I was walking the nature trail through the woods yesterday and, all at once, it dawned on me that spring is finally here. In this part of the world the transition to warmer days always seems to happen precisely before we give up hope that winter will never leave us entirely.
Throughout even the worst of winter I’ve been trying my best to put on all my layers of wool and hike every day—it’s helped my mood tremendously. The turbulence of life, the outrage-inducing social media doom scrolling, and the fear-mongering 24 hour news cycle just seems better and easier to deal with after that connection with nature is rediscovered. Nature has so much to teach us, or more accurately, help us to remember.
Throughout the frigid months I’ve been loading up my leather pouch with a variety of nuts in the shell and leaving them at the base of trees where I see squirrel dreys (nests) and on a particular log that’s fallen in the woods. Just recently I’ve begun to notice little “presents” on the log. Earlier this week it was a bottle cap and a piece of yarn, yesterday it was this piece of string.
I’ve only heard of squirrels and ravens doing this—leaving little gifts of appreciation for those who keep them fed. The yarn and thread are probably things that are very useful to them when it comes to keeping warm and the bottle cap must be a trinket that was aesthetically pleasing to them or something they thought a human might like.
We also feed them regularly from our outdoor feeders. This grainy picture is a particular squirrel we’ve named “Big Mama”. If the feeder happens to be empty she sits there, with arms folded, staring into my office window until she sparks enough empathy to get me out of my chair and filling the feeder again.
We can learn so much from reestablishing that connection with nature and living out here on the edge of the country has been a great reminder of that. It puts almost everything back into proper perspective. I’d go as far as to say that once this connection is severed we’re only living half a life.
At the doorstep of another weekend, as the media continues its assault to spark anger, fear, and leave us feeling less than whole, make it a priority to get out into nature. It may sound overly simplistic but it really is the perfect prescription for a better life existence.
All for now. Enjoy your weekends everyone. Thanks so much for reading.
