“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” - Gary Snyder
Picture this: an old dirt path lined with trees and a small brook bending it’s way through the land alongside that path. Now zoom in a little closer; the dirt path is a rut that has been carved out by the water that floods from the brook on stormy nights. The dirt path is embedded with rocks, acorns, and the occasional worm. The brook, thin and shallow as it may be, has been carving away at the rock and dirt it resides on, gently creating larger bends as time ticks on. The trees are giants compared to the average person. Their limbs and leaves age with grace as they bask in the light of the sun and are fed through the water provided by the brook. Spiders spin webs between the gaps of branches, hoping to catch their next meal. Each tree is home to a few dozen families of birds, each utilizing the tree in their own way. This isn’t the start of a fairy tale: this is nature.
One of the defining factors about my life is how imbued my life is with nature. I live on a dairy farm that is surrounded by large stretches of woods which makes things like noise, traffic, and people much harder to come by. In my childhood, I was usually outside doing something. It didn’t matter if I was playing with my siblings out in the yard or on my own out in the woods; being outside was just natural. It wasn’t until my teenage years that my love for nature truly blossomed. The intricate structure of a patch of grass fascinated me. The grass grows in the dirt which is food for grazing animals that will eventually create organic waste. That waste is used by worms which provide nutrients to that soil which in turn allows for more plant life to grow to which the bees can pollinate new plants which causes more plants to grow, so on and so forth.
A walk through the woods I grew up with is no different than any other patch of forest. It has birds, trees, bugs and dirt but it is the way that we perceive them all that makes it unique. Perception is to stop and notice the small details of the world, something that many people have no idea how to do. Did you know that some spiders silk can be up to 10 times stronger than that of a similarly sized piece of kevlar (the stuff bulletproof vests are made out of). If it were to be mass produced, it would be one of the strongest, most elastic and durable substances on Earth.
I believe everyone should stop and take a walk in the woods. It is a sense of adventure and curiosity as you walk the trail, albeit a marked one or your own. Sure it has bugs, spiders, other creatures, and dirt but there’s a story to be told after every step. There is an entire ecosystem existing around you while you just stand there and take it all in. It is something that you see at a distance, even though you’re standing directly in it. The peace and serenity that inhabits the atmosphere once civilization is out of sight are an unparalleled beauty. It’s an escape from the stresses of everyday life; an escape that everyone should have.
