The Old Naturalist

How many of you walk the same trail each morning and are bored with the experience? That’s how I felt until I started paying more attention to my dog, “Mr Mook”. Every morning, Mook’s nose gives him a full report on what was on the trail the previous night.  While he is getting more pumped up by the minute, I am just trying to “power through” the hike as quickly as possible, so I can get to work. Although, the walking gets my heart rate up, there isn’t any connection with the living things that I pass along the way.

So how could a person start having a similar experience as Mook?  Every new smell puts a little more jump in his step. But taking a “smell hike” is never going to improve your experience on the trail, since his olfactory sense is almost 50 times better than ours.

But there are things you can do to connect more with nature, and experience the vitality that is in the woods near your home. Below are a few ideas that may help you find nature’s beauty, and improve your quality of life.

1. Silently name everything that you see, hear, and feel during a hike.  “Naming” will keep you in “present time” and you’ll start seeing things with “fresh eyes”.

2. A variation on this activity is to find new things that you’ve never seen. This morning I saw 7 new things (I wonder if they were really “new” or if my memory is really poor). Regardless, you will finish the hike feeling great, and start your day on a positive note.

3.  Walk slower than you usually do, and try to be as open as possible to everything around you. Look for trees that grow close to each other, or have a double trunk . Stop between the trees (or trunks) and attempt to feel the strong vibrations the trees are giving off. Then, walk between the trees (or trunks). (When I have done this, I have felt a little bump in my energy and even wondered whether the trees felt the same).

4. Lastly, my daughter Alli had the following comment about walking in nature with a companion:  “From a very young age I learned to walk respecting nature. Staying light on my feet, and using gestures to communicate with my walking partners, rather than words. When I walk like this, I believe that the animals are more apt to go about their lives as usual.”

Walking with nature is about walking with intention and seeking beauty in your neighborhood. Share your experiences of what makes your morning hikes special and helps you connect with nature.

At 6:30 this morning, it was just starting to get light and I was walking Mr. Mook. I heard the spring call of a chickadee, somewhere in the woods. Since it was December, the call was such a welcome and unexpected sound that I stood there humbly for a minute. What sounds ring deep within your heart? Is it the first flock of migrating geese flying overhead; the trill of toads in early May?

How I Got into Listening

Years ago, I set a goal to learn every animal sound within my home range. I used a sound parabola and a tape recorder. A sound parabola is a parabolic disc that magnifies the sound of an object with a microphone. I recorded the sound, identified the bird, and then replayed the sound over and over until I learned it. It didn’t take long before I could walk through a forest and identify every sound I heard. How do you think it felt to be able to connect with animals, without ever seeing them?  It was like walking through a door that did not ever exist before.

Why is listening important?

Sound is very life giving, and hearing certain types of sounds triggers deep feelings within a person’s body. For example, in the spring, when I hear the call of the first flock of Canada geese flying overhead, I feel very alive and thankful. In early November, the tundra swans migrate south at night. Their call, so high in the sky, makes me feel sad about the coming dark days of winter.  And yet, ever so thankful to have this connection with these wanderers, who fly over and bless the land. Also, in Spring, when I hear the first rose-breasted grosbeak high in the trees, I linger as long as I can. A grosbeak’s call is like a tonic that heals all the empty places inside me.

How to Get Started Listening

Spring is the time to start learning the spring calls. What are top six sounds you hear in the Spring?

From March to April, in Minnesota, the top six calls are: chickadee (“fee-bee”); cardinal (“Cheer, Cheer, Cheer”); robin (melodic call); blue jay (“jay, jay,); white-breasted nuthatch (“peint,peint, peint”). Canada geese (honking) and chorus frogs (cricket sounds).  Once you have learned the top six, you can branch out into some of the other common sounds: downy woodpecker, goldfinch, American toad, red-wing blackbird, or mourning dove.

But “listening” is not about “collecting” sounds, it is about letting the sounds come inside you and be a part you. When you hear a chorus frog or a robin, feel the pure beauty of it, and let it ripple through your body and you will feel more alive. As each year passes, the calls of birds and frogs have a deeper meaning. Here in Minnesota, we are going into winter, a time when there is very little natural sound. I am already looking forward to hearing the beautiful call of a robin singing from the trees.

What experiences with sound are in your heart? Share a comment, so others can enjoy it too.

Celebrated Minnesota naturalist, Sigurd Olson wrote in his book, Listening Point, “I named this place Listening Point because only when one comes to listen, only when one is aware and still, can things be seen and heard.”

 I believe that Olson is talking about listening to inaudible vibrations. Just because we can’t hear a sound, doesn’t mean that there is no sound. All living things have a vibratory rate or wavelength. This wavelength is similar to an audible sound, but it can not be heard. When an eagle flew past me in silence this morning, I saw it, but it had a powerful vibration that touched my spirit. Also, later in the morning, there was a pileated woodpecker at my feeder, and it too had a unique vibration that impacted my body. The eagle and woodpecker are extreme cases, but all living things carry their own unique vibration or wavelength that we can connect with. When people talk about “picking up on the vibes of someone or some place, they are really talking about tuning into the unique vibratory rate or wavelength of that person, place or thing.

For example, the boundary waters in Northern Minnesota, is a place where I have felt an overwhelming vibration of silence. I remember being in a canoe on a wilderness lake and hearing a throng of sound within the silence. The vibrations filled every pore of my body and I “surrendered” to the silence.

There is nothing more magical than hiking or paddling in a wilderness area. What about listening to the everyday silence that we experience, as we go through the day?

I walk my dog every morning in a bur oak forest near my home. If I spend the time and walk with intention, listening to the silence of the oaks, or find beauty in the shapes of the glacial hills, then I will probably walk out of the park feeling more balanced and ready for the day. However, if I pull my dog along on a leash, hurrying past each twisted oak, and not connecting to the splendor that is present in the silence, then I probably should have skipped the walk and hurried off in my car.

Help me explain this better. Tell me what you have experienced in the silence of nature.

 What are some magical things you remember about your childhood; playing football, hide and seek, flashlight tag, building forts? I worry that many children today never experience the childhood that I once took-for-granted.

Last week at school, we were reading the book, Hatchet. Hatchet is story about a boy who survives a plane crash in the north woods. To enrich their reading experience, I had my students work outside in groups building debris huts. It was the happiest that I have seen

Debris Hut

some of my students all year. They had to work together, and create something out of a pile of sticks and leaves. I figured that it was the first time many had built a fort. But two of my students told me that they had built a fort out of sticks and garbage bags, and had eaten their lunch inside. Two others said they had built a fort, and it was so special that they had gone back repeatedly during the summer.

What is the big attraction of fort building? My daughter, Laurel gives an insight into this question. “I remember when I was in elementary school, the boys and girls built different forts. You had to be “invited” to enter someone’s fort. It was “tween” drama in action, all taking place in a house made of sticks! We built forts at home too. For some reason I remember having a cracker jack box out there, and sitting in the fort looking at the prize in the box.”

Laurel, also adds, “Forts were amazing for a number of reasons:

1. Just the physical aspect of building something and having the satisfaction when it was done.
2. Building forts taught me to work with others and to compromise on our ideas.
3. I could always improve/change my fort  (A work in progress  – just like life!).
4. Hanging out in a fort breeds imagination.”

If you have no sticks, pitching a tent in the backyard is another form of a “fort building” that can be just as much fun.

In winter, building a quinzee hut is a great way to spend time outdoors. To make a quinzee, you pile up a bunch of snow, leave it for a few hours and then when the snow has compacted, you dig out a hole for yourself to hang-out in.

Rules of fort Building

• Don’t build a fort on someone else’s property, unless you get permission.
• When you are done using the fort, take it apart, and make it look like it was never there.
• Make sure the fort is safe. Don’t pile three feet of soil on top of it, and get suffocated when it collapses.
• If it is a ground fort, make sure that no creature moved in during the night (like a skunk or rattlesnake).
• Don’t put nails in trees, when building tree houses

Why build a fort? Just ask my students, “It’s fun, and you get to be outside”.

Share your fort building experiences.

When was the last time that you sat and observed nature? Find a great spot and sit or stand there for 10-12 minutes. While you are there, write down everything you see, hear, and feel.

Why I do it:

Life slows down. I start seeing things I didn’t know were there. My mind clears. The simple beauty of nature can be overwhelming. I can feel the wonder of the earth inside me, as well as outside of me. When I leave, I fill complete and ready for the challenges of my day.

Sitting under a tree is a form of self-medication. It is simple, low budget, and a conscious activity in which I am interacting with the earth.

I started doing this activity with kids a few decades ago and I didn’t call it “sit under a tree”, but “Solo hike”. The word “solo” got the attention of some kids, but scared kids who had never actually been out in the woods. Their main connection with nature and the word “solo” might have been from the reality TV show “Survivor”. I can only imagine what was going through those kid’s minds.

To do a “Solo Hike” you need to have a minimum of two adults, but five adults works the best. Before the hike, I check the area, and locate poison ivy patches, hornet nests or anything that might be a problem.

I take off with the group and randomly place kids about 30 yards apart along the trail. The last adult is the “dragon’s tail”. He will start slowly walking after 12 minutes and pick up the students that are sitting along the trail. The other parents will spread out along the trail. The class is usually strung out over a distance of 1/4 to 1/2 miles.

The rules of the hike are:

1. Absolutely no talking (even after you are picked up by the “dragon’s tail”.)
2. Write down everything you see, feel, or hear (it might be a list or a narrative of the experience).
3. You must stay at your assigned spot.

Below are some excerpts from student notes written during the first week of October:

Josh: “Ants are scurrying along the trail, looking for food. The tangle of branches, wrap around each other. The yellow and red trees sway to the beat of the wind. The water dances across the lake.”

Lillian: “I see millions of multicolored trees all around. I feel the cool crisp autumn wind. The falling leaves are landing on and beside me. I smell the autumn leaves on the ground and hear them rustling in the wind.”

Take ten minutes and sit under a tree, you won’t be sorry.

Why television, mobile phones, facebook, ipads and other electronic devices are ruining our children’s early years.

When I was a kid we got three television channels, and none of them worked very well. It was Bonanza on Wednesday, Rawhide on Monday, and possibly a football game on Saturday or Sunday. Television played a minute part of my childhood. Likewise, the telephone was not a big thing. Our telephone number was 967, and we had to talk to an operator if we wanted to speak to someone on a long distance line.

Today, many of my students watch 3-4 hours of TV a day and are on their phones or computers 3-4 hours a day texting and chatting. So if most of the screen time is eliminated, what would kids do?

What would you do with the extra time? I spent most of my time at Sespe Creek. I know most students probably do not have a wild river within 5 minutes of their home, but I did. But, surely, there is a park, creek, trees, or even empty lot near your home that needs exploring. It was quiet down at the creek, and I heard only natural sounds. From a young age, I was interested in birds, butterflies, fishing, and exploring. My rural childhood reminds me to make it a daily priority to take a walk in the park and listen to the natural sounds around me.

Many of my students might say, “Who cares about being outside?” They might choose a video game over riding a bike or playing a game outside. Many would say, “Why go outside? Video games are much more exciting”. Children may have more excitement, but have lost their childhood to the electronic world. In the last five years, I have noticed many children seem more disconnected to their natural world. Many are afraid of bugs, weeds, and trees, and much more comfortable studying them on the internet than in person. From my perspective, it is very scary to see that, but also sad to think that children are missing out on the richness of a wholesome childhood.

If you are a kid, reduce your couch time and get outside, explore nature, become physically active. If you are a parent, balance is very important. Too much screen time turns a child’s brain to mush. I’ve seen it many times with students. A kid will come to school on Monday after a video game marathon and his brain is “fuzz”. It may take 3 days before the kid is able to start thinking clearly again. It concerns me because 7-18 year old brains are not fully developed. What is all of this electronic gadgetry doing their brains?

I don’t expect everyone to unload their TVs, phones, and video games and start “living off the land”. But I know the value of being outside, and how rich a childhood can be, if  time is spent in the woods and fields every day.