Nature IS Important to our Children

Children and nature, it is two words that go together. Yet, when we look at our communities today, we are seeing little of the two interacting together. But I believe that is changing, as people are learning and understanding the importance of nature for our children.

You may think that it is all just play and the children are not learning anything by just playing, but on the contrary, that is exactly what they are doing. And when you allow children to play out in nature, the learning is intensified.

A child playing in nature gives them a sense of place, an attachment to the place in which they grow up and play in. As they grow older, they take ownership of the place and want to protect it.

The build a sense of self, through playing, balancing on logs, navigating through a bush etc. They recognize their independence as they learn new skills out in nature.  It also restores their well-being, reduces stress and benefits them physically and mentally. Through activities and play, nature offers possibilities to control and master, to manipulate loose parts in nature and learn different ways of moving and risk taking.  The outdoors stimulates creativity, imagination and symbolic play.

In our schools we hear of many children diagnosed with ADD/ADHD and anxiety. When you offer opportunities for these children to spend time out in nature, the disorders dissipate and you see a child focused, relaxed and interacting with others.

We want our children to succeed, we see it in how we make sure they are ahead academically, the sports we put them into and the activities we expose them to. .  Nature teaches them all of that, teaches them to get back up when they fall, to renegotiate the obstacles on the path (or off it), to learn the changes in the seasons, what animals do to adapt, the power in nature, the beauty and the ancient laws. Awareness of surroundings is amplified and how things are inter related are experienced first hand. 

In the end a resilient child is raised into an unknown future. Nature offers an environment that allows questioning and observing. Uncertainty is built through the questioning process and this is where our children build confidence in themselves and decisions they make. To learn through play and manipulation and find answers to those questions. It is through play and testing that creativity is encouraged to come up with ideas, concepts and innovation.  A child is now armed with innovation, creativity, and calmness, confidence, active, social, and empathetic member of our community. Everything needed to be “successful”.

Coming in 2013, we have Young Explorers program for 3-5 year olds, After School Program for 5-9 year olds, and  Chicks in the Sticks, a girls outdoor club for 9-14 year olds.  For more information, visit http://www.naturesbackpack.ca.

Be Still

It had been awhile since I had the chance to go to my sit spot. My spot out in nature where I reflect use my senses and explore nature. Today, I decided, after my amazing weekend with Jon Young, I needed to anchor myself and just be with nature. 

As I walk towards my spot, the cornfields have been harvested and look at all the remaining cobs on the ground that the animals had eaten. I was looking for tracks, but they were mostly washed away from the morning rain. 

I decided to turn off my brain, I usually bring my phone with me, but this time I made sure it stayed home. I didn't want any distractions. I followed that inner voice as to where I should sit, and I was drawn to the other side of the 200 paces circle I usually sit at. I passed the big walnut tree and then past the tall towering spruce tree to a pair of smaller spruce trees with a fallen tree beside it with raspberry canes growing over it and some bushes. I will have to find out what kind of bush it is. 

As I walk closer I startle a flock of morning doves. There were about 20 of them that shot up into the trees from the ground and near by trees. My presence is announced and so I settle in with my back on the spruce tree and I sit and wait for the forest to calm back to its original peace. 

I watch the morning doves, working to move my body in a comfortable position so I can stay still and stay warm at the same time. I should have brought full mitts, so I squeeze my fingers between my legs to keep warm. I start my sense meditation and in the crisp cool air, I hear the little coos of the doves as they flutter from branch to branch and hear a "chew-teepee" call of a bird beside me that I can't find. Using just my eyes to search where the call is coming from, I can't quite find it. Then blue jays fill the air with a "jay, jay" call. I am feeling there is so much action going on I can't decide whom to watch: the doves, the jays, find out who is making that noise? So I calm again, and unfocused my eyes so that I can see all around me, in my peripheral and listen with my ears to the sounds around me and just take it all in. To stop thinking of what I am seeing and just absorb. 

In the corner of my eye I see movement up a tree and follow that movement to a gray squirrel following a black one. It is like they are playing follow the leader with the gray one always following. Then another black one cuts in-between them and now it is three of them following the leader. This new squirrel jumps to another tree with the second black one about to follow when you can see he rethinks that jump. Second black squirrel takes a different route and follows. The gray squirrel patiently waits for them to come back down. 

All the while, I am noticing the morning doves are a little edgy. Some of them on the outskirts of the forest fly further in to the forest. I wait to see why, but nothing is revealed. I lose track of the squirrels and just settle in and turn my head to look into the bushes. I hear a dove moving to the North of me and turn my head. There, 5 feet from me, my eyes meet with a beautiful morning dove. We look at each other, and then she is off. It was too close for her comfort. 

Then, I hear a little russelling and notice one of the black squirrels had made its way over to where I was sitting and it was looking for nuts/seeds. I remain as still as possible. Not moving even though my nose started to itch. (Doesn’t that always happen)? It comes closer and closer to me until it is about 5 feet away from me when it stops dead in its tracks. Eyes big looking at me. I am out of place. It knew that I was not supposed to be there and it jumps back. But it is very curious and comes back towards me again. All I was thinking was, this is very cool if it will come right up to me and think of me as part of the tree. And then thought, hope it doesn't bite me. LOL

So it starts to flick its tail and make a small quiet chip sound as it inspects me. I remain still, not moving anything but my eyes. Does it notice my eyes? It slowly makes its way to the spruce tree beside me and gets to a higher advantage point where it started to make grunting and kissing noises at me. I can no longer see it in my peripheral so I switch to using my ears. I am picturing it sitting on the trunk of the tree looking at me, flicking it tails making those noises. In the corner of my other eye, I see another squirrel that has come to it's friend's aid to keep an eye on me and is 20 feet in another tree looking at me and flicking its tail. This goes on for 15 minutes. The black squirrel, I have now named George for his curiosity, had climbed up the spruce tree I am leaning against and is above my head. I see the hanging branch above me move and I think... oh my... it is going to climb on my head. But it doesn't. 

Instead the forest bursts in action as almost 50 morning doves all take flight at once and fly to the other side of the forest. The burst of energy makes me want to fly, but I remain motionless to see what caused it. The squirrel gets bored of me and heads off on his regular routine and that is when I see the cause of the alarm.... a large bird flies in front of me, about 20 feet onto a lower branch. It is about the size of a crow, maybe a bit bigger. I don't have my glasses on so can't make out details. So you are the one who sent off the alarm with the morning doves... so what are you? What kind of raptor are you? You have a white breast with black speckles... can't really make out a band, but that really doesn't mean anything. Your hooked beak and majestic stance on the branch as you look away doesn't really give too much away. Then it looks to the East and takes off and I see a bright red tail! Whoooo, my friend has returned! Buteo is back! 

The forest returns to a quiet calm and I decide it is time I head back home. Thankful for all I had experienced today and the gift of all the encounters. 

Until next time, I hope to connect with George again and see Buteo again. 

Taking the Sense Meditation to a New Level

Tonight my daughter wanted to join me in my sense meditation. What is a sense meditation you ask? Well it is where you focus on each of your senses one by one adding them to the next. 

First you start with your sight, since it is the most dominant one we use. Focusing on a spot in front of you and slowly bring your awareness to above, below, to the left and to the right, without moving your eyes. Using your peripheral vision. Then you use your hearing, listening all around you to all the sounds you hear. Then you pair it up to your sight awareness. 

Once you feel comfortable with that, you add your sense of touch, feeling the wind, the bugs that land on you, where the wind is coming, or the sun hitting your skin. Adding that to the other senses until you feel comfortable. 

The last sense is the sense of smell, breathing in deeply and noticing what you are smelling, the trees, the car that passes by, the dirt etc. As you are aware of the different smells, you add it to the rest. With all your senses on fire, you open up and use all of them together for as long as you want. 

With my daughter, it wasn't very long, but she did the sense meditation for about 10 minutes. Pretty good for a child. Then she wanted to play in the cornfields. So we ran walked out of our spot into the cornfields and started making our way home. 

I asked her questions like what she is hearing, how she would know the way home. Since it was getting dark, what markers would she use to tell her which way was home. And to my proud mommy moment, she answered "the street lights and the trees.... and the sun going down" Such a smart girl. 

As we came out of the second last field of corn, my daughter lets out a blood-curdling scream that she cut her leg... then that something was in her pants!!! WHAT!!!.... She yells, "It's a FROG!!!!! AAAAAA it is scratching me and biting me! It running up and down my leg! Get my pants off!!!!"

Now I am freaking out as I am feeding off her terror and as I am trying frantically to pull her pants off, this THING, whatever it was, was running up and down her leg. I am now assuming it was a mouse. 

As we got out of the long grass and onto the edge of the cornfield, and safe from the running up and down animal in her pants, we both started to laugh. "Well that was terrifying!" my daughter says to me. And I reply "That brings the whole sense mediation to a whole new level! Manifesting the sense of touch..." 

We are laughing now about it. Luckily, it hasn't deterred her and she asked to do it again tomorrow... minus the mouse in the pant leg.

Sustainable Farming? What is that?

This past weekend, we visited the Boar and Chick farm in Troy Ontario. Mark and Tania Veenstra are down to earth, caring people that open their doors to anyone who wishes to visit their farm. They even have people passing by stop to sit on their front lawn and destress.

Our visit to the farm was a great way to learn about sustainable farming. Mark and Tania have various animals on the farm, sheep, brkshire boar, chickens, dexter cows, long horn cattle and horses. There were many piglets running around and Tania introduced us to many of the resident boars by name. The sows had given birth and raised piglets and many were resting in between the pregnancy or they were pregnant ready for the spring births. To ensure health and longevity of the sows, they are given a rest period to recovery. Something that in larger establishments they do not practice.

You can tell the animals are well cared for, they have large pastures to roam in, lots of areas to root around, play in the mud and run.

A great farm to visit with your family and learn where our food comes from. To appreciate what goes into raising healthy animals for our table and that it is possible.

We finished our tour with some horse rides. I was volunteered to be the first one. I love horseback riding.

If you would like to contact Mark or Tania, visit their website at www.theboarandchick.com

Oh, and their rooster and two sows, are famous models for Chatelaine. They were not available for autographs though. :)

Enjoy the video of our visit.

THE Question...

I have just been shocked at the record high at teen suicides.  I can't help but ask myself how self worth,  information and proliferation are so unbalanced due to the digital age. How are you, or better yet, what are your views as a parent on mentoring on moderation and self worth?

The found art of barefoot tree climbing

It all started out as a need (on my part) to go for a hike and do some shooting... not bow and arrow kind of shooting, but with my camera. So I invited a few friends to come with me.

With camera and friends in tow, we started off a trail, just off a side road, part of the Bruce Trail. We look around in amazement at the tree formations. One I name the "pom-pom tree".

As we got further into the forest, I was drawn to take my shoes off and walk off the trail towards a fallen tree. As my friends looked at me with a "oh what is Rhonda doing now" kind of look, they too soon followed me in balancing on the fallen log.  They, however, kept their shoes on. :)

I turned around and found a fallen tree balanced on another. A perfect scaling tree. As I started to scale up it... in my barefeet... I soon came to the realization that if I fell, it would hurt. Nothing inspired concentration, focus and spider like senses than the realization of your own mortality.

I got up to the top and then slide off the tree (on purpose) and down to the ground. Then it was my friend's turn. And guess what, this time they did it barefoot. A new sensation of feeling the bark and tree through your hands and feet enable your senses to guide you as you climb. You also have more agility and balance in barefeet.

This fun experience has inspired what we call the NatureFit Hikes. A free hike where we encourage everyone to climb trees barefoot, to walk the trail and off trail barefoot, and to get dirty. And learn self confidence and sense of accomplishment through climbing a tree.

Give it a try! And share your experiences and photos with me.

Here's a goofy video of walking nature's balance beam at our latest NatureFit Hike.

What is all the talk about the Art of Mentoring anyway?

Last August, I attending a week long nature immersion workshop that changed the way I teach, interact with my community and with my family.  I am now part of this movement across Ontario that is connected internationally to other regional groups. So I thought I would share the information below with you and perhaps you will understand a bit more of what I am talking about when I mention the Art of Mentoring written together by myself and my very good friend Kevin MacGregor.

CONNECTING TO NATURE BUILDS RESILIENT COMMUNITIES

Students rioting, elders alone across the country, adults struggling to achieve the economic dream, children committing suicide: are these the signs of a healthy community?  What does a healthy community even look and feel like?

Across Ontario there is a movement afoot to address these very questions.  People of all ages are throwing out their TV remotes and game consoles to head into the woods ready to discover what it feels like to be deeply connected to the natural world and to discover who they really are.  People are not going alone but bringing with them their children, their teenagers, and their seniors, to discover what community is like when everyone is a valued member of the ecosystem.

Art of Mentoring Ontario (AoM ON) is part of an international movement almost 30 years old that uses ancient methods to integrate nature education, community building, personal development and ecological stewardship into a five-day workshop August 20-25.  Through hands-on learning, adult participants will experience a nature-based village and gain the knowledge, tools, and skills needed to create a powerful culture of natural connection in the home, workplace and community. Concurrent children’s camps, teen’s camp and elder’s training program will be woven into the fabric of the adult experience with intergenerational programming and nightly sharing of stories.

Janice, a 2010 participant shares her experience “With out a doubt this is an exceptional workshop it combines the two most important tenets I strive to live by; being deeply connected to nature, and embracing the human spirit. I’m looking forward to next year.”

The Art of Mentoring movement in Ontario was organized by members of the P.I.N.E. Project in Toronto, various nature educators in Ontario and is supported by international visionaries such as Jon Young (8 Shields Institute, California) and Mark Morey (Institute for Natural Learning, Vermont

Another exciting part about this year’s program is Jon Young, co-founder of the Art of Mentoring, prolific author and storyteller will be part of the Ontario program.  Jon has been a leader in this field for thirty years and brings a very experienced, unique, and fun presence to this years program.

Join The P.I.N.E. Project, Mark Morey (Institute for Natural Learning), Saskia Veanderhoop (Sassafras Earth Education), Dan Gardoqui (White Pine Programs), Andrew McMartin (PINE Project), Chris Gilmour (PINE Project), Alexis Burnett (Earth Tracks), Skeet Sutherland (Sticks and Stones Wilderness School) and other nature educators from Ontario and New England for the 3^rd annual Art of Mentoring, held at Mansfield Centre, ON for the week of August 20-25^th.