Maybe the clouds and the trees and the flowers love looking at you too.
-Anonymous
Welcome to summer! We made it. Congratulations to all the Saskatchewanians.
Have you heard the term re-wilding? As we talk about wildness. I feel it only proper to start with a couple of personal stories. From when I was in the trenches of raising three crazy boys. It’s not the type of wildness we will be considering today. But those days were filled with all kinds of wild. Those darlings were like an orchestra that was constantly warming up. I felt like I was four days past my bed time for 23 years. So many days went sideways. And sadly, there was nothing I could do about it.
3 Wild Boys: Tales of Horseplay and Havoc
In the first memory, we find my youngest. In the bathroom. I heard him cheering and walked in to find him with his pants down around his ankles. No time for such useless actions as pulling up one’s pants when one has a phenomenal idea. The cause of his delighted cheering was the race he was having with his brother’s battery operated toothbrushes. Across the bathroom floor. 😝
My second memory takes us to the living room. I hear a raucous going on in there where all three boys were “playing.” Not a big surprise to hear things ramping up. I was on an important call and chose to ignore them. Until I heard the middle child chanting, “fight, fight, fight!” 🙄
And to complete the set. A final story about the oldest. Though he wasn’t very old at the time. He was trying on his new shirt. He came out of his room to show me the fit. Smoothing it down the front, he thought it was fine. I thought so too until I noticed something on this brand new shirt. I went to brush it away to make sure it wasn’t a stain. Instead of brushing it stuck to my finger. “What is this?” I asked as he fell into a fit of giggles. 😟 “what is it?” “A booger,” he snickered. 🤢
But this is not the type of wild we are discussing today. Nor are we discussing me from my wild teenage years. Or what happens if I try to stay out late these days.
Absorbing Nature: The Art of Re-Wilding
What we are talking about is a return to nature. To our true selves without all the gadgets and distractions that get in the way. We are talking about stepping away from our expected path. Living free and organic. In a more natural state and less domesticated. We will discuss how to absorb nature. And different ways I am attempting to rewild myself.
Shed the submissiveness of domestication.
Re-wilding is an invitation to live quite simply. Unashamed. And in tune with the natural world around you. There is a sacred, pure energy that flows in nature. And when you are surrounded by it in a forest, that energy flows into you. Something that will feel like a whisper. That a part of you has been disconnected and is now re-established, back in place. The way it should be. The way it once was.
Biophilia
the ancient memory that lives in our bones- a quiet longing to belong to the earth, a deep and sacred bond that awakens our senses and nurtures our souls
This feeling gets obscured by the distractions and emotions of everyday life. To meet our societal expectations and norms. We must do as the masses have done. There is no other way. Fiddlesticks!
Re- wilding says, I will not. I will find another way. My way. But this takes a certain knowing of oneself. To be able to take that step.
When all the voices and reasoning of others contradict. I encourage you to dim those voices. And turn up the volume of your own intuition. The one that calls you to accept yourself. And takes you back to your roots. To the call of the wild. To your inherently bewitching soul.
Sound good? Leading to the next question. How is it done?
She might be down to earth and rooted in reality by her responsibilities, but her soul is a wild one; always set on finding magic in sunsets and sunrises that others take for granted.
-Daniel Mercury
Your Outdoor Daily Prescription
A good start to re- wilding is to get a daily dose of nature. Following is a list of invitations to do daily in July. Mix them up to suit your day. But fit one thing in daily. Track to see if your mental and emotional health improve over this time. Some of these activities seem geared to young children. This is part of the process. Be a kid again. Add to this list. Or make your own. But the idea is to get out there and connect.
| Rewild yourself in July! | 11} nature scavenger hunt | 22} bird watching |
| 1} make a nature bracelet | 12} make a bug hotel | 23} paint with nature |
| 2} bike ride | 13} explore a new trail | 24} explore a new natural area |
| 3} rock painting | 14} worm hunt | 25} sink or float |
| 4} rainbow color hunt | 15} water play | 26} nature sensory bin |
| 5} make a nest | 16} night walk (try not to get kidnapped) | 27} nature journaling |
| 6} take a closer look | 17} build a fort | 28} forest art |
| 7} mud pies | 18} paint with mud | 29} curiosity walk |
| 8} fill a box with tiny treasures | 19} animal track hunt | 30} find examples of interconnectedness |
| 9} puddle jumping. | 20} tree/ leaf rubbings | 31} silence walk- use your auditory senses |
| 10} salt dough fossils | 21} animal observation |
This is a movement of sorts. Where we normalize quietly existing without the need to defend or explain ourselves. Wouldn’t it be lovely, as chronic comrades, to have healthy days at work. Where instead of calling in sick we can call in healthy. “I feel fabulous today and I cannot waste it at the office. I will be building a fort in the forest instead. If you need me, I cannot be reached.”
She beats to the beauty of her wildflower heart and seashore soul.
Enchanted Escapes: My Forest Future
As I grow older I see the beauty of living surrounded by nature. I want a house and yard full of plants and trees. Weird rocks I have collected. A garden. I want to take care of my animals and write stories and posts by a window with sunlight shimmering through. As my crazy hair gets more gray and wiry.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m like this because I drank from the hose. Is it weird that I just want to talk to trees and animals? Bob Ross didn’t think so.
I guess I’m a little weird. I like to talk to trees and animals. That’s okay though, I have more fun than most people.
-Bob Ross
And isn’t that what lifts us up on the bad days? Finding a way to absorb the good and discard the bad. Can you absorb nature? I think so.
I can go for a walk and take in the sights and sounds and it can be good. Or I can go along that same trail and really take in what I see, smell, touch and hear. And absorb the good energy. Remember that your soul knows nature. It is familiar with that feeling. Society and modern living is what is foreign. We yearn to go back to our roots.
When I look back on my life, I want to see that I was passionate and weird instead of just trying to be everyone’s cup of tea.
Sorry if I’m not your cup of tea. I’m not even my own cup of tea. I’m barely a cup and I don’t like tea. I’m more like a rusty bucket of haunted bog water. Sorry if I’m not your rusty bucket of haunted bog water.
Can I get an Amen?
As I look back over the years I can see I’ve come full circle. At the age of 9 I wanted to live in the forest. Growing my food and living off the land. In our little playhouse. To barter and use pine cones as currency. Over the years, the allure of a big house and fancy cars and all the commodities grabbed me. But now in my forties I have come back to desiring to live in the forest. To grow my own food and live off the land. In a tiny house. To barter and use pine cones as currency. This is where I will end up if I allow my wild heart to lead the way.
life is simply a mix of mayhem and magnolias, so embrace this gentle riot and gather flowers along the way.
Where Will Your Wanderlust Lead You?
Liminal
the transitional space between who you once were, and who you are becoming; on the threshold of significant change.
Join me in this liminal phase. Where we choose who we want to become.
As summer days begin. Do not get caught up in the mess of becoming the “hot girl of summer” instead join me. We will be holding our own “feral nature girl summer.” We will go in the woods to find trails and creeks. We will collect rocks and prefer animals and trees over people.
She came to her garden and whispered to the plants until her smile returned and her mind was calm.
-unknown
This is what my time to re-wild looked like this week. A craving for the sand between my toes. And the streaming river water up to my thighs. The sun on my face. A quiet space of bird song. Head space to enjoy the expanse of changing clouds and skittering bugs. A peace that is not often sought in this world. Gadzooks! I found it!
Wildflowers can’t be controlled and neither can the girl with a soul boundless as the sky, and a spirit as free and wild as the ocean.
Try it out my friends, and then tell the others!
SUNBEAM ACRES 