Nature Writing

Many of us find joy and inspiration in nature. These writing prompts, designed by YpsiWrites volunteer lisa eddy, will help you slow down and appreciate the natural world. There are prompts for both those who are able to get outside and observe, and those who remain indoors but appreciate nature through the window.

“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.” ―Henry David Thoreau

Writing in and about the natural world can stimulate creativity, questioning, and problem-solving, and can increase our sense of wonder and well-being.

Week One

Prompt 1: Signs of Spring

“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"..."It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...”― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Outside

What are the signs of spring can you sense? What signs of spring can you see, hear, smell, taste, or touch? Which signs remind you of earlier springs in your life? What thoughts, feelings, or memories are triggered by the signs of spring you’ve discovered?

Inside

What are the signs of spring you notice in your world? The time change? The changes in daylight? The feelings inside? What are your favorite memories of springs past? What do you hope will “blossom” in your life this spring?

Prompt 2: Quiet Time

“There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story.” ―Linda Hogan

Outside: Sound Map

Find a place where you can settle in, quiet down, and listen for nature’s story.

Start with a blank piece of paper. Draw an X in the center of the page; that’s you. Next, spend as long as you can simply listening. When you hear a sound, write a word (peep) or draw a symbol (a beak) on the paper that shows where the sound is in relation to your position, in front of, behind, left 0r right of you. When your listening time ends, look at your sound map. What “story” does it suggest? What have you learned about the land and who lives there from listening? What thoughts and feelings came up while you were being a quiet listener?

Inside

"As the waves of perfume, heliotrope, rose,

Float in the garden when no wind blows,

Come to us, go from us, whence no one knows;

So the old tunes float in my mind,

And go from me leaving no trace behind,

Like fragrance borne on the hush of the wind.

―Sara Teasdale, Old Tunes

What are some of your favorite sounds in the natural world? What sounds trigger strong emotions, positive or negative? What sounds trigger memories? Write about a time when nature “spoke” and you listened. OR Write about the sound-scape of one of your favorite spots in nature, the thoughts, feelings, or events that you associate with the sound of this place.

Week Two

Prompt 1: Water

“There are degrees and kinds of solitude. An island in a lake has one kind; but lakes have boats, and there is always the chance that one might land to pay you a visit. A peak in the clouds has another kind; but most peaks have trails, and trails have tourists. I know of no solitude so secure as one guarded by a spring flood; nor do the geese, who have seen more kinds and degrees of aloneness than I have.” ― Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Outside

What kinds of bodies of water are within range? Are they temporary or permanent? Big or small? What is water doing? What effects is water having on the plants, animals, and humans? How does the water destroy and create? How is water creating solitude or society in the way it moves on the land?

Inside

Aldo Leopold writes of the yearly spring flood of the Wisconsin River, which he came to know intimately when he and his family bought and cared for a piece of land on the edge of the river. What body of water: pond, lake, creek, river, ocean or aquifer is special to you? What is it that you cherish about this body of water? What makes it special to you? Leopold writes elsewhere of how the flooding river brought objects that could be used on his farm. What useful gifts has your special body of water given you?

Prompt 2: Wind

“In the marsh, long windy waves surge across the grassy sloughs, beat against the far willows. A tree tries to argue, bare limbs waving, but there is no detaining the wind. On the sandbar there is only the wind, and the river sliding seaward. Every wisp of grass is drawing circles on the sand. I wander over the bar to a driftwood log, where I sit and listen to the universal roar, and to the tinkle of wavelets on the shore.” ― Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Outside

How can you see, hear, smell, taste, and/or touch the wind? How can you tell the direction and speed of the wind? The wind is going to be busy this week. What’s it doing? Find as many signs of the wind’s handiwork as you can. Like water, wind creates and destroys. What evidence do you notice of the wind creating and destroying?

Inside

We’re protected from the wind indoors, but also, we can’t feel the breeze on our skin. We can still see and sometimes hear the wind when we’re indoors. We can feel grateful for protection from the wind, but we can also feel frustrated by limitations, especially because we’re isolating to slow the spread of COVID19, which attacks the wind inside us, our breath. Explore the positive and negative experiences you’ve had with wind— or with the solitude you’ve experienced while practicing social distancing.

Week Three

Prompt 1: Number the Ways

In his poem, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” Wallace Stevens reminds readers that in order to see something new, we might need to look in different ways.

Outside

How might you see one plant, animal, or body of water, or another feature of the landscape in more than one way? What if you look at it from far away, close-up, from different directions? How does your relationship to what you’re seeing change how you see it? How many different ways can you look at one thing?

Inside

Perhaps you can see one plant, animal, body of water or another feature of the land from inside. Rather than look from different positions, what if you look at different times of day or night? How does what you see change from morning, noon, evening, night--or through the seasons? OR How many memories can you conjure about a favorite tree, pond, creek, river, or other part of a landscape you know well?

Prompt 2: Number the Ways

In his place-based, urban, young adult novel, “a tale told in ten blocks,” Look Both Ways, Jason Reynolds focuses on one neighborhood around the school where the characters attend. He describes the route that Cynthia takes as she leaves school:

She walked along the side of the school, dragging her fingers on the red brick of the building until she reached the line of trees at the back. Not exactly a forest, just a single line of maples that created a barrier between the school and the road. When Cynthia reached the tree line, the trees thick with limbs that looked less like arms and more like outstretched legs--thick-rooted yoga trees--she hiked her jeans up above her ankles and tip-toed, because the land seemed to always be muddy there.

Outside

Reynolds describes the size of a group of trees without using numbers. How might you describe the size of some feature of the landscape without using numbers? How might you use color, shape, comparison, simile, or another way to describe? What details that you can see, hear, smell, taste, or touch will help describe size?

Inside

The description focuses on a character’s route through the neighborhood. Perhaps you can see or remember a route that’s well-traveled. Where does the route lead? Who takes the route? For what purpose? How might you describe the sizes of things one might see on this route?

Week Four

Prompt 1: Phenology

Phenology is the practice of keeping records about the timing of natural events, like the last snow fall, the last frost, the bloom of the first crocus, when Robins return, when you hear the first spring peeper, etc. Nina Leopold Bradley learned to keep phenology records from her father, and one of the founders of the field of environmental science, Aldo Leopold.

“Nina suggests that by paying attention to the comings and goings of birds and keeping track of what’s in flower, we come closer to realizing the Leopolds’ vision of a Land Ethic, or the extension of the human conscience to include and build relationships with our ‘biotic community.’” Hear Nina speak on the subject in this clip.

All you need is pencil and paper to start your own phenology study. OR you can record data in any form on an electronic device. A spreadsheet or table is a good way to use technology for phenology, but it isn’t necessary. All you need is a place where you can record the dates when things happen. Of course, you can’t keep track of everything, so you might want to decide to focus on flowers, garden seeds, birds, or fruit trees.

Phenology connects us to the past, the present, and the future. As we compare the records we keep from year to year, we can come to understand larger patterns of nature.

Whether one is outdoors or indoors, the process is the same: set aside a notebook or an electronic document, and when you notice a new bloom, new leaves, or whatever changes you’re watching for, record what you noticed and when. As the years pass, you will see how some things change little, while others change lots.

Phenology records can provide more detail if drawings or photographs are included.

Prompt 2: Pollination Stations

Outside

As the flowers begin to bloom, they attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators. Where are the pollination stations at your site? What kinds of plants attract the pollinators? What kinds of pollinators can you observe?

Write, draw, and/or photograph the plants and/or the pollinators.

Perhaps your site seems to lack pollination stations. Maybe there is something that you can do to help make your site more pollinator-friendly.

Inside

We can think of pollination two ways: First, you can write, draw, or photograph pollinators or plants that attract them that you can see from indoors.

Another way you can think of pollination is in terms of ideas. How does nature, your relationship with it, and/or your memories of time spent in nature “pollinate” your thinking, your writing, other arts, and/or your sense of well-being? How do nature and creativity cross-pollinate one another in your life?

Week Five

Prompt 1: Relationships

“In nature nothing exists alone.”― Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

A landscape is an encyclopedia of relationships: plants and animals have many types of relationships with each other, like predator-prey; host-parasite; symbiotic; complementary; cooperative; competitive; lethal; live-giving, etc. Some relationships last a long time; some last a short time. Many factors, like weather, geology, human activity, and time can affect the relationships of plants and animals. Some change is sudden; some change is gradual; change is the constant in relationships between living beings.

Outside

Explore the site, looking for clues about the kinds of relationships you can notice: plant-plant; animal-animal; plant-animal; land features (hills, bodies of water, etc)-plant-animal, etc. Write, draw, and reflect on the relationships among the land and the beings that live upon it.

Inside

Write, draw, and reflect on the relationships in a landscape you can see outside the window, or in a landscape in your memories or photo albums--and the beings that live upon it.

Prompt 2: Communities

“The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land... In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.” ― Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

A landscape includes a number of small communities that interact with one another interdependently to create earth’s biosphere. Like humans, some plants and animals live solitary lives (NOT wolves), some live in pairs, some live in family groups, some live in groups that include many of their own kind, some live in groups that include members of other groups.

Outside

Explore the site, looking for kinds of communities you can notice. Look for the loners, the small community, the large community, a community where all the members are all similar, a diverse community. Write about, draw, and/or photograph one or more of the communities that live on the land.

Inside

Focus on one or more communities in a landscape you can see outside the window, in your memories, or your photo albums. Write about and/or draw one or more communities that live on the land.

Week Six

Prompt 1: Consistency

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." --Rachel Carson

In times of great change, we may long for things to stay the same, to endure “as long as life lasts.” Sameness and consistency can be comforting; disruption of routine can be stressful. While change is a constant in the nature world, there are also many ways that nature is reliable, dependable, consistent.

Outside

Explore the land. Wander and wonder: What do you notice that stays the same over time? What features and routines do you count on to continue with little or no change? How do the consistent aspects you notice contribute to and shape the land community? How might the land community be affected if one or more “constants” changed?

Inside

Explore the landscape within your view or places in memory or photos. What do you notice that stays the same over time? What features and routines do you count on to continue with little or no change? How do the consistent aspects you notice contribute to and shape the land community? How might the land community be affected if one or more “constants” changed?

Prompt 2: Change Is Constant

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” ~Lao Tzu

Outside

Explore the land. What changes can you notice? What processes contribute to the changes? Which changes are sudden, which gradual? What are the results and/or effects of the changes? Which “constituencies” are affected by the changes, which communities, plants, animals, soils, waters, people? What’s newly arrived? What’s gone? What’s different?

Inside

Explore the landscape within your view or places in memory or photos. What changes can you notice? What processes contribute to the changes? Which changes are sudden, which gradual? What are the results and/or effects of the changes? Which “constituencies” are affected by the changes, which communities, plants, animals, soils, waters, people? What’s newly arrived? What’s gone? What’s different?

Week Seven

At Home and Away

Prompt 1: At Home

“The wild things that live on my farm are reluctant to tell me, in so many words, how much of my township is included within their daily or nightly beat” (Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, “Home Range”)

The Coronavirus pandemic has brought about a real estate boom in some animal communities. Some animals are finding that the absence of humans leaves prime real estate available for raising their families, finding food & water, hunting, play, and recreation. Around the world, people have posted video clips of animals exploring and enjoying human-made, but human-free spaces. Like humans, most animals have a home, a structure of some type where they take shelter from the elements, birth/hatch babies, and get a good night’s sleep in a safe place.

Outside

Explore the land for spaces and structures that are--or could be--animal homes. Count, categorize, describe, draw, and/or photograph one or more animal homes or possible animal homes. How many types of homes can you notice? Of what materials are the structures made? How are structures constructed or modified for the animal who lives there? What shapes, styles, and locations seem to be popular with particular animals? What “amenities” does each home offer? Can you notice any effects from the pandemic’s #StayHomeStaySafe order on the availability or quality of animal homes here? How do the animal homes you can notice compare to or contrast with your own home?

Inside

Explore the land you can see, your photographs, or your memory for spaces and structures that are--or could be--animal homes. Count, categorize, describe, draw, and/or photograph one or more animal homes or possible animal homes. How many types of homes can you notice? Of what materials are the structures made? How are structures constructed or modified for the animal who lives there? What shapes, styles, and locations seem to be popular with particular animals? What “amenities” does each home offer? Can you notice any effects from the pandemic’s #StayHomeStaySafe order on the availability or quality of animal homes here? How do the animal homes you can notice compare to or contrast with your own home?

Prompt 2: Gone Away

“Sit down on a tussock, cock your ears at the sky, dial out the bedlam of the meadowlarks and redwings, and soon you may hear it: the flight song of the upland plover, just now back from the Argentine” (Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, “Back from the Argentine”)

Like some people, animals like the upland plover know about places far away from their homes and neighborhoods. Many animals are world travelers who spend summers in one home and winters in another.

Outside

Do you know which animals had homes on this land 9 months ago? Which animals live here year-round? Which animals are travelers? Do you know where the animals that were here at the end of last summer have gone? Do you know, and/or can you notice when animals who go far away have returned? What about animals who stay, but go out of sight? Where are they when we can’t see them? How are their summer activities and routines different from what they do in winter? What can you notice about year-round residents and “fair-weather” residents on the landscape? Write, sketch, and/or photograph what you can notice and/or what you wonder about the animals who live here part-time. How are you, and/or other people you know, similar to and different from the two types of residents you can notice on the land? What effects can you notice on the land community from the two types of residents?

Inside

Explore the land you can see, your photographs, or your memory for clues about animal travelers. Do you know which animals had homes on this land 9 months ago? Which animals live here year-round? Which animals are travelers? Do you know where the animals that were here at the end of last summer have gone? Do you know, and/or can you notice when animals who go far away have returned? What about animals who stay, but go out of sight? Where are they when we can’t see them? How are their summer activities and routines different from what they do in winter? What can you notice about year-round residents and “fair-weather” residents on the landscape? Write, sketch, and/or photograph what you can notice and/or what you wonder about the animals who live here part-time. What effects can you notice on the land community from the two types of residents? How are you, and/or other people you know, similar to and different from the two types of residents you can notice on the land?

Week Eight

Light and Shadow

Every landscape has an array of plants and animals that have adapted to the varying amounts of sunlight available there. Like people, some plants and animals thrive in bright sunlight, and others crave the shadow.

“Ô, Sunlight! The most precious gold to be found on Earth.” ―Roman Payne

Prompt 1: Light

Outside

Explore the landscape to discover the areas that receive the most sunlight and what kinds of plants and animals are well-adapted to a sunny spot. Observe, notice, record, sketch, and/or photograph these lovers of light.

Inside

Explore the landscape visible to you, in your memory, or in your photographs to discover areas that receive a good deal of sunlight and what kinds of plants and animals are well-adapted to a sunny spot. Observe, notice, record, sketch, and/or photograph these lovers of light. OR explore your home to find one or more spaces that allow the most natural light. Observe, notice, and reflect on the effects of sunlight on the space and its occupants.

Prompt 2: Shadow

“All shadows of clouds the sun cannot hide like the moon cannot stop oceanic tide; but a hidden star can still be smiling at night's black spell on darkness, beguiling” ― Munia Khan

“I love to chase my shadow to feel how it rests in the dark.” ― Munia Khan

Outside

Explore the landscape to discover the areas that receive the least sunlight and what kinds of plants and animals are well-adapted to a shady spot. Observe, notice, record, sketch, and/or photograph these denizens of darkness.

Inside

Explore the landscape visible to you, in your memory, or in your photographs to discover an area that receives little sunlight and what kinds of plants and animals are well-adapted to a shady spot. Observe, notice, record, sketch, and/or photograph these denizens of darkness. OR explore your home to find one or more spaces that allow the least natural light. Observe, notice, and reflect on the effects of shadow on the space and its occupants.

Week Nine

“The soil is the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all.” -Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America.

Prompt 1: Earth. What can we learn about the soil?

Outside

Explore the landscape to discover what soil types are present: clay, sand, loam, fine, course, rocky, colors, textures, etc. Does the site have one soil type or several? How many? How are the soil types alike and different? Observe, notice, record, describe, sketch, and/or photograph the soils on the site and some of the lives it supports and connects on the site.

Inside

Explore the landscape visible to you, in your memory, or in your photographs to discover what soil types are present: clay, sand, loam, fine, course, rocky, colors, textures, etc. Does the site have one soil type or several? How many? How are the soil types alike and different? Observe, notice, record, describe, sketch, and/or photograph the soils on the site and some of the lives it supports and connects on the site.

Prompt 2: Air. What can we notice about the air?

“Understanding the troposphere starts with understanding that right now, you're in it. You live, work and breathe in that small section of the atmosphere between the Earth's surface and 5 miles above it. Things that happen in the troposphere directly affect your day-to-day life.” -NASA

Outside

Try to visit the site at different times of day: early morning, midday, evening, nighttime to learn about air. Observe the air: is it still or moving? Warm, cool, dry, humid? What smells are being carried by the air? What changes can you notice in the air as you move through the site? How do land features, such as bodies of water, hills, and valleys affect the air? What can you notice IN the air? (birds, insects, debris, etc) Which aspects on or near the site might affect the air quality of the site? Which aspects might improve, which might threaten air quality here? Observe, notice, record, describe, sketch, and/or photograph details you discover about air.

Inside

Explore the landscape visible to you, in your memory, or in your photographs to discover some qualities of air. How might the air be different at different times of day: early morning, midday, evening, nighttime? Observe the air: is it still or moving? Warm, cool, dry, humid? What smells are being carried by the air? What changes can you notice in the air as you move through the site? How do land features, such as bodies of water, hills, and valleys affect the air? What can you notice IN the air? (birds, insects, debris, etc) Which aspects on or near the site might affect the air quality of the site? Which aspects might improve, which might threaten air quality here?

Week Ten

Prompt 1: Question Quest

Nature is mysterious and fascinating, a university where the semester never ends, if we’re curious.

What is the subject of this photograph? What clues would help you identify it?

Outside or Inside

Today, whether you’re exploring outside or observing indoors, take some time to practice curiosity.

How many questions can you ask? Focus your attention on one plant, animal, or feature OR a variety of plants, animals, and features, and ask as many questions as you can. Then ask a few more. Nevermind about answers. Today we’re just asking questions.

If you’re alone, simply observe and record your questions. If you have a partner or are in a group, set a time in which the conversation about the site’s points of interest must be phrased as questions only.

Now what? Perhaps you’ve sparked curiosity about something you’re going to explore further and learn more about. Perhaps you’re inspired to take some kind of action. Take a few moments to reflect on your question quest.

Note: This exercise was a favorite workshop activity of highly-esteemed environmental educator, Clifford E. Knapp, author of Humanizing Outdoor and Environmental Education: A Thought-Full Guide for Leading Nature and Human Nature Activities.

Prompt 2: Answers

Outside or Inside

There are many ways to find answers to our questions: observation, experiment, and research are some. Decide upon a question to which you’d like some answers, then pursue a number of strategies to find some answers.

Strategies to Try: Observation: using your senses, try to notice any detail that might help you find answers; make notes, sketch and/or photograph.

Experiment: What if? Try something out and see what happens. Record what happens in some way and analyze the data to discover answers.

Research: Identification guides, like physical copies of guide books, or online sites or apps, like MI DNR or Peterson Guides

Conversation: Ask an expert (or someone with more knowledge than you about the subject) OR share the question by discussing the things you wonder about with someone who is also curious about it. Reflect: What now? Is your curiosity satisfied or stoked? What will you do with your new knowledge?

Week Eleven

Prompt 1: Signatures and Signs

Aldo Leopold observed that each piece of land looks the way it does today because of past decisions. In a sense, human beings leave their “signatures” on the landscape with every decision that affects land and land health. Leopold went on to say, “Signatures of course differ...and this is how it should be.”

Likewise, plants and animals leave signs and signatures behind: a pile of broken hickory nuts left behind on a stump, tracks, scat (poo), owl pellets, bones, fur, feathers, nests, burrows, webs, seed pods, stems, pine needles, smells….The landscape is an encyclopedia of signs and signatures for the observant explorer to read.

Outside

Explore the landscape to find some signs and signatures of at least one plant, one animal, and one human (animal). Observe the similarities and differences between the signs and signatures you find. Reflect on some of the signs and signatures you leave on the land and possible/actual impacts you have on land.

Inside

Explore the landscape visible to you, in your memory, or in your photographs to discover and understand some signs and signatures of at least one plant, one animal, and one human (animal). Observe the similarities and differences between the signs and signatures you find. Reflect on some of the signs and signatures you leave on the land and possible/actual impacts you have on land.

Prompt 2: Taking and Leaving

A common rule-of-thumb that outdoor educators use when taking groups into natural areas is “Take only photographs. Leave only footprints.”

Outside: Three Variations

Explore the site and reflect on your relationship with the landscape to discover what you take from the site and what, including footprints, you leave behind.

Explore the site to discover and understand the relationship(s) others have with the land. Use your senses to discover and understand what other people may be taking from the site and what they may be taking from it.

Explore the site until you find a plant or animal that interests you. Then, use your senses, curiosity, and any additional resources you like to learn about what the plant or animal takes from the land and what it gives to it.

Inside

Explore the landscape visible to you, in your memory, or in your photographs to discover and understand what you, other people, or a plant or animal takes from the land and what it gives to the land in one or more of the three options:

Explore the site and reflect on your relationship with the landscape to discover what you take from the site and what, including footprints, you leave behind.

Week Twelve

Summer Solstice Party!

Before humans had online, interactive calendars on hand-held computers, our calendar was the cycle of seasons, solstices, and equinoxes. The northern hemisphere marks the summer solstice in mid-June. Earthsky.com reminds us that the solstice is a truly unifying event, as “a solstice happens at the same instant for all of us, everywhere on Earth. To find the time of the solstice in your location, you have to translate to your time zone.”

Prompt 1: Celebrate The Sun and Daylight For Michiganders, Summer Solstice is a time of great joy, a time to declare with confidence, “We survived Winter!”

Many artists celebrate the summer solstice with photographs, paintings, dances, songs, and poems. The earth, itself, seems to be celebrating, with “flower arrangements” everywhere we turn and music in the air, provided by birds, frogs, wind, and leaves.

Inside or Outside

You are invited to celebrate the summer solstice in your own, unique way, on planet earth. Whether you simply sit or walk upon the land with a sense of appreciation for the turning seasons or plan a boisterous, all-night dance by the bonfire (with 10 or fewer attendees, in line with MI pandemic protocols), as the ancients did, make time to celebrate the summer solstice and the arrival of summer in Michigan.

Write your plans for and/or a reflection on your solstice celebration this year--or from years' past. What will/did you do? With who? What did you notice about the night sky? How did you feel?

Prompt 2: The Moon and Dark Night

June is a perfect time for sleeping under the stars and watching the night sky. This week has a number of interesting sky phenomena to observe, according to Jamie Carter, science writer at Forbes. He has titled his astronomy column, “Moon Eats Venus, Creates ‘Solstice Ring Of Fire Eclipse’: What You Can See In The Night Sky This Week”.

Inside or Outside,

Late at night or in early morning, observe the night sky and the landscape when it’s dark outside. What do you notice? Use your senses to learn about the night sky and nighttime plant and animal activity. If you have access to a telescope, enjoy the close-up views of far-away sky objects.

Some more heavily populated areas have light pollution that limits our ability to see objects in the night sky. If your area isn’t dark enough, you may want to take a field trip to one of Michigan’s Dark Sky Preserves, to get a better view.

Write and/or draw your observations of the night sky. Happy Solstice!

Week Thirteen

“Green was the silence, wet was the light, the month of June trembled like a butterfly.” ― Pablo Neruda

Prompt 1: Summer Songs

Outside

What are the songs of summer can you sense on the land? What signs of summer can you see, hear, smell, taste, or touch? How is your wardrobe, diet, and daily routine shaped by summer? Which signs of summer remind you of earlier summers in your life? What thoughts, feelings, or memories are triggered by the signs of summer you’ve discovered? What actual musical compositions do you associate with summer? What aspects of the landscape trigger musical memories?

Inside

Explore the landscape visible to you, in your memory, or in your photographs to discover the songs and signs of summer on the landscape.What are the signs of summer you notice in your world? The changes in daylight? The feelings inside? The foods you eat? The clothes you wear? The “equipment” you use--in the kitchen, patio, yard, balcony, etc. What are your favorite memories of summers past, perhaps visiting the Great Lakes or another lake, river, or pond?

Prompt 2: Quiet Time

When I began to listen to poetry, it's when I began to listen to the stones, and I began to listen to what the clouds had to say, and I began to listen to others. And I think, most importantly for all of us, then you begin to learn to listen to the soul, the soul of yourself in here, which is also the soul of everyone else.” --Joy Harjo “American Sunrise;” Morning Song

Outside: Sound Map

Find a place where you can settle in, quiet down, and listen for nature’s songs. Start with a blank piece of paper. Draw an X in the center of the page; that’s you. Next, spend as long as you can simply listening. When you hear a sound, write a word (peep) or draw a symbol (a beak) on the paper that shows where the sound is in relation to your position, in front of, behind, left 0r right of you. When your listening time ends, look at your sound map. What song of summer is the land singing today? If you did the sound map in spring, how are the two soundscapes different from one another? What have you learned about the land and who lives here from listening? What thoughts and feelings came up while you were being a quiet listener?

Inside

What are some of your favorite songs of summer? What sounds trigger strong emotions, positive or negative? What sounds trigger memories? Explore the landscape visible to you, in your memory, or in your photographs to discover the songs and signs of summer on the landscape. Write about the songs of the land. OR Write about the soundscape of one of your favorite spots in nature, the thoughts, feelings, musical pieces, or events that you associate with the song of this place.

You may have done this exercise for Spring; if so, how do the two seasons’ soundscapes compare? What are some of the differences you notice?

Week Fourteen

Prompt 1: Expanding Circles, for Inside and Outside

Adapted from Listening to Nature: How to Deepen Your Awareness of Nature by Joseph Cornell, 1987.

Ecology is the intellectual study of the interrelationships of all living things. Activities like expanding circles complement the science of ecology by providing a way for us to consciously and intuitively experience our oneness with life.

Expanding Circles Activity

The expanding circles activity will greatly enhance your gazing, by helping you focus attention more clearly on what you're seeing. Expanding circles works best if you sit where you have a panoramic view, and also an interesting foreground. For example, sit where there are flowers and grasses and perhaps a shrub close by, trees a little farther away, and a (border/transitional space) in the distance.

(Sit or stand in a comfortable position. Throughout the exercise, take long, deep breaths.)

Begin by becoming aware of your body. Feel your feet and legs, hands and arms, spinal column and head.

Now, extend your awareness beyond your body just a few feet to the nearby grasses, rocks and insects. Feel yourself moving and becoming alive in them. Try to feel that you are in everything you see as much as you are in your own body. Do this for a couple of minutes. When your mind wanders, gently bring it back to what's before you. Broaden your awareness further to include the nearby shrubs and trees 10... 20... 30 feet away. Feel that everything you see is part of you.

Extend your awareness out 50 yards... A hundred yards... To the distance... And into the vast Blue Sky. All the while, keep the awareness of yourself in the closest things near you, as well as all the way out to the distant mountains and sky. Feel that you are in everything you see just as much as you are in your own body.

Sit and breathe. Feel your connection to all of life.

When you feel ready, pick up your pen and write and/or draw whatever comes to mind.

Related Reading

The beautiful picture book, All I See Is Part of Me by Chara M. Curtis, illustrated by Cynthia Aldrich, explores the idea of oneness with all life by taking readers on a journey in which “a child discovers his common link with all life.

The inspiration for All I See Is Part of Me came to Tara Curtis while sitting on a river log one sunny day. ‘Acknowledging the support of that log, the river and surrounding Forest, evoked a vision of billions of Dancing Lights of life. Everything I saw was of the same essence. I was part of a sea of love and light.’”

Prompt 2: Expanding Circles, for Inside and Outside

Do the Expanding Circles Activity in Prompt 1 a second time. When you are ready, take up your writing implements and write a piece, in prose or poetry, that takes a reader on a journey of discovery of the oneness of all life--in sections:

Describe your body’s sensations
Describe what you notice just beyond your body just a few feet
Describe what you notice the nearby shrubs and trees 10...
20...
30 feet away
50 yards...
A hundred yards...
To the distance...
And into the vast Blue Sky

Week Fifteen

Prompt 1: Signs of Drought

For many gardeners and farmers, last week’s rain was cause for jubilation as the plants drank thirstily of the much-needed water. According to the United States Drought Monitor, our area is “abnormally dry.” In my own garden, the red raspberries are withering, in stark contrast with last year’s profusion of tasty treats. More of the black raspberries are ripening, but they are half the size of last year’s and require many more scratches to procure.

As I compare berry years, I recall Aldo Leopold’s essay “Prairie Birthday,” in A Sand County Almanac, where he says, “For a decade I have kept, for pastime, a record of the wild plant species in first bloom…”

Outside

Take a walk and notice signs of dryness on the landscape, the effects on the plants: their leaves, flowers, fruit--or even survival. Do you notice signs that plants are stressed and/or struggling without sufficient water? If the landscape is being watered, how does the watered portion compare with another spot that isn’t irrigated? If there is a body of water on the site, what signs of “abnormal dryness” can you notice, if any? Explore the landscape and draw or write what you notice.

Like the landscape, we humans can experience “dry spells,” in our psyches, in our creative lives, in our relationships, even in our relationship with land. You can explore one of more of these personal dry spells by using the details of the landscape to illustrate the experience in an extended metaphor. Since you’ve already collected details of the landscape, spend a few minutes listing or freewriting details of your personal dry spell. Then, return to your observations and begin to think and write a metaphor that explores an aspect of the human experience through images of a natural dry spell.

Inside

From your window, or from research (see resources below) take note of any signs of dryness on the landscape you can notice: the effects on the plants: their leaves, flowers, fruit--or even survival. Do you notice signs that plants are stressed and/or struggling without sufficient water? If the landscape is being watered, how does the watered portion compare with another spot that isn’t irrigated? If there is a body of water on the site, what signs of “abnormal dryness” can you notice, if any? Explore the landscape and draw or write what you notice.

Related Resources

Prompt 2: Pollinator Party

Pollinators are the heroes in the garden. The Pollen Nation website describes their heroism: “Pollinators help produce beautiful landscapes and the bounty of fruits, nuts and vegetables we all enjoy. Bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, moths, beetles, birds and bats help plants reproduce by carrying pollen from one flower to another.”

Outside

You’re invited to the Pollinator Party! Find as many pollinators at work as you can in the landscape. OR spend time observing one pollinator or the pollinators on one plant. Draw and/or photograph, and write about the pollinator behaviors you observe.

Inside

Explore the lives of pollinators you can notice from inside OR online:

Cherry Blossom and Bee
Virtual Pollinator Hike
The Beauty of Pollination
Honey bee flying, collecting nectar, pollinating in HD slow motion
Dancing With Bees (audio) from Living on Earth

Write about OR to pollinators. Write about what you learned, what you found interesting, how you feel about pollinators and the heroic work they do.

Related Resources

Bees are a popular musical metaphor, especially in blues. Notice how bees pollinate ideas in the songs collected here. Keep your ears peeled for the buzz of a bee in the music you hear.

Honey Bee: In Musical Metaphor

Week Sixteen

Prompt 1: Walk Poem—Explore and Notice

Outside

“If feasible, go alone, and walk slowly, from time to time directing your attention away from the things you normally notice; for example, look way up or way down, or only for red objects or tiny details, or only at things in shadow, or only at words on signs, or only at doors or clouds. But also feel free to open yourself to everything around you, as well as to your responses to those things. You might want to take notes, jotting down specific details. You could even write the whole poem as you go, though most poets seem to prefer to do the writing after the walk. Whichever way, you will find the walk itself much more vivid than usual, simply because you have devoted special time and your focused attention to it. As for form, there are endless possibilities. You could take a fourteen-block walk, writing one line per block, to form a sonnet; you could walk in the woods, stopping every ten paces and turning to focus on whatever hits your eye, and writing an instant haiku; or you could use free verse, allowing the poem to develop and form itself.” (from Ron Padgett, The Walk Poem, Teachers and Writers Magazine)

Inside

Explore the landscape visible to you, in your memory, or in your photographs, “walking” a path through the landscape in your imagination. “[Direct] your attention away from the things you normally notice; for example, look way up or way down, or only for red objects or tiny details, or only at things in shadow, or only at words on signs, or only at doors or clouds. But also feel free to open yourself to everything around you, as well as to your responses to those things. You might want to take notes, jotting down specific details. You could even write the whole poem as you go, though most poets seem to prefer to do the writing after the walk. Whichever way, you will find the walk itself much more vivid than usual, simply because you have devoted special time and your focused attention to it. As for form, there are endless possibilities. You could take a fourteen-block walk, writing one line per block, to form a sonnet; you could walk in the woods, stopping every ten paces and turning to focus on whatever hits your eye, and writing an instant haiku; or you could use free verse, allowing the poem to develop and form itself.” (from The Walk Poem, Teachers and Writers Magazine)

Prompt 2: BE In Beauty

“In beauty I walk. With beauty before me, I walk. With beauty behind me, I walk. With beauty above and about me, I walk. It is finished in beauty. It is finished in beauty.” From the “Navaho [Diné] Night Way Song”

Outside or Inside,

Find a place where you can sit silently for a few minutes and take in a view that you find beautiful.

Find a comfortable position, relax your body, and take deep breaths. Just breathe and BE, a human BEing, a part of nature. Take deep breaths. Check in with your body; notice any sensations, pain or tension. Take deep breaths. Check in with your thoughts; notice what you think, but try not to get caught up in following any particular thoughts. Just notice. Take deep breaths. Check in with your emotions; notice any sensations, pain or tension. Take deep breaths. Focus on the beauty around you. Take deep breaths. Notice your body, mind, and emotions as part of the beauty around you and within you. Take deep breaths.

When you are ready, pick up your writing materials and write whatever comes to mind about sitting silently in beauty.

Related Links “Being This Being” by Seth Bernard “Breathing” by Joe Reilly Guided Meditations w/ Dr. Vo

Week Seventeen

Prompt 1: Water Works

Water is life. Water can float above us in clouds, appear as dew in the morning, hang in the air as fog, gather in puddles, ponds, and lakes, and flow in streams and rivers. National Geographic photographer, Frans Lanting, has some breath-taking images of patterns created by water on his website. Water is one of the most powerful forces on earth. Water does work.

Where’s the water on your site? Explore the landscape for bodies of water sources and/or evidence of water’s presence. Even when water leaves an area, like human beings, it leaves signs that it was here. What’s water been up to at your site?

Outside

Explore and observe the bodies of water on the site, watch a rainstorm, or find evidence that water has been and gone. What do you notice? Draw (or photograph) and write about water. Is it still or flowing? In what ways is the water here a force of creation? In what ways is the water here a force of destruction? Do you see signs of water that has been here and gone? What evidence is left behind after the water has gone? Write about the powers of water. What else, like water, can be both soft/soothing AND dangerous/destructive?

Inside

Explore the bodies of water you can see out the window, in photographs, or in memory. What do you notice? Draw (or photograph) and write about water. Is it still or flowing? In what ways is the water here a force of creation? In what ways is the water here a force of destruction? Do you see signs of water that has been here and gone? What evidence is left behind after the water has gone? Write about the powers of water. What else, like water, can be both soft/soothing AND dangerous/destructive?

Prompt 2: Sky Scenes

How do clouds form? What types of clouds exist? What can we learn from watching clouds?

Outside

Observe, draw/photograph, and/or write about clouds. How many different cloud types can you observe on the landscape? Watch the clouds at sunrise and/or sunset, at different times of day and night. Watch clouds on a sunny day; watch them during a storm. Clouds are shapeshifters, storm bringers, signs of danger and safety. What can you notice about the clouds? What thoughts, feelings, and/or ideas appear to float unbidden across your mind, like clouds?

Inside

Explore the clouds you can see out the window, in photographs, in paintings, or in memory. Observe, draw/photograph, and/or write about clouds. How many different cloud types can you observe on the landscape? Watch the clouds at sunrise and/or sunset, at different times of day and night. Watch clouds on a sunny day; watch them during a storm. Clouds are shapeshifters, storm bringers, signs of danger and safety. What can you notice about the clouds? What thoughts, feelings, and/or ideas appear to float unbidden across your mind, like clouds?

Cloud Picture

Week Eighteen

Prompt 1: Fruits

For gardeners, early August is a busy time, with many plants producing food. Our garden is bursting with squash, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, beans--and our first watermelon.

Outside

Which plants are producing fruits? How many? How big? How can you eat or preserve them? Explore the site and notice its productivity. List the fruits you find. Describe them; write about how they can be cooked, eaten, and/or preserved. Which fruits trigger memories? Write about a memory that is stirred by this season’s harvest. OR Write about a favorite meal that centers on the fruits that are ripe now.

Inside

Which plants are producing fruits? How many? How big? How will you eat or preserve them? If you can see the landscape, you might be able to notice its productivity. But also, you’re probably eating fresh, local produce, either purchased or gifted. List the fresh, local fruits that have come into your kitchen lately. Describe them; write about how they will be cooked, eaten, and/or preserved. Which fruits trigger memories? Write about the memories that are stirred by this season’s harvest. OR Write about a favorite meal that centers on the fruits that are ripe now.

Prompt 2: Seeds

The milkweed pods are bursting, and their seeds take to the air and ride the wind to their new homes. The plants are looking futureward.

Outside

Survey the landscape to locate and observe seeds. How are the plants planning for the future? What types of seeds do they produce? Does the plant make a lot of seeds (like a tomato), a few (like a lemon) or one (like an avocado)? How might the seeds be transported to a new spot where they can grow? Which seeds can you eat? Which seeds can you collect and plant in future? Observe, draw/photograph, and/or write about the seeds you find.

In the human realm, which seeds did you plant in the past that are bearing fruit now? Which future projects are you planting seeds for now?

Inside

Explore the seeds you can see in the fruits in your diet, in a flower bouquet, out the window, in photographs here, or here, or here. How are plants planning for the future? What types of seeds do they produce? Does the plant make a lot of seeds (like a tomato), a few (like a lemon) or one (like an avocado)? Which seeds can you eat? How might the seeds be transported to a new spot where they can grow? Which seeds can you collect and plant in future? Observe, draw/photograph, and/or write about the seeds you find.

In the human realm, which seeds did you plant in the past that are bearing fruit now? Which future projects are you planting seeds for now?

Garden Harvest Picture

Week Nineteen

Love Letters to the Land in Prose & Poetry

Eggplant Picture Photo by lisa eddy

August is a time of harvest in Michigan. Corn, squash, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant… it's a highly productive time for land. Many cultures have harvest holidays and festivals at this time of year to celebrate the land’s productivity. One way that a writer might celebrate the productivity of the land at this time is by writing love letters to the land.

Prompt 1: Prose

Outside

Walk through the area noticing and focusing on the things you love about this place. As you go, observe and record details of the landscape you appreciate and celebrate: plants, harvest, pollinators, soils, water, sunlight...

When you are ready, sit down and compose a letter to express your love and appreciation for what the land gives to you. How will you address this place? Does it have a name? What language choices, tone, and style can convey your appreciation for the gifts from the land??

Inside

Explore the landscape you can see out the window, in photographs, in paintings, or in memory. Observe and record details of the landscape you appreciate and celebrate: plants, harvest, pollinators, soils, water, sunlight...

Prompt 2: Love Letter List Poem

Outside

Walk through and survey the site, recording details you notice and appreciate. Use all of your senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, and tasting, if possible. Look down, look up, look around in all the directions; record every beautiful detail.

When you are ready, sit down and consult your list. How can this list become a love letter list poem?

First, identify the recipient of the letter. It may be the place, or it may be a particular plant or aspect of the place. Once you have chosen the recipient for your love letter list poem, begin as you would a letter, with an affectionate greeting for the recipient. Then, arrange the details from your observations of the land into lines of poetry that convey your appreciation for the gifts from the land. Consider sound, rhythm, and pacing as you select and order images into lines.

Inside

Explore the landscape you can see out the window, in photographs, in paintings, or in memory. Record details you notice and appreciate. Use all of your senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, and tasting, if possible. Look down, look up, look around in all the directions; record every beautiful detail.

When you are ready, sit down and consult your list. How can this list become a love letter list poem?

Tomato plant picture

Photo by lisa eddy

Week Twenty

The Medicine Wheel

In their book, The Sacred Tree, authors Judie Bopp, Michael Bopp, Lee Brown, and Phil Lane present the ancient symbol of the medicine wheel as a tool for self-exploration and personal empowerment:

This is an ancient symbol used by almost all the native people of North and South America. There are many different ways that this basic concept is expressed: the four grandfather's, the Four Winds, the four cardinal directions, and many other relationships that can be expressed in sets of four. Just like a mirror can be used to see things not normally visible, the medicine wheel can be used to help us see or understand things we can't quite see or understand because they are ideas and not physical objects.

The medicine wheel teaches us that we have four aspects to our nature: the physical, the mental, the emotional, and the spiritual. Each of these aspects must be equally developed in a healthy, well-balanced individual through the development and use of volition (9).

Prompt 1: Make A Medicine Wheel

Outside or Inside

If you are outside, observe the landscape in each of the four directions. Inside, explore the landscape you can see out the window, in photographs, or in memory.

On your paper, draw a large X. Make the two lines meet in the middle of the page. This is the axis of your medicine wheel. Label the sectors for the four cardinal directions: East, South, West, North.

alt text

Beginning in the East, where the sun rises, the place of beginnings. Observe the land in the East. On your paper, draw and/or write words and phrases that describe aspects of the landscape you can notice in the East: plants, animals, water, soil, geography, etc.

Next turn to the South, the direction of the Sun at its highest point. The south is the direction of strength and vigor, a time of preparing for the days ahead. Observe and note details of the landscape in the South. Draw and/or write words and phrases that describe aspects of the landscape you can notice in the South.

Next turn your attention to the West. The direction from which darkness comes, the direction of the unknown. The West is a place of testing of the will, the west is a place of power. Draw and/or write words and phrases that describe aspects of the landscape you can notice in the West.

Next turn your attention to the North, the place of winter snows, the elders, the ancestors, and wisdom. Draw and/or write words and phrases that describe aspects of the landscape you can notice in the North.

When you have observed and recorded details of the landscape in each of the four directions, reflect on aspects of your life in turn: in the East, physical; in the South, mental; in the West, emotional: and in the North, spiritual.

What feelings, ideas, or connections can be made between the details of the landscape you noted in that direction on your medicine wheel and the corresponding aspect of your life? Explore these ideas in writing.

Prompt 2: Journey Around the Wheel

This prompt builds on the medicine wheel from Prompt 1.

Outside or Inside

Begin by looking at the medicine wheel that you drew and/or wrote for Prompt 1. As you look at your medicine wheel drawing, reflect on each area of life: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual today.

Next, return to the landscape and observe the same area you observed in Prompt 1. (If indoors, explore the landscape you can see out the window, in photographs, or in memory.)

What is different in the landscape now? What do you see today that you didn’t notice before? Explore each section of the landscape, beginning in the East, and adding new details to your medicine wheel.

When you have come round to the North again, reflect on what the changes you noticed on the landscape might mean or suggest. What processes may have happened to create the changes? What agents might have created the change? What are the effects of the changes?

Now, as with Prompt 1, shift gears into the personal. As you notice the changes that have happened in each section of the medicine wheel, what changes are happening in each of the areas of your life: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual?

What feelings, ideas, or connections can you make between the details of the landscape you noted in that direction on your medicine wheel and the corresponding aspect of your life? Explore these ideas in writing.

The medicine wheel can help us see more in the landscape and in our lives, and it can help us strengthen our connection to land.

“As we journey around the wheel…the fundamental value of this tool is a way of measuring our own progress and development, and a means for assessing what we must work on next in our journey through life.” (40, The Sacred Tree)

alt text

"The East" by lisa eddy

Week Twenty-One

Biodiversity and Health

In “Benefits of Biodiversity to Human Health and Well-being,” authors Danielle Buttke, Diana Allen, and Chuck Higgins describe biodiversity this way:

variation among plants and animals, including cultural variation in humans, is called biodiversity (WHO 2014). Biodiversity is profoundly important to the health and sustainability of all species, including our own, regardless of where we live, work, or play. Biodiversity gives resilience—from the microbes that contribute to the formation of the human biome to the genes that help us adapt to stress in the environment—supports all forms of livelihoods, may help regulate disease, and is necessary for physical, mental, and spiritual health and social well-being.

Prompt 1: Health Check-Up for Land

Outside or Inside

Since biodiversity is the key to land health, take some time to survey the landscape for its biodiversity.

Outdoors, explore the landscape from boundary to boundary.
Indoors, explore the landscape you can see out the window, in photographs, or in memory.

Perhaps you will focus on plants, or animals, or a specific type of animal, such as pollinators, or mammals, or birds. Decide upon a focus for your biodiversity survey, and then explore the landscape, listing the diverse types in the focus category. After making your list, think about what the data suggests about the level of health for this landscape. How biodiverse is this place? Is the land in excellent, good, fair, or poor health? What features of the land suggest its level of health? What role do you/might you play in the “health care” of the land? How can you protect and/or increase the biodiversity and health of the land? Explore your thoughts about biodiversity and land health.

Prompt 2: Health Check-Up for the Human Community

“Biodiversity is necessary for physical, mental, and spiritual health and social well-being.”

Outside or Inside

How does this landscape benefit human well-being? Write about the ways a particular landscape contributes to the mental, physical, spiritual, and/or social health of you and/or others who interact with this landscape.

alt text

Week Twenty-Two

“I cannot see our identity as humans as separate from the natural world from which we emerged. And what I think is that in the end, our spirits have an urge; they have a longing, still, to be part of it. And I think this longing can surprise you; it could suddenly leap out in certain circumstances; you could suddenly realize you’re surprised by the strength of your feelings. But I do feel that to be fully human is to recognize that the natural world is where we came from, and it remains part of us. And without it, being fully human is something we cannot do.” —Michael McCarthy, author of Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo and The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy. His new book, The Consolation of Nature: Spring in the Time of Coronavirus, is coming out in October 2020. (from “Nature, Joy, and Human Becoming,” an interview with Michael McCarthy, On Being with Krista Tippett).

alt text

The Perfect Spot, The Parsons Center for Arts and Sciences, 2016 by lisa eddy

Prompt 1: Longing for Land

Outside

Explore the outer and inner landscapes of your life and write about aspects of the natural world you long for, have longed for, or will long for in the future. How is the natural world a part of you?

Inside

Explore the landscape you can see out the window, in photographs, or in memory: and write about the aspects of the natural world you long for, have longed for, or will long for in the future. Again, how is (or was) the natural world a part of you?

Prompt 2: Nourished by Nature

McCarthy writes, “the natural world is where we came from, and it remains part of us. And without it, being fully human is something we cannot do.”

Outside

Explore the outer and inner landscapes and write about the aspects of your humanity (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and/or social) that are called forth and/or nourished by the natural world.

Inside

Explore the landscape you can see out the window, in photographs, or in memory, and write the aspects of your humanity (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, or social) that are called forth and/or nourished by the natural world.

alt text

Spoon Carving w/ Cale Stoker, Hollerfest, 2018; Photo: lisa eddy

Week Twenty-Three

Body and Soul

Prompt 1: Body

Watching the bees visit the flowers, I notice that the long, spiky stamens of the Cleome, also known as Spider Legs and Grandfather’s Whiskers, prevent the larger bees from reaching the plant’s petals and pollen. Again and again, the big, fat bees fly up toward the bright pink parts--only to be blocked by the spikes. I wonder why the bees don’t know; this plant has been popular with gardeners since the 1800s. I wonder which bees are able to navigate its spikes safely and what conditions contributed to the formation of the spikes. I appreciate the unusual appearance of Cleome’s stem. I’m curious to learn more about this plant and its structures.

Cleome by lisa eddy

Outside or Inside

Locate a plant or animal, in the landscape or in a photo, with an interesting body type or structure. Draw or photograph the plant or animal, if you like. Write about what you notice, observe, and wonder about relating to this body type or structure.

Prompt 2: And Soul

In her 2015 interview with Krista Tippett for OnBeing, poet Mary Oliver says, [The woods in Ohio] “saved my life….I got saved by poetry. And I got saved by the beauty of the world.”

Outside

Notice, observe, draw and/or photograph something you find beautiful in the landscape. Reflect on and write about the effects of the beauty of the land on your inner landscape of thoughts, feelings, spirit, soul. How does this beauty contribute to your life? Give you hope? Help you carry on through tough times?

Inside

Explore the landscape you can see out the window, in photographs, or in memory to focus on something you find beautiful. Reflect on and write about the effects of the beauty of the land on your inner landscape of thoughts, feelings, spirit, soul. How does this beauty contribute to your life? Give you hope? Help you carry on through tough times?

“I don’t like buildings. The only record I broke in school was truancy. I went to the woods a lot with books. Whitman in the knapsack. But I also liked motion. So I just began with these little notebooks and scribbled things as they came to me and then worked them into poems later.” ~Mary Oliver

Photo by lisa eddy

Week Twenty-Four

Grasses book by Lauren Brown

Prompt 1: Grasses

According to the Michigan Master Gardener Association, “roughly 20% of Michigan's flora is graminoid species – grasses, sedges, and rushes.” And “more than 400 types of grasses can be eaten worldwide,” according to the Wilderness Survival School.

In the play, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, by Lawrence & Lee, Thoreau points out the diversity of grasses to students in his outdoor school:

Our textbook is Heywood’s Meadow….In this single pasture, there are 300 distinct and separate varieties of grass; I know; I have catalogued them myself. You look down and say, ‘That’s grass. Grass is grass.’ Ridiculous. You have missed the splendid variety of the show. There’s camel grass, candy grass, cow-quake, mouse-barley, fox-tail, London lace, devil’s knitting needle, feather-top, buffalo grass, timothy, and barnyard grass…

Outside

Explore the landscape to see how many different grasses are present. Now is the perfect time, because many grasses now have developed their seed heads. Draw or photograph the parts where the seeds are. You may learn to identify them by using a guidebook (like my favorite, pictured above), but also, you can create your own names for them, based on their shape, size, color, or other features. As you learn to see the grasses on the site, write about their similarities, differences, and thoughts and feelings you have for the grasses.

Inside

“Grasses show up in your every-day foods, too. Cereal grains are in the grass family, including wheat, rice, wild rice, corn, oats, barely, millet and rye. The seeds are usually the most beneficial part of the grasses and nearly all grasses are edible” (Wilderness Awareness School). If you can’t see types of grasses outside, you can learn about some at the City of Ann Arbor’s Natural Preservation page, where native grasses are described and pictured, OR you can look in the kitchen to see which grasses are in your house. As you learn about grasses, write about their similarities, differences, and thoughts and feelings you have for the grasses.

lisa eddy Aldo Leopold’s Shack, Baraboo, WI 2015

Aldo Leopold’s Shack, Baraboo, WI 2015, lisa eddy

Prompt 2: Early Autumn Phenology

Back in April, we began to think about phenology, the practice of keeping records about the timing of natural events. As fall approaches, many plants are changing in noticeable and interesting ways.

Outside

Explore the landscape and notice some seasonal changes of a plant or plants. If you wrote about phenology in April, you might begin by noting differences in plants you wrote about then. Or you may write about plants you notice now. Draw and/or photograph some of the changes that are happening in the plants in late summer/early autumn. What changes can you notice? Write about what you notice. In what ways are you affected by the changing season? How is this time of year similar to and/or different from previous years for the plants and for you?

Inside

Looking out the window, observe the landscape and notice some seasonal changes of late summer/early autumn. What changes can you notice? Write about what you notice. In what ways are you affected by the changing season? How is this time of year similar to and/or different from previous years for the landscape and for you?

lisa eddy On the Wiconsin River @ Aldo Leopold’s Shack, 2015

On the Wiconsin River at Aldo Leopold’s Shack, 2015, lisa eddy

Week Twenty-Five

Color and Balance: Equinox Activity

As the Autumnal equinox arrives (in late September), we are reminded of the concept of balance.

Outside or Inside

Orient Yourself in Space: “The day of an equinox a good day for finding due east and due west from your yard or other favorite site for watching the sky. Just go outside around sunset or sunrise and notice the location of the sun on the horizon with respect to familiar landmarks. If you do this, you’ll be able to use those landmarks to find those cardinal directions in the weeks and months ahead, long after Earth has moved on in its orbit around the sun, carrying the sunrise and sunset points southward.” from EarthSky

Prompt 1: Seek the Balance

Outside

Find a spot at your site where you feel comfortable to sit. Settle in and take deep breaths. Observe the inner and outer worlds where you are: what’s the weather like, outside and inside? As you sit, breathe, and observe, notice indications of balance and imbalance in the landscape. Sketch or photograph signs of balance/imbalance. Write about what you notice.

Next, reflect on your “lifescape.” Write about what you notice about the balance/imbalance in the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social aspects of your life. How might your relationship with land help you find and maintain a healthy balance in your life? How might you help the land maintain balance and biodiversity? What role does writing play in seeking the balance? Write and reflect and write.

Inside

Find a place where you can observe a landscape that brings you comfort, outside the window, in photographs, on this Lake Michigan Beach cam, or in a work of art. Settle in and take deep breaths. Observe the inner and outer worlds where you are: what’s the weather like, outside and inside? As you sit, breathe, and observe, notice indications of balance and imbalance in the landscape. Sketch or photograph signs of balance/imbalance. Write about what you notice.

Prompt 2: Color Tour

Photo by lisa eddy

While you might wish to plan a color tour beyond your local landscape, you needn’t go further than where your feet can carry you.

Outside

Observe the landscape and locate an area where the colors of early autumn have arrived. Sketch and color OR photograph the land’s look for early fall. Write about what you notice as well as any thoughts, feelings and memories that arise as you enjoy fall’s fashion show.

Inside

Observe the early autumn landscape outside the window, in photographs, or in memory and locate an area where the colors of early autumn have arrived. Sketch and color OR photograph the land’s look for early fall. Write about what you notice as well as any thoughts, feelings and memories that arise as you enjoy fall’s fashion show.

Week Twenty-Six

“Hope is always accompanied by the imagination, the will to see what our physical environment seems to deem impossible. Only the creative mind can make use of hope. Only a creative people can wield it.” —Poet, Jericho Brown

Prompt 1: Bad Pretty; Good Ugly

We tend to associate goodness in nature with what we find visually pleasing, pretty, or beautiful. What if we use our imaginations to think creatively?

Photo by lisa eddy, Ferns, Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Audubon Sancutary

Photo by lisa eddy, Ferns, Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Audubon Sanctuary

Outside

Explore the site to identify at least one “bad pretty” (like invasive, Purple Loostrife) and one “good ugly” (ugly MI plants, millipedes) plant, animal, or feature. Draw or photograph your “bad pretty” and “good ugly” examples. What is it about this aspect of nature that makes some things both pretty and harmful; both ugly and beneficial? How might this exercise help you improve your vision of the natural world? How might this exercise apply to other aspects of life?

Inside

Looking out the window, at photographs, or in your memory, identify at least one “bad pretty” (like invasive, Purple Loostrife) and one “good ugly” (ugly MI plants, millipedes) plant, animal, or feature. Draw or photograph your “bad pretty” and “good ugly” examples. What is it about this aspect of nature that makes some things both pretty and harmful, both ugly and beneficial? How might this exercise help you improve your vision of the natural world? How might this exercise apply to other aspects of life?

Photo by lisa eddy, Temporary Ugly to Promote Land Health, Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Audubon Society

Photo by lisa eddy, Temporary Ugly to Promote Land Health, Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Audubon Sanctuary

Prompt 2: Good Gross

Ewwww! That’s gross! Depending on one’s point-of-view, “gross” can be an unequivocal condemnation OR a ringing endorsement. Certain folks among us are drawn to what most find repellant. It’s one thing to see the redeeming qualities of “ugly,” but what’s so great about gross?

Photo by lisa eddy, Owl Pellets

For the naturalist, “gross” is useless as a label; so-called gross aspects of nature can be storehouses of crucial information, like testing wastewater to determine COVID19 outbreaks. For the naturalist, gross can be good.

Outside

Explore the landscape to identify at least one “gross” or disgusting plant, animal, or feature. Draw or photograph your gross plant, animal, or feature—if you can stomach it. What is it about this aspect of nature that makes it both gross and good? How might this exercise help you improve your vision of the natural world? How might this exercise apply to other aspects of life?

Inside

Looking out the window, at photographs, or in your memory, identify at least one “gross” or disgusting plant, animal, or feature. Draw or photograph your gross plant, animal, or feature—if you can stomach it. What is it about this aspect of nature that makes it both gross and good? How might this exercise help your improve your vision of the natural world? How might this exercise apply to other aspects of life?

Week Twenty-Seven

Photo by lisa eddy, Sand Hill Cranes, Grass Lake, MI

You have noticed that everything an Indian does is done in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken, the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion. Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down in a circle.The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.

Black Elk was a great Sioux shaman (visionary, curer) who dictated his life story to John G. Neihardt in 1931. Neihardt (working through an interpreter) recorded, rearranged, and edited this story, publishing it as Black Elk Speaks, a book still readily available. Born in 1862, Black Elk was 28 years old at the Battle of Wounded Knee, the bloody end of Plains Indian autonomy in the US. From then until his death in 1950, he lived on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. In these excerpts, he says something of the power of the circle, how it may be used, and the consequences of denying it. And he speaks of collective ritual.

Prompt 1: The Power of the Circle

Outside or Inside

Beginning with the East, and moving South, West, and North, examine the land to locate examples of at least one circular feature in each direction. Draw or photograph the examples, if you like. Write for the same number of minutes about the circles you noticed in each section, and reflect on what you notice about your body, mind, emotions, and psyche as you circle through the directions.

Prompt 2: Winter Eyes

Winter in Michigan isn’t far away, and we’re warned to winterize ourselves by getting flu shots, as well as to winterize our automobiles and our homes. Likewise, our nonhuman relatives prepare for the cold season.

Outside or Inside

Beginning with the East, and moving South, West, and North, examine the land to locate examples of at least one sign of nature’s winterizing activities in each direction. Draw or photograph the examples, if you like. Write for the same number of minutes about signs of nature’s winterizing activities you noticed in each section, and reflect on what you notice about your body, mind, emotions, and psyche as you consider the processes of winterization taking place on the land.

As we enter the dark segment of the season cycle, we can reflect on past winters and take steps to winterize our inner worlds by creating “luminaria” to light our way through the dark season, especially if we are prone to winter depression, and “fires” by which we can warm ourselves and tell stories that keep hope alive until spring.

What can we learn from nature about preparing for the dark season? Where will we find light and warmth? How might our relationship with the natural world and our writing light our way?

Photo by lisa eddy, Sand Hill Cranes, Grass Lake, MI

Week Twenty-Eight

Photo by lisa eddy, Haehnle Audubon Sanctuary

Prompt 1: Lanterns on the Path

In his October essay, “Red Lanterns,” in A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold contrasts two ways he might hunt partridge. He says:

One way to hunt Partridge is to make a plan, based on logic and probabilities, of the terrain to be hunted. This will take you over the ground where the birds ought to be.

Another way is to wander, quite aimlessly, from one red lantern to another. This will likely take you where the birds actually are. The lanterns are blackberry leaves, red in October sun.

Red lanterns have lighted my way on many a pleasant hunt in many a region, but I think that blackberries must first have learned how to glow in the sand counties of Central Wisconsin. Along the little boggy streams of these friendly wastes, called poor by those whose own lights barely flicker, the blackberries burn richly red on every sunny day from first frost to the last day of the season.

Outside

As you walk outside, notice which leaves light a path through the site with their color. Draw or photograph the bright "lanterns" you discover. Describe some of the interesting features that you see as you follow the path lit by the "lanterns." What have you learned about the site from following the lanterns’ path? What and where are the “lanterns” that light your life’s pathway?

Inside

Looking out the window, or taking a virtual Autumn Forest Walk, notice which leaves light a path through an area with their color. Draw bright the "lanterns" you discover. Describe some of the interesting features that you see as you follow the path lit by the "lanterns.” What have you learned about the site from following the lanterns’ path? What and where are the “lanterns” that light your life’s pathway?

Prompt 2: Poetry Game—A Map of the Site

A way to make a poem without trying to make it a poem. This writing exercise is adapted from Poetry of Place: Helping Students Write Their Worlds, by Terry Hermsen, 2009, NCTE. It has been changed to incorporate the directions and to explore a natural site rather than a town.

Directions

At each spot, do what the directions say, then write two lines or so as if they were part of a poem you are making.

Start in the east. Jot down ten nouns from what you see—each with a strong sound of B, D, G, K, P, or T. Then write two strong lines of poetry using two of those words in each line, paying attention to how your second line plays against your first, and then extending it, or contrasting with it in a way that catches us off-guard.

Move to the south. Jot down four unusual pairs of "opposites” (example: what if “window” is the opposite of “sky”?). Write two lines using those opposites, such as "The window blurs its own thoughts on purpose" or "The sky peels apart the clouds."

In the same spot, imagine someone. Write two or four lines that begin, "All day, he...," or "All day, she...," or "All day, they....”

Move to the west. Find something small around you—smaller than a breadbox or smaller than your hand. Look at it for at least two minutes, noticing little things about it. Write two to four “impossible questions" about it, thinking of it as if it were human or had a point of view and feelings of its own, as in, "Does the stop light at night wish to vanish into a dozen shells beneath the lake?" Don't worry about making sense; just make your questions create interesting pictures and possibilities.

Move to the north. Stop and look around. Pick a number in your head between one and six, looking in the direction the number below gives you:

1 = up / 2 = down / 3 = in front of you / 4 = behind you / 5 = to the right / 6 = to the left

Take something you see and write two lines that begin, "Everybody knows...." Don't stay necessarily in the realm of reality. Invent. Be playful, yet be specific, as in, "Everybody knows the bricks were once able to listen to ellipses."

Take two lines that you wrote already and write the opposite of what they say.

Find a new spot at the “center” of the site and sit down. Write two lines from the point of view of someone who left this place 20 years ago.

Walk somewhere zigzag from where you are. Stop and look around. Find something around you that is the same color as something you are wearing. Using that color (and/or that thing) as a starting place, write two lines that begin, "I never..." or, "I once...."

Write two lines that are a "creative lie."

Without turning your head, from the side of your eye (your peripheral vision) find a source of light. Look at it. Write two to four lines that begin, "The light is like..." or "The light is...."

Finally, sit down somewhere close by and spin your various lines into a single poem, adding or subtracting (dividing and recombining) as needed. You might think of it as just a series of "images from the site," or you might try imagining that they all come from the point of view of one person or thing you saw a during the game.

Photo by lisa eddy, Sandhill Cranes, Grass Lake, MI

Week Twenty-Nine

Measuring Time

Prompt 1: Moon Time

In Thirteen Moons on Turtle’s Back, Joseph Bruchac and Jonathan London versify “one moon story from each of thirteen...nations in different regions of the [North American] continent” to illustrate how time can be measured in moon cycles and named for natural occurrences that take place on the land. The next full moon will occur on Saturday, October 31, 2020.

Outside or Inside

Observe the land. Look east, south, west, north, down, and up. What can you notice about the weather, the animals, and the plants? Write down your observations.

Based on what you notice on the land, what names can you give this moon cycle?

Photo by lisa eddy Golden Glory Maple

Photo by lisa eddy Golden Glory (Maple)

If you’ve been keeping a nature journal, consider retracing your steps through previous entries to discover the natural occurrences that caught your attention, and, using these details to make your own calendar, name each moon cycle after features of the land. Likewise, consider repeating this exercise each full moon until you’ve named one for each scale on Turtle’s back.

Prompt 2: Happy New Year!?!

Ancient Celtic tradition holds that “[Samhain, pronounced sow-in, is the Celtic New Year’s Eve, which marks the end of the harvest.” Like North American Indigenous peoples, the Celtic calendar is based on the cycles of nature. In The Celtic Book of Living and Dying, Juliette Wood introduces readers to Cernunnos, the horned god, the god of regeneration: “he represents the eternal cycle of nature manifested in the seasonal shedding and regrowth of antlers.” Like Persephone in Greek tradition, Cernunnos moves between the worlds of the living and the dead, symbolizing nature’s eternal cycles.

Outside or Inside

Observe the land. Look east, south, west, north, down, and up. What do you notice about the weather, the animals, and the plants that speak of nature’s regenerating power and eternal cycles? Write down your observations.

Now try using your observations to step into the mythic realm. Persephone eats a pomegranate, and Cernunnos wears deer antlers—because they are native to the landscapes where the myths originated. Imagine a god, goddess, or both—of regeneration—or even a whole pantheon of characters who embody the powers of the plants, animals, and natural processes of your site.

Describe each character, how they look and what powers of nature you associate with their appearance, clothing, objects associated with them, and how they dwell in the realms of the both the living and the dead.

Photo by lisa eddy First Frost on Nasturstium

Week Thirty

I love alphabet and counting books. I love the endless variety that is possible within these basic patterns, and when I was a high school English teacher, these picture books helped countless teen writers find a way to begin writing when they had difficulty getting started. Let’s go back to basics this week...

Prompt 1: Count the Ways

Gobble Gobble Crash book

In Gobble, Gobble, Crash: A Barnyard Counting Bash by Julie Stiegmeyer, illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev, readers follow the adventures of some rowdy turkeys who make a racket in the barnyard, but with cooperation from other animals, avoid getting caught by the farmer, who is determined to end their shenanigans. The story-in-verse opens with the image of one mare munching hay in a quiet barnyard, counts its way through the ruckus caused by the turkeys with each group of barnyard residents in turn, and returns to silence when the farmer is awakened from bed and steps out to investigate.

Outside or Inside

Try using one or more of the writing techniques or patterns Stiegmeyer uses in her counting book, techniques from your own favorite counting book, or other techniques you’d like to try. Create a book that counts from 1-10 and back down again—if you follow Stiegmeyer’s pattern—to tell a story about plants, animals, or humans at your site. Or you could simply count up and recognize ten features of the site that you enjoy and appreciate. Find a focus and write and illustrate/photograph your own counting picture book.

Optional: If you’re still hanging onto the Spooktober vibe, try laughing like Count Dracula or The Count from Sesame Street when you say each numeral!

Prompt 2: Alphabet Site

Tallgrass Prairie Alphabet book

In A Tallgrass Prairie Alphabet by Claudia McGehee, readers visit the tallgrass prairie, meeting the plants and animals who live together there, and learning the common and scientific names for each, as well as basic facts about them.

Outside or Inside

Try creating an alphabet inspired by the features of the landscape. Will you focus on plants, animals, land features, people who care for the land, food that grows in the landscape, aspects you appreciate in the landscape, the A-Z of natural beauty ... ? Find a focus and write and illustrate/photograph your ABCs.

Some additional alphabet books in my collection:

Ashanti to Zulu book Rad Women book Z is for Zeus book

Week Thirty-One

Seeds by lisa eddy

Photo by lisa eddy

Seed Time

In August we considered seeds; let’s return to the subject in November. This week, we consider seeds, both physically and metaphorically.

Prompt 1: Seed Stories

Outside

Seeds travel by water, by wind, by walking and flying—with an animal—to new ground, where they might find the conditions right to germinate. Explore your site to discover seed transportation. Draw or photograph different seeds. Write a haiku (5 syllables; 7 syllables; 5 syllables); lune (3 words; 5 words; 3 words); or six-word memoir for each type of seed you examine.

Inside

If you can see different plants/seeds from the window or porch, find plants that disperse their seeds in different ways. If you cannot get close to seeds, you can take a little virtual field trip to Chicago Botanic Garden to learn about some interesting seeds, OR you can look up information online about how some of your favorite trees, flowers, or foods disperse their seeds. Seeds travel by water, by wind, by walking and flying—with an animal—to new ground, where they might find the conditions right to germinate. Explore your site to discover seed transportation. Draw or photograph different seeds. Write a haiku (5 syllables; 7 syllables; 5 syllables); lune (3 words; 5 words; 3 words); or six-word memoir for each type of seed you examine.

Prompt 2: Story Seeds

In Miss Maple’s Seeds, Eliza Wheeler finds the seeds of a story—in seeds! Nature, our time outdoors, and the people we spend time with outdoors are all “story seeds.” For instance, my son recently texted me a video clip of a lake, at sunrise, with the sounds of sandhill cranes overhead. He wrote, “I have heard them almost every morning here. Always think of you and Aldo (Leopold).”

That’s a story seed. I can write the story behind his text.

Outside or Inside

Look for the seed of a story that you’d like to tell, either fictional or factual, about a person and their relationship with the natural world. Write the story, in prose or poetry, of a person and their place.

Perhaps you’ll tell a story in song. For inspiration, give a listen to Seth Bernard’s tribute to John Prine, “White Pine” and/or May Erlewine’s “Seeds.”

Week Thirty-Two

Greeting the Day; Exploring the Darkness

Greeting the Day by lisa eddy

photo credit: lisa eddy

Prompt 1: Greeting the Day

Outside or Inside

The Way to Start a Day by Byrd Baylor

In The Way to Start A Day, Byrd Baylor brings readers along for a world tour of time travel, as we are introduced to dozens of ways to start the day in a good way, “with drum beats, ringing of bells, gifts of gold or flowers…”

Do you have a practice of greeting the day? I like to greet the day in reverent silence, watching the sunrise, from the garden most days, and on the trail occasionally--but ALWAYS on Winter Solstice. Write, sketch and/or photograph about the ways you greet the day. If you don’t have a practice of greeting the day, you might try an experiment: create a practice, try it for a week or two, and watch/write about what happens. Also consider planning something special to greet the returning sun at Winter Solstice, 12/21.

Related Favorite Title

Sing to the Sun

Prompt 2: Exploring the Darkness

Outside or Inside

I was 6 in 1971, when Don McLean’s album, American Pie, went into heavy rotation on my mom’s record player, and my consciousness was deeply affected by the lyrics of several of the songs. I became interested in the painter, Vincent Van Gogh, a couple of years later, when I understood that the Vincent named in the song was not simply an anguished friend of McLean’s. This song also contributed to my interest in the sky and the stars--even though I suffered from a raging fear of the dark into my 20s.

I now embrace and seek out darkness, and prefer a dimly lit room to one without shadows. I enjoy sitting outside, in the dark, listening, watching the sky: sunset, clouds, the moon, the stars, the planets…

Darkness is essential, but I’ve absorbed a lot of negative ideas about night time and darkness over my lifetime. It took time, attention, and energy to dismantle them so that I could enjoy light and dark in a more balanced way. One powerful image that helps me reframe darkness is the image of a seed or bulb nestled in good ground over winter, sprouting into a glorious flower in spring.

One simple way I like to enjoy the darkness is by sitting outside with a candle. It’s a lot less work than a fire, but it gives me a flickering flame and a focal point for reflection/meditation--and a light in darkness--literally.

What do you think of when you think of darkness, the dark season, night? Are thoughts associated with darkness appreciative or negative? Are your thoughts about light and darkness more on the balanced end of the spectrum, or imbalanced end? How do you embrace and appreciate darkness? Write, sketch/photograph about your relationship with darkness/night.

Related Favorite Titles

The First Starry Night

Starry Messenger

Week Thirty-Three

Prompt 1: Still Green?

When I taught high school English, one of the most common misunderstandings about seasonal changes I encountered was the common refrain, “Everything’s dead in the winter!” This week’s prompts help us remember that what is often perceived as death is simply the continuous life cycle.

Outside or Inside

Explore the landscape to locate and identify several different plants that are still green in the waning weeks of autumn. As you find them, write some notes about each, describing features of the plant. Note whether or not it is an “evergreen.” If it is not, you can practice phenology by noting the date and condition of the plant as it transitions through stages from season to season.

Sometimes it can seem that death and loss are all there is, but the natural world reminds us that, if we keep our eyes open, we can see the hopeful green stuff of life and take heart to face another sunrise, another season.

Still Green?

Photo by lisa eddy

Prompt 2: Both/And—Messy & Beautiful

We like the picturesque beauty of virgin snowfall draping branches and blanketing the prairie, but when the temperatures rise, it turns to a mess of mud and melt. Likewise, the snow’s beauty is difficult to appreciate when it becomes a danger--causing accidents and injuries. I love snow, but when I found myself driving in a blinding snow in the pre-dawn hours to sit with my dying sister, it added to my anxiety and physical tension. And then, as I sat with her, the beauty of the snow in the woods outside the window provided me a sense of peace and comfort.

Now it’s the first sunrise without her in this world, and as I greet the day, I survey the garden, a mess of mud and partially melted snow, a maze of animal tracks, and a huge circle of green under the branches of the spruce tree. It’s muddy and messy AND beautiful and comforting.

Outside or Inside

Explore the landscape to identify those aspects that are both/and: messy/beautiful; animate/inanimate; alive/dead; annual/perennial; gross/wondrous; frightening/comforting--and other “both/ands” you notice. How does the landscape remind us that life is both messy and beautiful?

Messy and Beautiful

Photo by lisa eddy

Week Thirty-Four

Prompt 1: Winter Interest

In the home landscape “winter interests” are plants, rocks, or other features in the landscape that look cool in winter, either on their own, like evergreens, or when topped by snow. I keep a Michigan wildflower mix in my front garden; I remember how heartsick I felt when a helpful loved one mowed the stalks during one fall clean-up session. “I leave those for winter interest,” I explained, swallowing a lump in my throat.

“I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

Snow-Kissed Coneflower

Snow-Kissed Coneflower, 2011, Photo: lisa eddy

But there’s another meaning for “interest”: paying attention. Many people, perhaps most, have a very limited, second-hand, experience of winter: checking forecasts, removing snow, monitoring/conserving energy while maintaining comfortable temperatures indoors…

But what if we take interest in winter for itself, not for how it affects our comfort level? What winter wonders are you curious about? What “kind” of winter do you think we’ll see? What thoughts and feelings do you have about the darkness, the cold, the weather, the plants, the animals, the water, the sky? What winter memories appear as snow begins falling? What kind of winter memories would you like to make this year? How might taking an active interest in winter make this winter more interesting for you? How will winter during a pandemic be different from our previous winters?

Outside or Inside

Reflect on, sketch, photograph, and/or write about your winter interests and possibilities for winter outings, where you can get to know this winter first-hand.

Prompt 2: Winter Storm Watch

How many snow storms will we see this winter? How much snow? Which kinds of snow will each storm bring? How long will snowfall last? Which records will be broken? How many unseasonably warm winter days will we see? Just exactly how LOW will the temperature go this winter?

As the second (in my area) snow storm of fall 2020 gets underway, we can think about winter storms and winter weather--and what we might learn from paying attention to them--and to our reactions to them.

Snow-Kissed Artichoke

Snow-Kissed Artichoke, 2020. Photo: lisa eddy

When I was a child, I did not have appropriate winter gear, so many of my memories of “winter fun” are marred by the pain of bone-chilling cold, especially in my feet, but in adulthood, I acquired good winter gear, and I’ve maintained a daily practice of outdoor time ever since. Soon, I, too, would come to believe, along with the Leopold Education Project colleagues who so often repeated the aphorism, “There is no such thing as bad weather--only bad gear.”

I began to tell myself, “If researchers can live in Antarctica, I can manage thirty-to-sixty minutes, minimum, per day, in Michigan winter--especially since there are a lot of mild days now, because of climate change.”

I love to put on the snow shoes and “pluff” my way through the woods and across frozen lakes, carrying a backpack, where I stow the layers I take off, warming as I walk. One would be hard-pressed to convince my childhood self that it’s possible to be walking through the snowy woods in winter in shirt-sleeves, but now I know it’s true.

Of course, another aspect of Michigan winters for many folks is seasonal depression. The cold and dark can seep into our souls, where we experience inner storms. As with the winter weather, we may not be in control of a storm’s arrival, but we can choose how to react. One way I combat my internal winter storms is by keeping my commitment to myself to get outside every day. Even when I don’t want to. Even when I really, really don’t want to.

Science suggests that the Vitamin D, the movement, and the cold exposure will benefit me in the long term, and in the short term, I always feel better after time spent outdoors--why would I deny myself such incredible benefits? I gear up and get outside every day, every day, every day.

Outside or Inside

Reflect on, sketch, photograph, and/or write about Winter Storms, external and/or internal. Perhaps create a place in your notebook to collect data on the storms that come--outdoors, in your psyche, or both--and analyze the data in spring. OR write about the current storm that’s hitting Michigan, or storms of memory, or what steps you might take to weather the winter in a good way--by finding your boots and putting the scraper and salt in the car--or by making a plan of positive actions you can take to weather the inner storms.

Winter is coming...make it a good one!

Firewood

Firewood, 2020. Photo: lisa eddy

Week Thirty-Five

Sights and Sounds

In her essay, “A Sense of Place,” Nina Leopold Bradley writes about the Shack on the Wisconsin river where her family spent weekends and summers: “Through my father, my family, and this experience, I have learned to love this land. This place has taught me how to look and how to live, and so at last, to sing its poetry.”

Prompt 1: Sights

Outside or Inside

“This place has taught me how to look…” Over the course of this year of nature writing prompts, we’ve been looking at land through a number of lenses, expanding what we see and deepening how we experience what we see. Reflect on what you’ve learned, experienced, and thought about looking, seeing, and experiencing the land. How has the landscape “taught [you] how to look?” What are you looking for when you’re looking at land? What do you see? What do you hope to see? What have you learned about looking and seeing from spending time in this place?

Aldo Leopold's Shack, 2015

Aldo Leopold's Shack, 2015. Photo: lisa eddy

Prompt 2: Sounds

Outside or Inside

“This place has taught me how... to sing its poetry.” How might you sing the poetry of your place? Poet, John Lyons, provides a process by which one can learn to follow some general guidelines for writing poetry about place, here. OR consider writing a poem based on ideas that appeared as you wrote about learning how to look for Prompt 1. OR write a poem about other lessons the land has taught you. OR write a poem that allows readers to see and appreciate a particular feature of the landscape that you appreciate, celebrate, remember, or commemorate.

If you struggle to find a form for your poem, consider following the form of another poem or song. Sometimes, even following the simplest form, a nursery rhyme like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” can bring forth a wondrous work. Using the structure, rhythm, and/or rhyme scheme of an existing work can function like the banks of a river that allow the water to flow.

OR perhaps, for you, the poetry of place can best be expressed in prose, like Nina Leopold Bradley’s essay “A Sense of Place,” or her father’s essay collection, A Sand County Almanac.

Additional Resources

Place in contemporary American poetry @ Academy of American Poets

Poetics of Place: Poems That Invoke Culture and Country

A Shifting Sense of Place: Four contemporary poets discuss where their work belongs in the world

Places of Poetry Project

10 Poems About Place

Small body of water

Photo: lisa eddy

Week Thirty-Six

Photo: December Sun 12/11/20 lisa eddy

Star Light; Star Bright

Prompt 1: Star Light

The Christmas Star “This December, Jupiter and Saturn will put on a show for skygazers that hasn't been seen in roughly 800 years. Astronomers are calling it the Great Conjunction of 2020. On December 21 — coincidentally the winter solstice — the two largest planets in our solar system will appear to almost merge in Earth’s night sky.” Watch it live HERE.

Outside or Inside

Observe the stars in the night sky, breathe deeply, and reflect on the stars, memories of time spent “under the stars,” and the thoughts and feelings that are star-stirred. OR let the starlight spark your imagination: try writing a star myth, a star story, or a starry sci-fi story.

Prompt 2: Star Bright

December Solstice “For all of Earth’s creatures, nothing is so fundamental as the length of daylight. After all, the sun is the ultimate source of all light and warmth on Earth. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you can notice the late dawns and early sunsets, and the low arc of the sun across the sky each day. You might notice how low the sun appears in the sky at local noon. And be sure to look at your noontime shadow. Around the time of the December solstice, it’s your longest noontime shadow of the year.

….The exact dates vary, but the sequence is always the same: earliest sunset in early December, shortest day on the solstice around December 22, latest sunrise in early January.

And so the cycle continues.”

Outside or Inside

Consider how you might celebrate the Sun’s return. I have kept a tradition of a sunrise hike with loved ones on the winter solstice for well over a decade now. One year, the snow was so deep, we could barely make it into the woods, but we kept the tradition alive.

Many of us struggle with seasonal depression, and although winter officially begins at solstice, it also announces that the darkest time has passed. I take encouragement from that, AND seek the light and Vitamin D outside every day, for the benefit body and soul.

Reflect on the cycles of light and darkness in your life. What stars have lit the path and enabled you to journey on when you felt afraid or discouraged? How do you find comfort and encouragement in times of darkness? What moment, memory, or loved one shines brightly and gives you hope? What brightens your days? How do you brighten the days of those you love? As the wheel turns and a new season and calendar year begin, how can you “stoke your fire” to provide heat and light to help you survive and thrive this winter? Write your light. Shine bright. Happy Solstice!

Additional Resources 15 Reflective Winter Poems For Cold Nights Video Playlist: Smithsonian Museum Star Stories Relearning The Star Stories Of Indigenous Peoples Sky Stories: Indigenous Astronomy South African Star Myths
About Star Constellations

Solstice Sunrise 2017 Photo by Cale Stoker

Week Thirty-Seven

Solar-Powered

Prompt 1: Sunlight Gave Us Sight

“Not only are all organisms dependent upon the solar-generated food chain, but many of even the most primitive ones are also sensorily attracted to light; vision was one of the very earliest senses to evolve, rapidly becoming vital for animals’ detection of food supplies, avoidance of obstacles and danger, and selection of mates. Complex and very sensitive eyes appeared early, and even among the insects the faculty of sight can be highly developed, while the eagles’ eye is proverbial. Human eyesight is very advanced, being able to distinguish between light of different wavelengths, which we see as colors.” (from The Book of the Sun: A Celebration of Our Nearest Star in Fact, Fable, Magic, and Myth, by Tom Folley and Iain Zaczek)

Outside or Inside

Observe the land while you reflect on the sun’s role in the development of our sense of sight. What thoughts, feelings, memories, stories, and experiences related to sight come to mind? Do you have a special ability to see something in particular in the natural world? For example, I have a couple of friends who have “mushroom vision,” and they can find edible mushrooms over and over, while I am unable to see them until I am told exactly where to look. Annie Dillard discusses this phenomenon in her essay, “Seeing,” from Pilgrim At Tinker Creek. Attention and knowledge play important roles in our ability to see, and we can develop our ability to see something, increasing what we see and how often we see it. Sketch or photograph something you see. Write about sight, in prose or poetry; let your ideas evolve in response to sunlight, like eyes.

Prompt 2: Sun Songs

“Prehistoric carvings and paintings from as long as 15,000 years ago show the sun as central to human life. From simple symbolic circles with emanating rays to complex hunting scenes depicting the sun itself as a celestial predator daily chasing the moon from the sky, every culture has recognized [human] dependence on the sun’s power and has given thanks to solar representations in festivals and ceremonies.” (from The Book of the Sun: A Celebration of Our Nearest Star in Fact, Fable, Magic, and Myth, by Tom Folley and Iain Zaczek)

Outside or Inside

Follow the lead of our ancient ancestors and create a celebration of the sun in writing and image (draw, paint, photograph, collage, sculpt), that expresses gratitude for the sun’s power.

Perhaps you practice a sun ceremony like the ancients did, but maybe you don’t and would like to begin. How might you use common elements of ceremony: light, movement, music, silence, speech, opening/closing, etc, to create a ceremony to celebrate the sun? Just imagine...then write about it. Then maybe...do it!

I welcomed the return of the light in a simple ceremony with 3 friends (at a safe distance) and my dog, Bernie. We hiked into the woods just before sunrise and stopped where we could sit on some boulders (at a safe distance). We lit a candle to symbolize the returning light and listened to David Mosher’s solstice song, “Long Night Moon,” played over a portable speaker. Then I read Daniel Finds A Poem by Micha Archer117 aloud. When I finished the story, my friends clapped and smiled, and I felt the light and warmth of the sun glowing inside me. Then we hiked out of the woods, thanked each other for gathering to greet the sun and celebrate the light, and said we’d do it again next year.

Solstice Celebration Dog Photo by lisa eddy

Week Thirty-Eight

Something to Crow About

Although I am mostly a failed birdwatcher, due to cervical spine damage that prevents me from looking up for any length of time, I do recognize and enjoy watching the many birds that can be viewed without injuring myself. One bird that I frequently see is the venerable Crow. If one is not a bird watcher, knowing a little something about Crow may kindle one's interest.

In Walden West, August Derleth turns his attention to Crow. He writes:

If there is one winter voice informed with wildness, it is the crow’s. Temperature is a matter of moment to him; he sends his challenge over the landscape whenever and wherever he pleases, but in winter he is more in evidence than in other seasons, not alone because his is one of the few voices to be heard in and about Sac Prairie, but because he extends his range in the season of snow and ice, deserting the hills and marshes adjacent to the Wisconsin to fly out over the prairie and the fields beyond, passing over in the company of his fellows, and returning before dark to his roost, secure and his mastery of the heavens.

Being the epitome of wildness, he is canny as well as arrogant, and in every attribute he has, his essential independence of man stands out. Whereas sparrows, robins, starlings, even nighthawks, and a host of lesser birds do not trouble themselves about and often elect the company of mankind, the crow shuns it, mocks it, derides and keeps his distance from even a lone walker in the woods at any season. But winter is peculiarly the crow’s season; however more difficult maybe his foraging, he seems in this season to come into his own, hurling his challenges from every corner of the grey winter sky, constantly about in all manner of weather.

... in the sound of his caw is the proof of his wildness. Here clearly is the voice of one who has resisted all the blandishments of civilization, who has defied the best efforts of man to tame or slay him. It is curious to reflect that the crow’s voice should comfort a man in his solitude, however much the crow’s rascality be known; yet it is so. It is as if this proof of the essential wildness of this black scavenger were an immutable assurance of the persistence of the wilderness, of the continuity of life itself, for there is never any dearth of Crows – they survive every season, they escape the most dedicated hunter, they return as inevitably as the seasons themselves (185 - 186).

In Animal Energy, Gary Buffalo Horn Man and Sherry Firedancer describe Crow this way:

The common American Crow is a vocal, sly bird which feeds on corn, sorghum, peas, insects, and carrion. They, like their close relatives the Jays, will raid human camps for food…... Methods of catching and killing crows are effective only for a short while because they watch each other and learn quickly. Among their many clever deceptions, they build false nests in trees to confuse predators.

Crow brings to us the gift of the council. Crows frequently travel in groups and will make mischief in teams. They can be seen perching together or in neighboring trees and calling back and forth. They seem to be deciding on a course of action and who will do what. One of the Crows will then explore something new while the others watch closely to see what happens and to learn from it.

Prompt 1: Winter Birding

Outside or Inside

Observe one or more birds. What do you notice? How would you describe their shape, size, flying, landing, perching, walking, hopping, eating, communicating, cooperating? If you can hear them, what sounds do they make? What is it about the bird(s) you observe that convey “wildness” to you? Is there anything about the bird(s) that evokes admiration in you? Write, sketch, and/or photograph the birds, nests, and/or other bird signs you observe.

Prompt 2: Metaphorical Crow

Crows and other birds are frequent flyers in myth, as seen in the depictions of bird deities in a few card packs:

Bird deities, picture one

Bird deities, picture two

Bird deities, picture three

Bird deities in car packs.

In The Complete Dictionary of Symbols, Jack Tresidder describes Crow symbolism this way:

*The American species, which is gregarious and feeds mainly on grain and insects, has strikingly different symbolism - positive, even heroic, as in Tlingit myths where the crow appears as a solar, creative and civilizing bird, and in Navajo legends where it is the black god, keeper of all game animals…...

More widely, the crow appears as a guide or prophetic voice...in Greece, where it was sacred to the god Apollo and the goddess Athena, and in Rome, where its croak was said to sound like the Latin “crass” (tomorrow), linking it with hope* (128).

Outside or Inside

Consider the coming year, and write about how you might tap into your inner Crow energies to walk with curiosity, creativity, hope—and the counsel of good companions into the next year and beyond.

Birding Resources

MI Bird Checklist

Bird Guide from Cornell Ornithology Lab

Identify Birds by Songs & Calls from Audubon Society

Washtenaw County Audubon Society

MI Audubon Bird Sanctuaries

Week Thirty-Nine

Hayes State Park by lisa eddy

Photo: Hayes State Park by lisa eddy

Prompt 1: Trees in Winter

The image of the wintering tree as a symbol of death and emptiness must itself die, for in reality, winter trees already contain the coming year’s leaves and flowers, continually respond to light and temperature in the environment, and in their silhouettes, graphically represent the reaching out of life to absorb energy from the sun. -Donald Stokes, Nature in Winter (76).

Outside or Inside

Explore the landscape to determine how many types of trees are present. Which are deciduous? Which are conifers? What can you notice about each tree’s branching pattern, bark, roots, leaves/needles, twigs, buds? What roles does each tree seem to play in its community? Sketch or photograph and write about the trees you see.

Prompt 2: Winter Weeds

In Nature in Winter, Donald Stokes writes:

Although most weeds in winter appear dried and lifeless, this is far from the case. Some are, indeed, completely dead except for the seeds at the tips of their stalks (e.g. Wild Lettuce, Peppergrass); but others are still alive, either within the ground as strong roots (e.g. Dock, Cattail) or above as living deciduous stalks (e.g. Spirea).

To get the most from hunting and observing winter weeds, you need to be aware of all their points of interest, including their life patterns, their use by animals, their adaptations for survival, their method of seed dispersal, and of course the beauty of their colors and forms… Weeds can be found in any open space, from city lots to roadsides to wild meadows. In fact, this is one aspect of nature that may be actually more diverse in the city than the country (4).

Outside

Explore the landscape for weeds (“plants growing where they are not wanted”). What do you notice? What do you find interesting? What sparks your curiosity? Can you tell what role the weed plays in the area regarding other plants, animals, or people? Sketch or photograph one or more winter weeds in the area and write about it: where did you find it? Alone or in a patch? Among which other plants? In a wooded or open area? Can you tell how it may be used by animals? What else can you glean about it through observation? Then, reflect: how has focusing your attention on one or more “weeds” affected the way you see and think about it?

Inside

If you can’t observe weeds in the wild, perhaps you will recognize one or more Common Garden Weeds on the Farmer’s Almanac site. If you have encountered one or more of these weeds before, write about it. OR use words and phrases about one or more common weeds to create a found poem. OR let the information about one or more weeds spark an imaginative first-person narrative from a weed’s POV. Let your ideas sprout like weeds.

Winter World Resources

Week Forty

Feelings and Facts

Prompt 1: Interested In Intimacy?

In Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival, Bernd Heinrich writes about a common misperception about science:

I once read somewhere that the findings of biology put a “barrier between humanity and nature.” Perhaps the author felt, like many of us do, that science implies detachment. It does to me, but only as a filter that sifts out the splendid nuggets from chaos and those that are revealed from those that are merely imagined. Far from being a distancing, the science of biology is the opposite. It comes from an intense desire to get to know something intimately: you can hope to get closeness with the real thing, unless you know its contours (vi).

Outside or Inside

As we begin a new year, how might you get to know something in the landscape intimately, how might you get close to it and know its contours? A plant, an animal, a body of water, the soil on your site….Write about one feature of the landscape that you would like to get to know intimately this year. What is it about this plant, animal, or other feature that makes you curious about it? How might you “sift splendid nuggets from chaos” and replace the “merely imagined” with the real and “revealed?” How might you come to know “its contours?” What avenues of learning might you pursue in addition to observation? How might sketching and/or photos help you learn? What other resources might help you learn more about your subject?

Prompt 2: Fun With Facts

In Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival, Bernd Heinrich writes:

I also read somewhere that Thoreau “stopped being a thinker” when he became a naturalist. I think that’s getting it the wrong way round. You need facts to think with, and thinking about nature without facts to think with, and thinking about nature without facts is, really, feeling. Fiction is fiction, no matter how real one tries to make it seem (vi).

Outside or Inside

Gather some facts about a subject in the natural world that interests you and head out to or look out upon the landscape. Maybe the facts are in a book; maybe they’re online; maybe they’re in a film, show, or song; maybe they come from a conversation with a knowledgeable person; maybe they come from a field museum or park information board....

Once you have found some interesting facts, put them to use by thinking with them as you explore the landscape. For instance, I learned that certain migrating birds eat particular winter berries, so that, if I find the berries, I might have found the birds, or, as with what happened to Heinrich, finding a flock of feeding birds alerted him to the presence of the berry bush patch. The fact about the birds and berries will help me think about which birds I might be likely to find--and even when, because some berries are eaten by fall migrating birds, while others are eaten in late winter or early spring.

Write down the facts you learn, and then write the thoughts they enable you to think about the living world. Write, sketch, and/or photograph the discoveries you make while thinking with facts.

Winter scene by lisa eddy

Photo by lisa eddy

Week Forty-One

Bud Buddies & Bucket List

Bud Buddies by lisa eddy

Photo by lisa eddy

Prompt 1: Bud Buddies

In Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival, Bernd Heinrich writes, [Tree] bud opening is a wonder but can easily be taken for granted. I like to be reminded of the spring miracle, especially in the depths of winter, when the vibrantly alive trees look so dead. Every year in January, February, and March I go into the woods, pick some twigs of trees and shrubs, then bring them home and stick them in a jar of water. Indoors, some buds can be coaxed (or “forced”, according to botanical usage) to open at least three months ahead of their normal outdoor schedule. Twigs of trembling aspen, willow, beaked hazel, speckled alder, and red maple, picked as early in January and brought inside, will flower and then shed their pollen...In contrast, most leaf buds, as well as the flower buds of late-blooming trees such as basswood, don’t respond to the warmth of my office until March.

Outside

Explore the budscape of your site. How many kinds of tree buds can you locate? What can you notice about the buds? Closely observe at least two different kinds of buds, sketch or photograph them, and write a thorough and precise description of what you see. Perhaps you will try Heinrich’s experiment and take some twigs indoors, where you can watch and record what happens. Now switch gears: What would you like to see blossom in your life this year? What “buds” will you coax open in 2021? Think and write.

Inside

Perhaps you can observe buds from your window and write about them using the outdoor prompt, and/or have some twigs brought inside so that you can learn about buds indoors as in the outdoor prompt. If not, you can learn a great deal about our bud buddies in this Winter Tree Identification Guide; this Bud Slide Show, or this informative song about the many wonders of trees--made with only trees! Now switch gears: What would you like to see blossom in your life this year? What “buds” will you coax open in 2021? Think and write.

Prompt 2: Bucket List

Poster by lisa eddy

Photo by lisa eddy

I’ve had the poster (above ) so long that I don’t remember where it came from. I think it came from a book, because it was folded, but I laminated it and used it for years in teaching a high school Mythology class. It’s a Celtic wheel of the year. I post it here to show the Celtic holidays: Imbolg, Equinox, Beltane, Solstice, Lughnasad, Mabon, Samhain, Yule.

The Celtic Wheel reminds us of many of the natural wonders that unfold as the wheel turns. As we look into the new year, which natural wonders are on your bucket list? Have you been meaning to see the migrating cranes, grow some food, replace some lawn with native plants? Is there a river you’ve been meaning to float, a forest you’ve been meaning to visit, a prairie, fen, bog, or waterfall you’d like to explore?

Poster by lisa eddy

Photo by lisa eddy

Outside or Inside

How many Michigan State Parks have you visited? As you look forward into 2021, think about your Naturalist Bucket List. What’s on it? OR What will you put on it? How could you celebrate life and land as you circle the sun in 2021? What new land-based knowledge, skills, and experiences would enrich your life? As we go into the second year of a global pandemic, it’s important for individuals and Public Health that we find safe ways to exercise and socialize. Draw and/or write some possibilities of land-based experiences you’d like to schedule at each point along the way: February 1, March 20, May 1, June 20, August 1, September 22, October 31, December 21.

Along with your 2021 outdoor adventures, consider adding some Outdoor Adventure Books to your To-Be-Read List.

Week Forty-Two

Strong and Soft

Nature is a wise and wonderful teacher. Like many wise and wonderful teachers, nature knows how to be both strong and soft.

Prompt 1: Signs of Strength

Outside or Inside

Explore and examine the landscape to find signs of strength. Whether big, small, plant, animal, mineral, water, or weather—draw/photograph and write about something STRONG. What gives it strength? What kind of strength does it have? How does its strength benefit itself and the other members of the community? Even though it’s something you see as strong, how might it also be weak or vulnerable?

Now, if you like, switch gears and reflect on a person you see as strong; maybe that person is you. What gives this person strength? What kind of strength does this person have? How does their strength benefit themselves and the other members of the community? Even though they’re someone you see as strong, how might they also be weak or vulnerable?

Now, if you’d like to go a step further, try using the traits of the strong thing you observed in nature to describe the strong person in an extended metaphor, prose or poetry.

Milkweed Pod by lisa eddy

"Milkweed Pod" by lisa eddy

Prompt 2: The Soft Side

Nature has a softer side as well.

Outside or Inside

Explore and examine the landscape to find nature’s softer side. Whether big, small, plant, animal, mineral, water, or weather--draw/photograph and write about something SOFT. What makes it soft? What kind of softness does it have? How does its softness benefit itself and the other members of the community? Even though it’s something you see as soft, how might it also be strong?

Now, if you like, switch gears and reflect on a person you see as soft; maybe that person is you. What gives this person softness? What kind of softness does this person have? How does their softness benefit themselves and the other members of the community? Even though they’re someone you see as soft, how might they also be strong?

Now, if you’d like to go a step further, try using the traits of the soft thing you observed in nature to describe the soft person in an extended metaphor, prose or poetry.

Seed Fluffby by lisa eddy

"Seed Fluffby" by lisa eddy

January Purple Surprise by lisa eddy

"January Purple Surprise" by lisa eddy

Moss by lisa eddy

"Moss" by lisa eddy

Week Forty-Three

Imbolc/Groundhog Day

Prompt 1: Imbolc—Happy Spring!

The ancient Celts marked the first stirrings of spring with a holiday called Imbolc.

*“The hardest part of the year was over; adverse weather, cold temperatures, food rationing...would soon be a thing of the past. Farmers were getting ready to go back to work, preparing animals for breeding...life that had been put on hold for winter [was] beginning again."

Given the importance of agriculture and sunlight to ancient cultures, it's not a surprise that Imbolc dates back to Neolithic times.* (from Big Think)

A goddess associated with the holiday is Brigid, a goddess of water, wells, inspiration, and poetry.

Outside or Inside:

Celebrate early spring by noticing, sketching/photographing, and writing about aspects of the land that remind you of: something hard that you’ve endured that is over now, how you’re preparing for spring, a part of life that is on hold, a part of life that is beginning again, sunlight, water sources, or what inspires you.

The ancients lit fires and candles as a way to celebrate and express gratitude for Sun’s power. Perhaps you might wax poetic about the power of the Sun and your hopes for spring.

Sunrise by lisa eddy

Prompt 2: Groundhog Day

The Old Farmer’s Almanac explains: Groundhog Day is celebrated on Tuesday, February 2 every year. This curious holiday comes from our agricultural past and marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox….What most don’t realize is that Groundhog Day is actually rooted in astronomy—and the movement of the Earth around the Sun

*In the Northern Hemisphere, this date traditionally marks the midpoint between the winter solstice in December and the spring equinox in March.

...How does the groundhog fit into this ancient festival? Historically, a groundhog wasn’t the animal of choice: a bear brought the forecast to the people of France and England, while those in Germany looked to a badger for a sign.

In the 1800s, German immigrants to Pennsylvania brought their Candlemas legends with them. Finding no badgers but lots of groundhogs (also called woodchucks or whistlepigs), they adapted the New World species to fit the lore.*

Outside or Inside

What animal or plant is your “personal groundhog?” Sketch/photograph and write about the signs of early spring that you notice and/or that hold meaning for you. Describe what you notice and explain how this plant, animal, or happening signals spring for you.

Groundhog day is a day for making predictions. You might also try your hand at making some predictions about spring: when will you see the first Crocus? When will Trillium bloom? When will you see the first Robin? Hear the first Spring Peeper? Make some predictions, and then make phenology notes about these and other signs of spring.

First Dandelion 1/13/21 by lisa eddy

Week Forty-Four

Celebrating & Appreciating

Prompt 1: Celebrate Life!

Drew Lanham, 2015, by lisa eddy

Drew Lanham was a recent guest on the podcast, OnBeing with Krista Tippett, where he is introduced as “an Alumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology, Master Teacher, and Certified Wildlife Biologist at Clemson University. He's the author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature and a forthcoming collection of poetry and meditations, Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts.”

In his conversation with Tippett, he says, “In that moment of that little brown bird that’s always so inquisitive, that sings reliably — in that moment that I’m thinking about that wren, I’m not thinking about anything else. That’s joy. And so sometimes I think we have to recognize the joy that the world didn’t give us and that the world can’t take away, in the midst of the world taking away what it can.”

I had the great pleasure of hearing Drew speak and accurately imitate a number of bird calls in 2015, at the Leopold Center’s Building a Land Ethic conference in 2015.

This week I’m celebrating my birthday, celebrating life, embracing moments of joy. I invite you to the celebration.

In honor of Black History Month, I also want to encourage you to read Drew’s essay, “Birding While Black.”

Outside or Inside

Explore the natural landscape for something that brings you joy. Draw or photograph this bringer of joy. Celebrate a moment of joy “that the world can’t take away” by writing about an aspect of the living world that brings you JOY, in poetry or prose. Have fun! Celebrate life!

Prompt 2: Don’t Hesitate, Appreciate!

Estella Leopold (Aldo’s youngest child), 2015, by lisa eddy

“Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins as in art with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language. The quality of cranes lies, I think, in this higher gamut, as yet beyond the reach of words.” Aldo Leopold, Marshland Elegy, A Sand County Almanac

Baraboo, WI sunset, 2015 by lisa eddy

Outside or Inside

Explore the natural landscape for something pretty. Draw or photograph this beauty. Write an appreciation in prose or poetry.

Whooping Crane carrying turtle, International Crane Foundation, 2015, by lisa eddy

Week Forty-Five

Breathe and Balance

Prompt 1: Breathe

The solid Earth breathes as volcanoes ''exhale'' gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) -- which are essential in regulating global climate -- while carbon ultimately from CO2 returns into the deep Earth when oceanic tectonic plates are forced to descend into the mantle at subduction zones. (researchers Brian M. House and colleagues, “The Solid Earth Breathes”)

See video of Earth breathing here.

Outside or Inside

Find a comfortable place to sit or stand. Then breathe. As you breathe in and out, survey the landscape and consider the relationship between the breath that keeps you alive and the land where you live. Consider the air quality in the area: what factors harm and/or improve air quality in the area? What creates a place where earth can breathe easy? What creates air that chokes out life? The COVID pandemic has made us all more aware of air quality as we try to prevent and contain infection from an airborne virus, but every living being requires good air quality. Explore, through writing, sketching, and/or photographing, your thoughts, feelings, ideas, and concerns for living, breathing, planet earth.

Safe-Distance Birthday Hike, 2021. Photo by Ashleh Worden

Safe-Distance Birthday Hike, 2021. Photo: by Ashleh Worden

Prompt 2: Balance

Moss by lisa eddy

Photo by lisa eddy

To keep our balance, physically and emotionally, we need to move, and get outside. “Getting outside and spending time in nature can have a powerful effect on our emotions. Studies show that spending just 10 minutes a day in natural surroundings can reduce stress and improve feelings of happiness” (Selene Nelson, “8 Ways To Help Maintain Emotional Balance”).

What factors have been a challenge to your life’s balance? What are some stressors that threaten to or already do make you feel off-balance? Write about them for a few minutes, then head outside.

Outside

Get outside and MOVE. Walk, run, climb, skip, roll, hop, squat...just move. As you move for at least 10 minutes, try to move in as many different ways as you can, to stimulate all the muscles in your body. Work up to a brisk pace, raise your heart rate, work up a sweat for a few minutes. Give yourself a good workout!

When you’re done, return to your notebook and write about how getting outdoors and moving feels, and how it affects your emotions. Do you feel more balanced? Write about how you can maintain emotional balance through outdoor exercise and other experiences.

Inside

What factors have been a challenge to your life’s balance? What are some stressors that threaten to or already do make you feel off-balance? Write about them for a few minutes, then find a place where you can see outdoors and sit or stand comfortably. As you look outside, take deep breaths and start to move. Stretch your arms and legs, walk in place, try different kinds of movement. Imagine moving through the landscape as your eyes survey the landscape; imagine walking, crawling, leaping, flying. From your place at the window, allow yourself to explore the landscape and move your body for at least 10 minutes.

OR if you like, “visit” someplace new with a video: “Virtual Hike Near River through the Forest,” “Forest Bird Song,” “Snowy Forest Hike,” “Snowy River Hike,” or “Waterfall Hike.” Move and breathe as you watch.

When you’re done moving, return to your notebook and write about how getting outdoors and moving feels, and how it affects your emotions. Do you feel more balanced? Write about how you can maintain emotional balance through outdoor exercise and other experiences.

Week Forty-Six

What’s New? Read the Clues

Prompt 1: What’s New?

Sandhill cranes by lisa eddy

It’s March! Action on the landscape will be speeding up for the next few months, so there will be lots of new developments to notice.

Outside or Inside

Explore the landscape to notice something new: plants or animals appear, a long-dead snag has fallen, new nests, tracks, or scat appear in the landscape, the ice melts from a body of water… Focus your attention on the new development and use your senses and imagination to sketch/photograph and write as much of the story of the new development as you can.

Prompt 2: Read the Clues

Photo by lisa eddy

Outside

Wander the landscape until you find evidence that something has happened to a plant, animal, body of water, tree, area, etc. When you find a situation that interests you, try to write the tale of what happened to create the current state of affairs. Try to tell the who, what, where, when, and why--through through sketching, photographs, and/or writing.

Inside

Look at the photographs in this SLIDE SHOW. When you find one that interests you, read the clues to tell the tale of what happened to create the current state of affairs. Try to tell the who, what, where, when, and why through sketching and/or writing.

Week Forty-Seven

Daylight Saving Time and Spring Equinox

Prompt 1: Daylight Saving Time

Daylight saving time was first proposed in 1895 by George Vernon Hudson, a New Zealand postal worker and amateur entomologist. Hudson suggested moving clocks ahead in spring, so the sun would rise later in the day and shine longer into the evening during the warmer months...which in his case meant he'd have more time to hunt insects after work. (from “How a New Zealand insect hunter created daylight saving time”)

While the forecast calls for snow and/or freezing rain tonight, winter has lost its grip on the land. Both the calendar and the wildlife tell us that spring is underway. George Vernon Hudson wanted more daylight to spend with the insects. What about you? What aspects of the natural world do you long to spend more time with?

Outside or Inside

Write, sketch and/or photograph the land, water, sky, plants, animals, or other aspects of the natural world that you would lengthen the hours of daylight to increase the time you have each day to enjoy them. What is it about this/these natural phenomena that you just can’t get enough of? What role do they play in the natural world? What role do they play in your life?

First Insect Landing on My Notebook

Photo of First Insect Landing on My Notebook 2/24/2021 by lisa eddy

Prompt 2: Spring Equinox

The Arrival of Redwing Blackbirds by lisa eddy

For several years, I kept a tradition of reading Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintance. (I also used to ride a motorcycle). One of my favorite scenes from the book is when the narrator notices and points out a Redwing Blackbird to his eleven-year-old son:

Tensions disappear along old roads like this. We bump along the beat-up concrete between the cattails and stretches of meadow and then more cattails and marsh grass. Here and there is a stretch of open water and if you look closely you can see wild ducks at the edge of the cattails. And turtles. -- There's a red-winged blackbird.

….He grabs the back of my helmet and hollers up, "I've seen lots of those, Dad!'' "Oh!'' I holler back. Then I nod. At age eleven you don't get very impressed with red-winged blackbirds.

I was driving home on March 5th when an unmistakable sign of spring caught my eye. The cornfields on both sides of the road were FULL of redwing blackbirds. I immediately stopped the car and rolled down my windows to listen to their ruckus. After a few moments, I resumed my journey, and as I slowly drove between the two fields, hundreds of blackbirds took to the sky, filling the area just above my windshield. Even more than robins, the song of the Redwing is a sign of spring for me. I will celebrate the arrival of Spring by greeting the dawn from a high hill with a few friends (at a safe distance), and then we’ll hike and look for the signs of the season.

Outside or Inside

Write, sketch and/or photograph your celebration of the arrival of Spring. What plants, animals, and seasonal changes do you celebrate? What aspects of the natural world bring you joy? Celebrate the season in words and images. Happy Spring!

Week Forty-Eight

Prompt 1: World Water Day, 22 March

“Among our Potawatomi people, women are the Keepers of Water. We carry the sacred water to ceremonies and act on its behalf...‘Women have a natural bond with water, because we are both life bearers,’ my sister said. ‘We carry our babies in internal ponds and they come forth into the world on a wave of water. It is our responsibility to safeguard the water for all our relations.’” --Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

When I began to learn about water from Indigenous elders, I began to refer to it as “water of life.” I found that repeating this phrase like a mantra helps me remember to not only be thankful for water, but to care for water in the choices I make in water usage and cleaning products. I always remember what my Kellogg Community College Environmental Science teacher said: “Short-term solutions cause long-term problems.” The story of water can show us the wisdom of his words.

Outside or Inside

Survey the landscape for sources of water, whether natural, such as clouds and rivers, or manmade, such as a faucet, fountain, drainage ditch, or water tower. In words and images (sketch/photo), explore the sources of water for the local landscape and reflect on the ways that water gives life and our “responsibility to safeguard the water for all our relations.”

River Raisin by lisa eddy

Prompt 2: Spring Again

If you’ve been following along with our weekly writing invitations since the beginning, you know that this week marks our FIRST ANNIVERSARY!

Happy Anniversary! We have been exploring the landscape and writing our worlds together for one year.

As we welcome Spring once again, it’s an excellent time to look back on the past year of exploring the land and our relationship to it, reflect on what we’ve learned,--and to spring forth into new ways of seeing, knowing, and relating to the natural world.

Outside or Inside

What did you learn about land over the past year? What did you learn about yourself? What new habits of mind have you developed? What concerns you? What brought you joy? Write about it.

Now what? What are some goals you have regarding your relationship with the natural world? Perhaps you start a garden, plan celebrations for the solstices and equinoxes, learn to identify birds, explore new landscapes, join a group of people who care for land, or send financial support to keepers of land or water or those who work on legislation to protect, preserve, and/or restore land. Write about your ideas for the future that are beginning to sprout.

Photo of lisa eddy by Cale Stoker