February

In Season 3, my podcast programming this year is simple – love letters to nature. I invite you to join me in this collaborative project to reweave ourselves to the natural world and each other.  Share your love letters with me at fromtheoutsidellc@gmail.com and I will read your loving words to nature on my podcast. How does nature make you feel, how does she sustain you, support you, inspire you, excite you? Read your letters to nature and listen for a response. What wisdom does she offer you? As we profess our deep love and gratitude to our source of life, let us deepen our sense of place, purpose, and sense of belonging. 

This month, I leaned into the mid-winter mood swings of nature that brought sunshine, snowfall, and stiff breezes. I sat with the small seasonal shift within myself as I noticed the ground beginning to wake up.  Listen in as I read my February love letter to nature. What moments of joy, love, and gratitude did nature offer you in February?

Transcript

Hi everyone! Welcome to Season 3 and Episode 27 of the From the Outside with Sarah C podcast! I am Sarah Croscutt, the host and creator of this podcast and the owner and facilitator of From the Outside, a series of plant and nature-based lessons that help us to cultivate a deeper relationship to the natural world, ourselves, and each other. In addition, I am a published environmental writer. My work has been included in several anthologies published by Plants and Poetry Journal (www.plantsandpoetry.org) and Wild Roof Journal (www.wildroofjournal.com) You can learn more and find links on my website, www.fromtheoutsidellc.com.

In the past year or so, I have begun to deepen my connection to my Irish and Welsh ancestral roots. Each of us can claim indigeneity to this beautiful planet. Our earliest ancestors lived in kinship with the natural world. Their relationship with nature, their highly regarded source of life, was rooted in respect, reverence and reciprocity.  

We are living in unbelievably uncertain times. Many of us are feeling a deep sense of grief and loss – for humanity and our beloved planet. As I tend my own grief and hold the collective grief of others, I lean into nature, her comfort and wisdom. If we lean into our grief, we feel its entanglement with love. They are intertwined. Love is the wellspring from which we experience joy, gratitude, and grief.  It grows from our profound presence and awareness. Love is the most authentic and creative state of being.  In love, we recognize or “see” each other in a state of deep acknowledgement. In turn, we kindle our circle of belonging and kinship – to nature, to ourselves, and to each other.  What we love we honor and protect, deepening the authentic relationships with others that soothe and support us in times of sorrow.  

My podcast programming this year is simple – love letters to nature. I invite you to join me in this collaborative project to reweave ourselves to the natural world and each other.  Share your love letters with me at fromtheoutsidellc@gmail.com and I will read your loving words to nature on my podcast. How does nature make you feel, how does she sustain you, support you, inspire you, excite you? Read your letters to nature and listen for a response. What wisdom does she offer you? As we profess our deep love and gratitude to our source of life, let us deepen our sense of place, purpose, and sense of belonging. 

February 2025

To my beloved Nature, 

 In February, I thank you for:

The first day of this month that marks the halfway point between the Winter Solstice in December and the Spring Equinox in March. In the Celtic Wheel of the Year, this day is known as Imbolc, or St. Brigid’s Day. It is the threshold to Spring, a day that celebrates the shifts in nature and she begins to awaken from Winter’s rest.  

The stark, cold quiet days in the forest that still feel like winter.  The magnified melodious sounds of the birds. In Virginia, February can feel like we have one foot in winter and one foot in spring. I love the days that keep me firmly planted in winter. 

The seasonal shifts in my own body as I, too, begin to awaken from winter’s rest. I sense the warmer days sprinkled amongst the colder ones. I have begun to contemplate this year’s garden, pondering plantings and picking out seed packets. I can pull back the covers on my winter garden and let my lettuce, radishes, turnips, and arugula lift their leaves to the bright sunshine before the next colder day when I tuck them tightly back in their winter bed.

The small, subtle signs of a seasonal shift that you might miss if you aren’t paying attention. The clusters of dark green daffodil leaves as they begin to poke up through the ground. “What are these flowers, Gramma?” “They are new.”

Your mid-season mood swings that bring thunderstorms at 36 °F on February 6th.

My little lawn weeds that wiggle their way into every nook and cranny of my garden beds, giving them life and color.  Chickweed with its tiny white star-shaped flowers and henbit with its scalloped green leaves and purple buds are a wink that the world beneath my feet is waking up. 

The moss that grows greener in the small, shady corner of my yard. Some species are flat and fuzzy, covering the ground like a 1970s green, shag, wall to wall carpet.  Other species, resembling small pine seedlings, remind me of the tallest trees – the towering species of redwood and sequoia. I imagine the minuscule microcosm that is beneath my feet. 

The spirit of seeds and sanctity of their stories. Each with their own, rich, reciprocal relationship with humans and other beings, like fungi, pollinators, and the elementals.  

The beauty of rot, decomposition, breaking down. The bold colors of false turkey tail fungi perched on the edges of fallen logs - copper, green, and white – really stood out on my forest walk. The copper fungi, (besides looking like actual turkey tails) remind me of the multicolored, layered rock of the Painted Desert in AZ and Badlands of SD. The white fungi resemble the bleached shells of bivalves, like clams or oysters, that you might collect as you take a stroll along the beach. 

The spring, ephemeral, woodland wildflowers – bloodroot, spring beauty, bluets, trout lily, mayapple and more - that are waiting to blanket the forest floor with their blooms. They drench themselves in sunlight. Their unabridged lifecycle complete before the shade of the tree canopy shadows the forest floor. I spy the leaves of the Crane Fly Orchid.

After three days of clouds and a wintry mix of snow, freezing rain, and rain, the   fiery, red sunset on the eve of Valentine’s Day. It lit my heart a blaze. Red sky at night, a Valentine’s Day delight.

The tension I feel in my body when high winds are whipping across my backyard sending the wind chimes into a cacophony. The unharnessed energy of the high winds frays my nerves. It is a restless reminder to breathe and relinquish control. 

The glow of a winter sunrise. The purple and blue slowly warming to orange and red as the sun ascends above the edges of the sky. 

The quietude of a winter walk in the snow. If I close my eyes, I can imagine my cold walks to the post office in the far north of Alaska – the frost on my glasses and the freeze of my cheeks. The silence ruptured only by the raucous rumpus of the raven. I am quickly pulled back to the present by the sweet sounds of the temperate songbirds – the cardinals, bluejays, and chickadees. 

The Sun - bright, brilliant warmth of the Sun. It instills the idea of impermanence and with its bright, brilliant light and warmth as it melts a winter wonderland within a few hours. 

The dappled sunlight filtering through the forest trees on a late afternoon walk. The deer keep a watchful eye as they stand like statues in the forest fringe. 

The delicate, silver, rumpled and folded edges of the powdered ruffle lichen that my grandson gifted me as we played in his backyard. “Here Gramma, you can have this lichen.” It fell off the tree over there.” It is tender and lovely, inspires wonder and curiosity, and fills my heart with joy – just like my grandson. 

I encourage you to write your own love letter to nature. It pushes us to pause, grows our gratitude, cultivates our connection to our source of life, and syncs us to the rhythms and cycles of nature. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

o   Write one thing daily you love about nature – that is quite a list by the end of the month!

o   Write about one specific emotion you have felt or experience you have had in nature, or maybe you are trying to cultivate more of a specific state of being in your life, like joy, or gratitude, or love. How can nature guide you?

o   Write about one activity that you do regularly in nature – kayaking, hiking, gardening, even tending your houseplants, or cooking.  How does it make you feel – physically, emotionally, even spiritually? Express your gratitude and love to the natural world for your experience. Expressing our gratitude and love in our simple daily tasks can shift the mundane to magical.

o   Connect to your experiences in nature with your whole body – all your senses – and your breath.

o   Your love letter can take the form of a formal letter, a list bullet points, a poem, even a drawing – however you feel led to express yourself!

o   Share your letter with nature with purpose and intent. Read it aloud

o   Lastly, share your letter with me – I will share it with others on my podcast! You can email me your letter at fromtheoutsidellc@gmail.com. Let your words inspire other listeners! I look forward to hearing from you!

Upcoming Events

In-person in the Richmond, VA area

Selfcare Sunday Series continues the first Sunday of the month, 10 am at Powhatan State Park, Powhatan, VA.  Our next gathering is Sunday, March 2nd.  We meet at the playground parking lot. The program is free, but a $5 parking fee applies.  Please join us as we connect to nature and each other!

 Cultivating Connection through Nature 

Where: North Courthouse Road Library, Midlothian, VA, Chesterfield Business Suite

When: Thursday, March 13, 2025, 6-7:30 pm. FREE

 Cultivating Connection through Nature and Eco Inspired

Where: Larus Park Trailhead West (near the Sabot School), Richmond, VA

When: Saturday, March 22, 2025, 9 am

Thank you so much for listening! I encourage you to venture out – to your backyard, a local park, a green space near where you work and spend a few minutes purposefully and intentionally connecting with nature.  Use your whole body – really integrate into your being what you see, smell, hear, and feel.  Spend time with those you love or sit in silence, solitude, and stillness. They are important states of being in nurturing our nature connections. Acknowledge nature’s wisdom and role in your life. Nature shows us how beautiful and transformative growth can be! Remember, we are all connected to the source of life and each other! With that said, you can connect with me through my website www.fromtheoutsidellc.com, or on Instagram @sarahc_outside. Links to podcast, website, publications, webinars, and all the things can be found there! Visit my website for upcoming classes in the local community, latest publications, and details on workshops available for educational settings, professional development, recovery programs, conferences, or other groups. As always, please feel free to reach out!  

Until next time, take care!