Gardening with Young Children

If you are the kind of person who cherishes a "perfect lawn" and prefers manicured flower beds and neatly trimmed hedges, this post is not for you.

Still with me? Good. Let's get started.

Full disclosure: I have brown thumb. I have been known to kill cacti and other "indestructible plants" under my care. Houseplants in particular cringe when they see me coming.

However, I have found over the years that there is a much better gardener than myself, one with eons more experience than I: nature.

It is important to me to encourage children to explore nature, and a large part of that exploration revolves around plant growth.

Some of my favourite childhood memories involve puttering around gardens. I used to love worms (still do, actually) and our retired neighbour used to invite me over to his vegetable garden where we'd sit and eat green beans together right off the vine. It was our guilty little secret, and I admit that I still prefer to eat beans this way. He also showed me how food scraps can make the soil richer long before composting became a mainstream idea for city dwellers. I remember the joy of seeing a butternut squash seed sprout and grow, even though I had no idea what squash even tasted like. I remember watching Hodge-Podge-Lodge and learning that dandelions are edible. Digging one up to try it and the disappointment that the root tasted like bitter onions.

The word "gardening" means different things to different people; some see it as controlling nature using whatever means necessary to ensure that their ideal is not compromised.

I see it as helping, observing and connecting with nature. OK, well, perhaps not the rabbits who keep raiding my garden, but I digress...

With my famous brown thumb though, I was pretty nervous about the whole idea of introducing gardening to kids.

There was the time many moons ago when I volunteered in a classroom and we tried sprouting beans, in a heatwave, and left them in a school over the weekend. Word of advice: don't try this yourself! Now I know to do this earlier in the season and take them home to rinse regularly in cold water. Lesson learned.

Some other activities I've tried with more success:

Nature's Garden 

Before starting this project, discuss/consider what is meant by the term "weed". Should that be used to describe native plants? Invasive plants? Plants not specifically intended for a particular spot?

Clear out a small area (at least .5 square metres) of bare soil in your garden, and mark it out so you can easily find it again. Now just let it be. Do not add any chemicals, fertilizers or even compost. Do not rake, hoe or disturb the soil. Do not water the area. The point of this project is to let nature do its thing.

Take regular observations. What kids of plants appear? Are they native plants, invasive plants, non-invasive foreign plants, or a mixture? Which ones seem to grow best here? What wildlife seems to be attracted to the area, and how does this compare with the surrounding area?

Consider keeping this area wild for several years, and observe changes that happen over time.

In doing this, we have been the beneficiaries of raspberries and grapes, several maple trees, a beech tree and some wildflowers. Less welcome were two invasive bushes as well as some garlic mustard that we ultimately removed for ecological reasons.

Compost Garden

When my kids observed that the vegetables that grew from the kitchen compost we put in the garden grew better than some of the seeds we had planted (brown thumb again), the observation led us to experiment further with the concept.
Clear a patch of soil and add some garden compost to it (your own compost will do better than municipal or commercial types because those tend to generate higher temperatures that cook the seeds). Water it as needed, being sure not to over-water it. Practice identifying the different vegetables and fruits that grow there.

Some food plants do better with acidic soil, such as blueberries. Some vegetables won't grow near black walnut trees. Tomatoes need calcium in the soil or they will rot near the flower. Planting beans and tomatoes together is a good idea, but planting broccoli near tomatoes is not. Zucchini squash will grow incredibly fast once the fruits start out. These are all things we have learned in part from our experiments and in part from helpful friends who run various CSA farms.

Plant a Fort
Here are two ways to plant a play fort.

1.  Build a base structure, such as  a large tripod from long garden stakes. Plant viny plants such as beans, peas, grape vines etc. on either side of the base of each stake. For larger tripods, you may wish to tie garden twine around the outside for extra plant support. As the vines grow, train them upwards and around the stakes and twine. Don't forget to leave space for a door.
Children can harvest food from the vines as they play inside their fort.

2. For a sunflower or corn stalk fort, you won't need to use garden stakes. Simply plant the seed in where you wish to have walls. Leave a little less than the recommended distance between the plantings, except where you wish to have your door. With less space the plants may not produce quite as much, but the walls will be thicker and more private.

To keep birds and rodents from eating your newly planted seed, plant the seed deep (a little past your second knuckle deep). We've also tried using blood and bone meal to try and discourage wildlife from eating the seed with mixed results.

CD Case Bean Sprouts:

I will be honest here, I have not yet tried this particular activity.
I am not sure where I have seen this recently, but it is an experiment I would like to try. When I went searching for it again, I found this blog post that describes it well http://2busybrunettes.com/2012/03/08/its-time-to-spill-the-beans/

What I like about this is that the students get to see the entire plant grow and can label the parts and/or growth with dates right on the case. I suspect these will grow better than the paper towel or freezer bag methods most of us remember from our own days as students.

Collecting Seeds

Seed collection is quite a science, but we have managed some success with this while keeping it simple. We have planted peppers, tomatoes, cantaloupe and pumpkins from seed we have saved. We've also had success with marigolds, which are good to grow with your veggies as their scent helps cover the smell of vegetables and reduces their appeal to wildlife.

For tomatoes, we let the seeds age in rotting tomatoes until they have dried out. Once they are dry, we pack them in paper bags for the following spring. I read somewhere (?) that this makes them less vulnerable to disease, and since the seed we've planted this way has done well, there may be something to this claim.

All other seeds we collect and let air dry, package in paper and wait until the following spring. Marigolds are especially easy; just wait until the flowers die and dry out and gently tug to seeds away from the plant.

I hope that these activities help other "brown-thumbed" people gain the courage to explore gardening with children.

Ask Your Teacher To Take You Outside

I have a t-shirt I wear often at this time of year. The front of it reads "Ask your teacher to take you outside today".

My oldest son attends a Sr. Public school, which means that there are only grade 7 and 8 classes there. In his first year, there was a grand total of one day of outdoor education. It was part of a science unit about food chains. On that day, the kids were piled into school buses and driven to a dedicated outdoor centre about 20 minutes away. It was a beautiful location, but the species we saw (I volunteered as a parent) could all be found within a 10-15 minute walk from the school. In grade 8, the was no trip; there was absolutely no outdoor education at all.

Now, this school has also won some environmental awards, mainly based on the efforts of a group of students to maximize recycling and composting during nutrition breaks. Some students have also worked to try and get some trees planted on the barren property, and others have suggested plans to build an outdoor classroom in the future. Would this classroom be used, were it to be built? Would demand slacken once the weather turned cold? What about kids who don't have adequate winter clothing, how could they take advantage of such an opportunity? Who would maintain it? How could it be used best?

Kids who play and learn outside tend to be calmer, more physically fit, and are less likely to be deficient in vitamin D.

When the teachers do not see the connections between nature and the subjects they teach, then they are unable to help the students make these connections. When the students rarely experience nature, they are not likely to make these connections on their own either.

In a world threatened by climate change, alarming rates of species loss, vast deforestation, explosive human population, ocean acidification, food security issues, and lack of clean water (more people have access to a cell phone than to a toilet), the lack of connection we have with nature is downright terrifying.

I could start quoting Richard Louv, but it would be much better if you were to read his books. The point I am making here is that our very educational system is missing one of the most crucial fields of study and our society is suffering as a result.

The sad fact is that children are better able to name brand logos than they are to name or in other ways identify plant and animal species found in their own back yard. Kids may go years without ever seeing any wild nature at all, let alone learn how to relate to it, understand it and learn from it. This reflects our obsession with things instead of life and place. Is this really the value system we want to pass on to our children?

I am fortunate to live in an urban area with easy access to natural areas. Yet the kids of neighbouring families still do not use these places, for reasons I can only guess at--safety, over-scheduling, or maybe because they fail to see the value in these places.

When we pare down our needs to the basics: food, clean water, clean air, shelter, and some might argue, companionship, it becomes clear that we are a part of the natural world. The rest is just static that we've created along the way. We are a busy, restless species, and this static can help us sometimes, but it is not a need, and it often gets in the way of our understanding of our place within the larger natural system.

Camping is a wonderful way to connect with nature. The less you bring along from home, the stronger your connection can be. Part of the trick is to relax and listen. Nature is not quiet, at least not in terms of actual sound; in fact it can be quite loud at times! But it has a rhythm and calmness to it that bring to it a different sort of qualitative "quietness" to it. Nature doesn't have "should's" or "ought to's" about it; it just is. For the keen observer, such as a child at play, there is much to be learned.

Do you remember that kid who never wore a coat when it was cold out, who spent more time outside than in, played outside even in the rain, and was daring enough to even sample the mud pies (you know, way back when kids actually used to make mud pies)? Do you remember how the adults used to say that he'd catch his death of cold etc., yet he never got sick? There are reasons for this that we are only now beginning to understand.

Last autumn my family and I went on a canoe trip down the Obabika River in Temagami (Ontario). This trip was a couple of days longer than our usual trip, there was rain through part of it, and a creek with what we called "quickmud" rather than water. We became wet, and slogged harder and further than on previous trips. When we returned home, we found the house unbearably warm, despite the fact that the thermostat read 18 C. During the trip our bodies had acclimatized to the weather without our noticing. This is something we don't often allow to happen, at least not in the western world, and yet it could be so very useful. I have to wonder, what other natural qualities have we lost along the way?

Endangered: Science & Creative Thinking

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending our regional science fair. This is the second year I have attended. Last year there were approximately 300 projects presented by students in grades 7-12; this year there were about 230. Some of the projects show a great deal of creativity, sometimes in terms of the question being asked, sometimes in the experimental design. It is exciting for me as a teacher to be surrounded with bright, motivated and enthusiastic students.

I've only been to two fairs, so calling my observations "a trend" is probably going a little too  far, but I did notice a few things that I found disturbing. Many student science projects that made it through the initial in-school fairs to get to the regional fair were more replications and demonstrations than actual original science. These sorts of projects were numerous, far outnumbering projects which incorporated original approaches to a problem. A couple of kids even proudly mentioned the websites from which their experiments originated. While they should be encouraged to give full disclosure (a point which I'll return to later), and while replication is an important aspect of scientific study, when I see an experiment that I've seen a dozen times before with no new questions or adaptations, I question the fact that it has made it to this level of competition.

For example, many students have made potato batteries. The experiment which used a variety of fruits & veggies, tried them in both parallel and series and used the energy to perform electrolysis took the idea further than the basic experiment. Unfortunately,  there were many similar ones that were stalled at the equivalent of the potato battery stage, yet made it into the regional fair. There were more of these this year than last, even though the total number of entries was significantly lower. The proportion of higher level prizes to entries was also lower, reflecting an overall drop in quality of the entries submitted.

To be fair, there were a number of truly inspiring projects which showed creativity, innovation, depth and impressive research skills, but these projects were fewer than last year, and stood out from the rest.

Not only are many of the projects generally lacking creativity, depth and innovation, some of the students do not seem to understand the scientific process. There were several projects in which the conclusions stated that their experiment "proved" or "disproved" their hypothesis. Some of the actual concepts and methods were flawed, misinterpreted or misunderstood. Since only a handful of projects were directly entered (from home-schoolers  and students whose schools do not participate in science fairs), and the rest went through the rigors of the in-class and then the school-wide fairs in order to make it this far, the fact that none of the teachers or judges who previously evaluated the project caught this is something I find rather disturbing.

Maybe this is just a fluke and next year will see more innovation and creativity (and scientific rigor). I fear though that this is a trend that will continue. In many ways, it can be argued that it started a while ago when standardized testing became so popular.

There is a trend present in all levels of education for students to ask "will it be on the test?" then ignore any discussions that do not gain a "yes" answer. Getting the "right" answer trumps exploration and discovery through experimenting and taking risks. Divergent education and thinking go hand in hand with creativity which drives innovation. Standardized tests, by their very definition, encourage students to memorize and accept rather than to truly understand.

Getting the "right" answer relies on taking others at their word rather than testing ideas. Back in the middle ages in Europe, the teachings of the ancient Greek philosophers were accepted without question. It was only in the age of enlightenment, when Galileo and other scholars began to question and test ideas that science and innovation were reborn. By reverting back to a "get the right answer" mentality, we are reverting back to thinking patterns common in the dark ages.

A grade 8 student I know showed me his school science binder this year. The class studied the seasons. Now, at a grade 8 level, I would have expected to see details such as how the angle of the earth's rotation affects the seasons, seasonal variations, comparisons between various locations, climate (OK, perhaps not that one--we do live in Canada after all!), animal and plant adaptations & comparisons over varying zones, etc. What they actually did looked like something out of preschool. They had to determine which holidays and sports fell into which seasons. The entire term test went no further than this.

When science instruction is watered down this far, how can we possibly expect to move forward as a society? Which brings me to another point: the Harper gov't cuts to scientific research. When there is a pronounced disinterest by the government itself in pursuing science and innovation, what hope can we have that students will be drawn into these fields? But let's get back to the education discussion...

The effects have reached into post-secondary education as well. I have friends who teach or are professors at five different post-secondary institutions and they all report the same attitudes. Students tune out or leave lectures if they stray at all from the exact questions they will see on the test. Students use references such as Wikipedia for major papers, or copy papers directly from Wikipedia or other internet sites. Often this is easily checked by plugging in the first couple of sentences as part of a search term. Plagiarism is becoming the norm, and students aren't even trying to hide it. Moreover, they plagiarize even for smaller assignments that are not worth many marks. One friend reported being able to track the plagiarized bits in a paper because the student hadn't even bothered to change the font in the sections he lifted directly from the internet. Another friend was asked to "go easy" on the students because they didn't know better. So instead of losing their degree entirely and being expelled from the university, they simply failed the course. This professor learned to copy the university's policy on plagiarism for the first class of each term, read through it with his students and have them sign and return a copy. How on earth could students have graduated from highschool and not learned about the legal aspects of stealing/buying/copying someone else's work? Perhaps post-secondary institutions are not demanding enough of their entrants. It seems that every student now feels entitled to a post-secondary education. Many students might be happier and more suited to learning a trade or pursuing other non-academic vocations.

Perhaps I'm a bit naive. When I went to university, I found great pleasure in learning about and researching new topics. It was hard work, especially as I took on a double major which meant double the course load for much of my time there, but it was interesting and compelling. The piece of paper at the end was just another piece of red tape needed to gain employment; the substance and worth were in the process itself. Have we robbed the current generation of such pleasures? Maybe part of the difference is that I chose my majors not for the ultimate goal of making a great deal of money, but out of a true interest in the subject matter. (And before you jump to any conclusions of me being a pampered little rich kid, you need to know that I paid for every cent of my education through working three part-time jobs and taking on a huge student loan.)

Science education should be an extension of the natural curiosity and experimentation of young children. In fact, when allowed to play freely, particularly outdoors, children are natural scientists. To encourage children to continue their explorations throughout childhood and into adulthood is to develop creative, critical, scientific thinkers. Yet how often do we miss the opportunity to delve into further investigation with our children, and instead guide them away from their natural interests? Maybe it's too hot, cold, muddy, or doesn't fit into our schedule or agenda. But it should. To revert to rote teaching as a top-down activity is to stifle all that is good and natural about learning. Just ask any developmental psychologist and they will tell you--or look up the studies yourself. Yet the push in education is for all-day, indoor, top-down instruction even in kindergarten. Outdoor play and outdoor education are increasingly infrequent activities rather than the norm.

When teachers become guides and mentors, students thrive. When it becomes all about standardization, learning suffers. Creativity is squashed like a bug (which many kids can no longer recognize or name). Self-directed learning is an unknown entity. Choices become threatening and overwhelming to students who have been given little or no experience with making any decisions for themselves. Reflective thought, questioning and probing-these are all discouraged in the name of expediency. But when expediency has no true goal (consumerism aside), we simply end up running faster and faster and get nowhere. And that is precisely where our current system is heading.

Warm-Ups

Over the holidays it is especially important to get outside and enjoy some time with nature. Spending time with nature helps us deal better with the stresses of the season, gives us a bit of a vitamin D boost, and is an enjoyable way to spend time with friends and family. If you are fortunate enough to live where the temperatures actually reach sub-zero at this time of year, you can go skating, skiing or snowshoeing. Those of us who only "might" get a white Christmas can still don rain or winter boots and hike through our local forests.

Each winter solstice, our family chooses one tree to decorate with bird seed treats. It is part of a tradition we started when the kids were toddlers, and as we visit that tree on our walks throughout the winter, the kids make note of animal tracks and what has been eaten and what has been left behind.

To warm up, try a bowl of homemade squash soup (recipe below), and/or an arctic float. Or just make some homemade hot chocolate and use a candy cane as your stir-stick for a seasonal treat.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup (makes about 6 litres)

2 medium butternut squashes, cut into quarters
water
one cooking onion
2-3 tart apples (Granny Smith, Spartan or Empire work well), peeled, cored and chopped
1-2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
sunflower oil
sea salt (about 2 teaspoons)
pepper
cinnamon (about 1.5 teaspoons)
nutmeg (about 1 teaspoon)
powdered ginger (about 1/2 teaspoon)
cayenne pepper (about 1/4 teaspoon)

Add water to your baking dishes (just enough to soak the bottom of the dishes) then add your squash. You can remove the seeds before or after baking. Bake the sqaush for 40-60 minutes or until tender.

In a heavy and large soup pot, heat the oil. Fry the onion until it is clear, then add chopped carrots. Continue cooking for about 2 minutes, then add the apples and 2 cups of water (you may need more water later on). Continue cooking until the carrots and apples start to soften.

Scoop out the flesh from the squash and add it to the pot. Stir well and blend with an immersion blender, or in batches in a regular blender, using a large mixing bowl to hold the blended portions. Once it is all blended, return the soup to the pot.

Add the salt, pepper and spices to taste.

This freezes well too.

Enjoy!

Disconnect Disease

Today the US government approved the use of GMO alfalfa. In North America, there is an alarming number of people who believe that climate change is either a hoax, a natural phenomenon, or a problem of the future. Many children today are hard pressed to name even 10 different species of life native to their area.

It is a sad sign of our times that people have completely lost touch with their connection to nature. We view all non-human life forms (and even some humans too, if they live far away and look or sound different) as resources to be consumed. Our society has forgotten the interconnected nature of life on our little planet. We are not aliens imported into a warehouse of resources; we too are living people and are part of the web of life.

We used to talk about "food chains" in science class when I was a kid. The imagery is clear: a straight line where the smallest species is eaten by the next smallest and so forth. My younger brothers learned about the "food web" in which more complexity is introduced. The reality is that ALL of life is interconnected. Nature is a vital part of who we are.

When the bees aren't around in their usual numbers, it affects not only bee-eaters, but many plants that depend on bees for pollination. In turn, other animals are affected as the food normally produced by those plants is no longer available. This spreads not only up and down a food "chain", but also to other chains. Animals who miss their usual food will need to adapt by eating something else, or die out. Should they begin eating other plants, this now affects another "chain", and so on. The repercussions may extend for years or decades, and as such, are little understood by a science still in its infancy.

We have lost many of our songbirds to tropical forest destruction. We are losing our coral reefs to climate change and ocean acidification. Every loss affects us in ways we may not yet comprehend.

And yet, despite the extreme consequences that can arise from the disruption of even a single species, we continue to tamper with the web of life with little thought about the consequences. From material waste, climate change, genetic modification, pharmaceutical and industrial pollution, nano technology, and overpopulation, we are causing a huge decline in biodiversity on our planet. It is a huge experiment in which we play both Dr. Frankenstein and his monster, except in this case, it affects all of life as we know it.

Perhaps part of our problem stems from the terminology we use when we refer to species survival. I suspect that if Charles Darwin were here today, he'd want to rethink the words he used in his description of the process of evolution. In stressing the competitive nature of survival, we've missed the point that nature is a closed system with its own mechanisms for maintaining balance. A "successful" species, meaning one that increases its overall population, can only remain as successful as its food resources allow. Humans are a very successful species, but if we continue to grow our population will crash as more and more species are crowded out and our food resources diminish. Growth cannot continue indefinitely. In one way or another, balance must and will be reached. The difference in humans is the terrifying tendency we have to destroy life for reasons other than food.

So while we all sit here staring at our screens (yes, I am guilty), our children learn about technology, politics, consumerism, perhaps some human rights lessons, and are rushed from program to activity. They learn to view nature as something that happens "out there" independent of them. We are robbing ourselves and our children of our natural heritage and future. Life on earth is a closed system, and we are on a path that both stretches it to its limits, and destroys much of what makes life worth living. And in our rush for more, faster, better, most of us have forgotten how to live.

This is all very bleak, but it is also an opportunity. I challenge myself and you to make the time to spend outdoors in a natural place at least one day a week. Take as much time as you can possibly spare, and share it with a younger person. Learn to observe. Learn to relax. Learn to listen, and learn to just be. And eventually, we will learn once again how to live.

Early Spring

Our family went on a backpacking trip the weekend before last. By the end of the trip, we saw lots of blackflies (thankfully not biting so much yet!). Normally, if you go anytime up to about the 20th of May, you'll be able to avoid biting insects, so this was a month early.

We had walked the same trail a *few* years back at the same time of year. We needed to keep the water filter in a sleeping bag to keep it from freezing, and had to crack ice around the edges of the lake to pump water. Not so much this trip--we hiked in t-shirts and wished we'd brought shorts along.

I have noticed the same thing at home. The blossoms are about 3-4 weeks early, and the magnolia trees have blossomed and dropped their petals already. During March break, the weather here was warmer than in Florida.

I am not a winter person, and spring is one of my favourite times of year. I love being awakened by birds calling, I love the smell of the earth and the lilacs. I love the golden fields of dandelions. However, this is making me nervous. I'm not ready yet to do serious gardening, yet the early spring is demanding just that. It's really less about me and my preferences though. It's alarm at what is happening to our climate. Spring is coming earlier, not just this year, but with a visible change across decades. Weird weather is becoming the norm. There is a great deal of concern about our latest human-caused disaster, the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, which is absolutely horrible and terrifying in its destruction. There is also the acidification of the oceans. This is caused by the increased absorption of carbon, that is causing rapid loss of species and if left unchecked will destroy the world's coral reefs within the next few decades.
It would really take a great deal of determination to fail to see the connection between the health of our oceans and our own welfare.

There is so very little political will to do anything--it's all a game of quick profits and one-upmanship with not a trace of concern for the future, the planet or the basic needs of its inhabitants. The right-wingers laugh at the rest of us for caring, and go out of their way to make the problems worse. I find it difficult not to get discouraged.

And yet-
the birds are singing, the sun is shining, the lilacs are out and it's incredibly beautiful out there. Perhaps one of the most important things to do about it all is to enjoy it, now, and share that enjoyment with others.

Cool Poem to Share

As found in a newletter from our organic food supplier:

If the sight of the blue skies
fills you with joy,
if a blade of grass springing up
in the fields has power to move you,
if the simple things of nature have a
message that you understand,
rejoice, for your soul is alive.
~Eleonora Duse

The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful. ~e.e. cummings

Nature and Places

I have always become easily attached to wild spaces. There is something that resonates within me when I am surrounded by nature. When I am surrounded by nature, I find I gain a better perspective on life. I become more real, and at the same time, feel my own smallness within the vast universe.

Here is a photo I took last summer, of a log island in a lake that I like to call "Gaia".  On the log there is an abundance of life growing--mosses, lichen, grasses and more. This tiny log has become a home to a vast array of life.

Maybe your are not familiar with the term Gaia. I first encountered it when reading the science fiction of Isaac Asimov. It's a strange place to find an idea that strikes a deep chord of familiar inner truth, I'll admit, but there you have it. Gaia refers to the idea that the earth is one large system, or organism, of which all things of and upon it are a part. Since we (all life) are obviously all interconnected and cannot survive without each other, it isn't a very far stretch of the imagination to see how this would work. Don't buy it? Without plants, we cannot eat. Even purely carnivorous people rely on plants that their food (cows, pigs, rabbits, goats, chickens etc.) requires. Take a look at any food chain to get a better picture of this. And food chains do not tend to exist in isolation from each other, hence the term "food web" that has become increasingly popular.

Then there is waste. Even the most toxic substances we can create will eventually return to the earth in a benign state, given enough time (even nuclear waste will, given a sufficient, albeit extremely long time). If it came from the earth, it belongs to the earth and the earth will recycle it. The earth is quite efficient at doing this--from the water cycle, to the life/death cycle of plants and animals to geology. The surface of the earth is at varying ages depending on where you are, when the most recent volcanic or seismic activity was etc. Land is recycled just as water and life are.

Whether you take it literally or metaphorically, it is an interesting idea, and one worth considering in the larger context. After all, we are all in this together.

Meanderings

Like a river, my thoughts often meander to unsuspecting places...

I am currently reading "Nature's Playground" by Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield and am really enjoying it. I especially like the quotes:

""Playing outdoors should be a fundamental part of childhood, yet we are in danger of tidying out children away into stuffy bedrooms..."

and


"Life is full of risk, so the best way to prepare children for life is to ensure that they understand how to judge risk for themselves."

This last one especially hits a chord with me. Children hidden away just learn to fear the world instead of participate in it. What kind of life is that?

I am so looking forward to backpacking and canoeing this year! Maybe we'll take along "mud wear" and have a mud fight on one of the hotter days. Life is too short not to make the most of it!

Canoeing, Nature and Needs

Today we went to see the Paddling Film Festival.

My favourite was called "Finding Farley" in which a couple, their two year old and their dog paddled from Canmore, Alberta to Hudson's Bay, then from Quebec to Newfoundland and eventually to Nova Scotia to visit Farley Mowat, while visiting the settings for many of his books along the way.

I was reminded of the importance of keeping a connection with nature. We are increasingly "nature illiterate" in our society, and we suffer for it. We forget that we are part of the greater ecosystem, and in denying it, often serve to destroy it without even being fully aware of doing so.

I truly believe that a stronger cultural connection to nature and its rhythms would go a long way in alleviating depression and over-consumption in our society. At least, it works that way for me personally. I am never more at peace than when I am standing in the protective shadow of an ancient tree, or paddling down a pristine river. How many more sunrises and sunsets I enjoy when camping than when following the urban rat-race!

Kids have a natural pull towards the outdoors. We would do well to listen and nurture the connection. Their future may well depend on it.