GETTING CLOSER TO NATURE

 

It is a remarkably beautiful day. It is chilly. It was almost -8 F when I got up, it is now 2.3 degrees. I wasn't looking forward to another Arctic incursion, but it is not bad at all, I was comfortable doing the chores. I didn't let the chickens out, I suppose I could have. They don't mind going out on a cold but Sunny day. Their little door faces North, something to avoid if you are building a new chicken coop, the cold air rushed in when I opened it and I decided they didn't need to go out at the expense of chilling down the coop. Only 2 or 3 would go out anyway. The high for the day is supposed to be 9 F and it forecast to be -6 tonight.

My favorite weather guru claims, this is the last of hard Winter, and we are likely to have an early Spring. A Southwestern flow is to make its presence known tomorrow night and above freezing highs are forecast for the rest of February. Of course, there is the usual hedging, and who knows what March will bring?

I got some feedback, about my last blog, that implied many folks would not know what I was talking about. I don't want to say anything to clarify it now. Let us wait and see. Let's enjoy the show as much as we can. It is very confusing. Nothing is quite as it seems. Let's do our best to stay out of battles and not take sides hastily. We need to listen to our intuition. Find a peaceful place and see what feels right. The world, as we have known it, is going to crumble and it may happen quickly. The only thing we can know for sure, is we are loving beings. We will change the world from the bottom up. We deserve a loving world.

I said I had some ideas I wanted to share about how we could be closer to Nature. Any one of you readers, probably have ideas as good as mine. I think it would be good idea if we had an event where folks camped outside for a week or two every Summer. People in the suburbs and the country could camp out in their yards. Folks who live in neighborhoods could have group barbecues.

Celestial events should be monitored, and when a lunar eclipse or meteor shower is forecast, people could stay outside and enjoy it. I remember two spectacular nights experiencing a lunar eclipse. One evening my brother and his wife were over. It was a splendid evening and we were sitting outside around the campfire. We, either didn't know or had forgotten about the eclipse, we were outside for the whole event. It was remarkable, something I will always remember. The other event was equally marvelous and was planned.

Schools could have gardens. The children could learn how to plant and tend for vegetables and flowers.They could produce food, to donate to those who were not able to garden. The students could learn all about soil nutrients, fungi and bacteria necessary for a healthy garden.

Schools could have Nature weeks, where the students went out, to identify insects, butterflies and all kinds of creeping and flying creatures, and of course plants too.

In the cities, parks, boulevards, and vacant lots, could have garden plots, and also be used for designated camping days.

We started separating from Nature a long time ago and we don't realize how artificial our existence has become. We have fragile bodies and I don't expect many of us would like to live in igloos or tents. How about folks, who would like the experience? What would be wrong with reserving public lands for people who wanted an indigenous life style? Some folks might want to live close to the Earth, year around, and many others, would enjoy visiting people who opted for that life style. I think many of us would benefit from a few months living in an igloo or similar shelter. So called civilization does not have to be a one size- fits all experience.

Then we have to ask ourselves questions like, “Do we really need plastic”, an incredibly polluting material both in its manufacture and its disposal? “Do we really need all the chemicals we manufacture.” The agricultural ones are poisoning our bodies and our environment. The medical and pharmaceutical ones can be found in Nature without exotic manufacture.

Nature can supply everything we need. I love science, however, it can be used to enhance our natural experience, rather than create extensions away from the Earth.

I will be discussing this subject further. New vistas, of thought and experience, will open up to us, as we learn to open our minds and hearts, to the love that surrounds us.

Love and Peace, Gregg