates balance, renewal, and the awakening of the earth, while Beltane, a Celtic fire festival on a cross-quarter day, honors fertility, growth, and the height of spring’s energy. These festivals offer rituals, lore, and seasonal practices that connect us to nature and the cycles of the year.
Ostara: Traditional Magic, Recipes, and Tales for the Spring Equinox
The Celtic Calendar: Festivals and Rituals from Imbolc to Samhain
Seasonal Folklore
Folktales have long captured the magic of the natural world, weaving themes of growth, renewal, and transformation into stories that continue to influence modern cultural traditions. Springtime, in particular, is rich with myths and legends celebrating fertility, awakening, and the changing of the seasons. Exploring these tales can deepen your connection to the cycles of nature and the spiritual practices that honor them.
Creative Resources & Readings for Adults & Children
If you are looking for something fun and easy to celebrate the springtime and the wheel of the year, here are some affordable books and activities that are ideal for adults and children, alike.
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A Different Kind of Hard
Hello friends,
I hope this finds you well and safe. Here in western Maine, many of our small, rural communities are on alert with the arrival of ICE. To say it is disheartening feels like an understatement. Our community partners are coordinating care, and working together to ensure that our neighbors, family members, and loved ones remain as safe as possible.
As if that weren’t enough, we’re also staring down record-breaking Arctic temperatures this weekend, followed by a major snowstorm. Taken together, it’s a lot
It reminds me that life moves in cycles, and not all of them are gentle. Some stretches are simply hard. Winter is hard, but it’s a kind of hard with an end date—you know, even on the bleakest day, that it will not last forever. Other difficult periods are less defined. They linger. They blur into normalcy. Sometimes you don’t even realize how heavy they were until you’re standing on the other side of them. I look back on COVID now and think, wow—that was hard, even though at the time it just felt like survival.
Nursing school is one of those demanding chapters. I’m old enough to know there will always be another challenge waiting beyond it. Still, I imagine finishing school as stepping out of a cluttered, chaotic room. The mess will still need attention—but at least I’ll be standing in clearer air, able to see what comes next.
Nature planned Imbolc at just the right time. The coldest, harshest part of the year in the northern hemisphere. And yet—here comes the gift of light. It’s a subtle offering, easily missed if you’re only measuring the day by temperature. But it’s there, if you know how to look: the days stretching just a little longer, warmth returning to the sun’s touch, its angle shifting ever so slightly. Birds flit and sing. Icicles on the south-facing eaves drip at noon. Small, stubborn signs of what’s ahead.
These are reminders that even the hardest times contain the seeds of what follows.
So I am choosing hope. I am choosing to believe that this moment—however heavy—will not stand forever. That light and kindness endure. That spring is not naïve optimism, but a certainty written into the natural world.
It is coming. And until then, we keep going.
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