I’m in the thick of it. Parenting, that is. Complete strangers keep reaching out to tell me that it gets better, that they had their kids two years apart and it was hell for a long time, but it gets better.
So much has changed since my last entries. I’ve replaced a full-time job creating nature-infused programs with a full-time job bringing up two humans. Does it sound ungrateful to say I’m…
#adulting #journaling #naturalist intelligence #nature journal #parenting #Rite in the Rain
3 years ago
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Broken bottles so thick you couldn’t walk – that’s how he remembers the lot that’s now a thriving farm in south Dallas.
Q is giving us a tour of Bonton Farm-Works, or at least of the life-packed 2 acre portion of it where the organization first bloomed (…excuse the pun).
People didn’t want to come to this area, and now look, he says, gesturing to our small group. This is how the community should’ve been all along; people of all races and walks of life enjoying a place. He touches his chest when he talks about his youth in the area.
He lived the struggle, he says.
Now he’s grateful to have a different trajectory, but in the same location, a place that’s dear to him. Home.
This community is being transformed by a little farm, a green space, a place to grow food and connect with the earth and with other humans.
Even as I grappled with my stroller, pushing it over mulch and through the chicken yard, the goat pen, and rows and rows of produce — Even in the June heat and humidity as I sought shade under short fruit trees or against fences — Despite these distractions, I noticed how green, how beautiful, how happy a little space can be. A few acres and a few simple ideas, put to the right use, can bring life to a community and change individual lives.
Transformations. Q said it was so inspiring – nothing like it in the world – to plant a few seeds and in a few weeks or a few seasons see so much progress, so much change.
That inspires me. How would I feel if I gardened regularly? How much would my kids learn if they planted seeds and saw the results? (My oldest is only 2, but I still think lots of the lessons are available to him.) How would the world be different if more people saw that kind of positive change and knew they were able to be part of the change?
On the way home, we drove through neighborhoods that are actively being bulldozed to make way for more expensive housing – housing the current residents won’t be able to afford.
Is the handwriting on the wall for urban centers in the crosshairs of gentrification? Would more urban farms and tighter communities help turn the tide against further disenfranchising the poor? I don’t know.
I do know a little more farming, a little more outdoor time, a little more connection with nature and each other, and the realization you can make a positive change can’t hurt.
…
Below are a few photos from my visit. I especially liked that the goats get exercise and enrichment during a “goat walk”, which I didn’t get to participate in but enjoyed watching. Check out Bonton Farms here.
Field Notes Friday: Bonton Farms
Broken bottles so thick you couldn’t walk - that’s how he remembers the lot that’s now a thriving farm in south Dallas.
Wow. While I was writing about looking at the moon through my window while doing laundry, my sister was on safari in South Africa… with National Geographic! Luckily for us, NatGeo filmed the whole thing and you can watch it here.
The highlight for her (and by the sound of the audio, for the guides, too) was a leopard who they watched stalk and successfully kill a warthog.
You don’t always have to be outside to have nature moments, I discovered just a night ago. And remember, your nature journal entry – which can easily become your #FieldNotesFriday entry – can be as simple as a few sentences or as poignantly short as a haiku.
Here’s a picture of my latest entry. I’ve typed it out below.
Was there something different about the Bradford pears this year? Did you see it, too?
Think back – back 8 weeks ago, when the nights were still chilly and the mornings were cool, but the days were warm and you thought Spring is here. There were no leaves on the oaks, but you saw the Bradford pears doing what Bradford pears do: bursting into white blooms to decorate suburban roadsides (and some…
One day it’s freezing precipitation, the next it’s sunshine and playing outside. I’m embracing the highly variable winter weather we get here in North Texas. If it’s warm and sunny, I enjoy the chance to get out without having to layer up much. If it’s frosty and cold and windy and maybe even wet, I appreciate that it actually feels like winter. Some people say “if you don’t like the weather in…
I’m not in the mood to write right now. But I’m doing it anyway. I wasn’t in the mood, or didn’t prioritize the time, to jot a few notes over the week about my time outdoors. But I did it today. This week I was, however, in the mood to be outdoors, and that was nice after last week’s cold snap. So this week is about success (including several good times outdoors with my kiddo) and a significant…
#blaze orange #Canon Power Shot #Cross Timbers #cross timbers forest #field notes #field notes friday #FieldNotesFriday #free forest school #get outside #habits #hiking #motherhood #nature journal #outdoor playground #resolutions #Rite in the Rain #toddlers #trails
4 years ago
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Field Notes Friday: Cosmic Connection
Happy New Year! Hopefully, you’ve been enjoying your local climate, flora, and fauna whenever you can. I hope you’ve also been participating in #FieldNotesFriday, but if you haven’t, consider this entry a little nudge of encouragement. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to take myself and my son out on a trail at least once a week. I started things off right by visiting one of my favorite trails…
