My youngest daughter loves to find something new and run to us and loudly announce: “Something exciting!!”. It’s so cute! Well… now it’s my turn: SOMETHING EXCITING! You may have heard, but for 2024 I am becoming my own business! I’m incredibly excited about this new venture and incredibly grateful to Becca, Sarah, and Katie (BFA’s founders & owners) for all the support!

So what does that mean? Don’t worry… Nature Class isn’t going anywhere! We will continue offering the same awesome classes at all BFA locations… AND we will actually be lengthening our littlest classes (Piglets & Kangaroos) to 30 minutes instead of 20! More Nature… woo-hoo! In addition to that, I’m working on bringing nature connection to local elementary schools, hoping to bring skills (and pollinator gardens) to Grandview, UA, Dublin, Lewis Center, Westerville… and many more communities! Have an Elementary school I should get in touch with? Let me know at Jaredthenatureguy@gmail.com

(Don’t worry, I’m getting to the books & activities soon!)

One more thing: I’m also beginning to offer hands-on corporate trainings! What does that even mean? I’m available for nature skills classes for business staff… could be for green initiatives (learn how to bring native plants to your work landscaping!), or team-building (play nature skills games… perhaps learn how to understand birds… for real!) or more! Does your company want a different kind of team-building day? Do you want to turn some mowed lawn into beautiful native flowers? Let me know at Jaredthenatureguy@gmail.com

And now… Books!

Here’s a quick collection of some of my favorite Winter books… books to read with your kiddos AND books to read for YOU!

Grownup Books:

Books with your Kiddos:

Bonus! The first book First Steps in the Forest is a brand new book written by a local author… right here in Marysville, Ohio! That third book Right Where You Are… is written by me!

Next up… a Project!

Winter… we can dream of beautiful flowers and butterflies… but we can’t do anything about that until May, right?

Hold up! Have you heard of Winter Sowing? It’s my favorite! Take a milk jug… some dirt, some native flower seeds and BOOM! You’re on your way to the butterfly garden of your dreams… in Winter! I’ll be teaching a class all about how to do this at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center in February! See details below and signup here!

Lastly…Places!

As we talk about all the time in Nature Class… Winter is the perfect time to look for animal clues! Footprints, animal homes, food scraps… even poop (don’t touch!) So, where should you go on all these exciting clue-finding adventures? First, your own backyard or nearby park is a perfect place to start… but we are super-blessed here in Central Ohio to have SO MANY amazing Metroparks to choose from! Preservation Parks in Delaware are also topnotch! When you go, be sure to take my latest tracking guide with you (download and print below!)

So there ya go! Stay in and enjoy those books or go out and plant some flowers in a milkjug and find some clues! Whichever you decide (maybe all of the above!) let me know how it goes! Email me at the email in the first paragraphs above or on instagram @jaredthenatureguy