PEOPLE!!

[dirtbag]

Time is not stopping or going in reverse.. grab “some” things and get out there!  There is no getting back yesterday or promise of tomorrow! Do what you Love!

[David Thomas]

I just got back to work after 5 days backpacking in the Grand Canyon.  It’s clear to me why enlightened employers insist people take a minimum amount of leave each year.

[Dan]

Sure, easy for you to say, we can’t all camp out on our roofs.  ;-)

[David D]

Research here finds that spending 20% a day doing something you love makes all the difference for “engagement, resilience and performance”.  I started doing it a couple years back and it keeps me from going mental between trips!

[Glen L]

This place and the attached 400 square miles of Wilderness and Forest and Park service lands are nine minutes flat from my home via foot. Endless canyons and two mountain ranges are here and one can travel by foot from saguaros to ponderosas. You hear folks wanting to get away on a trip all the time. I am away.

[AK Granola]

Sitting outside where I live is challenging right now. But walking is still fine. Sunrise is at 9:33am, sunset at 3:37pm. I am at work during all daylight hours. But I still go walk, in the dark! Photo at 2pm.

[Terran Terran]

I miss living next to BLM land, where I could just step out back and be gone for hours. I thought I’d hike more  in Colorado, but I find myself not wanting to drive through the city just to find overused trails. I’m on 20 acres and most of my neighbors have at least the same. I have a great view of Pikes Peak. I get the peace and serenity of the outdoors along with the exercise. I miss the sense of exploring the forgotten and the little known. The pictures of Arizona look nice. Like the redwoods. If I see Joshua trees or see saguaro cactus, I know right where I’m at.

[Jeff McWilliams]

You folks with mountains close-by are so fortunate.  If all 330 million Americans tried to relocate so that they could easily access nature for 20 minutes a day, the U.S. would be so much worse than even the suburban sprawl we have today.

[jscott]

 

 

“Research here finds that spending 20% a day doing something you love makes all the difference for “engagement, resilience and performance”.”

Take up a musical instrument. it’s winter now, and most of us can’t get out into wilderness. Playing an instrument that you love serves well as a substitute, especially if you can play with others. However, solo playing can be very rewarding as well.

Your Significant Other might not agree with this last.

[Thom]

Op thanks

[David D]

“Take up a musical instrument. it’s winter now, and most of us can’t get out into wilderness.”

Any musical attempt of mine would be considered a hate crime.  No talent doesn’t scratch the surface.

OTOH I enjoyed a 20 km forested hike today.  I have access to ~ 100km of wooded trail within 500m of my front door & ~ 30km of nordic ski trail.  My SO can sleep soundly

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

In 2018 we moved rural, back to the island I grew up on. We have 5+ acres, which is just big enough for us. I farm it. Across the street is a ridge that is public land full of trails. It’s not open in December, but oh well (it’s hunting only for December, which is a good thing to keep hikers safe).

I live a 5 minute drive to public beaches. I can see the Olympic Mountains from my bed. Not a bad way to live. I love the Salish Sea.

My homestead keeps me busy. Especially these things….

[AK Granola]

Sarah do you need no trespassing signs on a chicken coop? Foxes don’t read! I always used to think I wanted to live on a farm, and then realized how much work it is, so now I just try to support local farmers and buy their products. But the connection to animals I think is just as meaningful as the getting outside and connecting with nature. Just as rewarding and can be meditative as well. Our library offers dog therapy for our university students during finals, and it is always eagerly awaited. We all need the time to slow down and appreciate connections.

[Terran Terran]

[Brian W]

While I can’t hit a trail every day, I have a nice 10 mile one tomorrow morning.

[HkNewman]

My thing is test my layering system for next year, adding some high visibility stuff, by walking.  Admittedly if I lived in Minneapolis or Buffalo, I’d probably need to add some special winter clothes.   Here a 0°F rated puffer (water-resistant) just gathers dust until it’s used 1 or 2 days out of 365.

[Zachary]

Every once in awhile, someone states the obvious and it clicks.  Thanks for the reminder Dirtbag!

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Sadly yes, I have to do No Trespassing. People are MORONS. We live next to a church. Their members think going for an after church walk is a fabulous idea and that since there are deer trails on our land, from the church, that must be theirs to walk. I have caught them multiple times on our land. Had one walk down our long driveway and would NOT look at me when I yelled at her (I was out working). She had moxie I suppose. I don’t want people touching the chicken cage, they could literally kill them on accident. I don’t let anyone into the cage area as shoes carry disease. But sadly much of my land on the edges are signs on the trees.

As for the predators, it’s coyotes, bald eagles and hawks I get to deal with. The cage itself has buried wire going out quite far to try to stop diggers. But during the day…..since I let them range, you do lose a hen here and there. We have roosters, but those 2 pretty boys will protect themselves first when it comes to it.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Q_rztBesW64

Last year we had a hawk get into our backup coop (where we kept new birds, in quarantine). The hawk got stuck and couldn’t get out. Armed with trash can lids my boys freed it. It shot out, up to a tree and just watched us. It killed a hen and wasted it. When we lose hens we leave them on the compost pile – the coyotes will pick it up within 24 hours. But I will never harm a raptor. Ever. Even if they kill my chickens.

[AK Granola]

Beautiful hawk! Sorry about your hen. Chickens are such easy prey for so many critters. A friend lost almost her entire coop to a fox who would kill one, drag it out and bury it, then come back for another. Hard not to be mad at the fox, who is just preparing for the future! They hardened the coop somehow. Maybe you should start a petting zoo for the church and put a couple critters in there and charge admission! Put a little creche in there… sorry, I’m always enterprising!

[JVD]

For sure, contact with wilder places is good and personally, it’s a particular kind of nutrition I don’t find in other ways. AND nature connections can happen in a backyard, a park down the street, etc. While this approach is not for everyone, when I can’t get out for long, I find nearby nature better than nothing and most days, good enough.

I’m also aware that most people don’t have the luxury of getting into wild places, which is why access to nearby nature is important.

[JVD]

My apology if this is too obvious. I was responding to the familiar notion that “nature” is something “out there.”

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I often remind myself that “nearby nature” might seem mundane to me….but people literally vacation here to see it. It’s easy to get a blase attitude for sure. I’ll get “I wish I was in the mountains!” when we have the most amazing views of those mountains, across the Salish Sea, while I am hiking those “boring” trails for the 100th time ;-)

A couple years ago I started writing a series on my blog about “local adventures” and realized….that we had way more nature than I realized. It was good for me to do that!

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I can drive to this in minutes. So yes, I try to remind myself that I don’t live in….Ohio. Lol.

[HkNewman]

Ohio

Ohio and Minnesota can be fun with outdoor cross-country skiing.

Someone else will need to comment on this as I pack for the Mexican beach..

Yeah, beach walking’, strolling in a municipal parks and even connecting small city green spaces into one “hiking trail” all count. Even the guy jogging the other day after frozen rain in just shorts and shoes (no shirt) counts.  Gonna have to take a hard pass on the last one.

[David Thomas]

>“nearby nature” might seem mundane to me….but people literally vacation here to see it.

Yeah, our kids grew up dealing with moose in the driveway.  It’s no big deal and only if you get a real good photo do you bother to post about.  It’s a nice thing about having the cabin up on AirBnB – to see the wonder (fright, horror, etc) that visitors have to coming within 10 feet of a moose in the dark.

[Author]

Posts