April

In Season 3, my podcast programming 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 belonging.

This month, I welcomed the wisdom of the early spring ephemerals, met Aunt Lucy, a wildflower growing amongst the Paw Paw trees, saw my first butterflies and celebrated the first, sweet strawberry harvest of the season! Listen in as I read my April love letter to nature. What moments of joy, love, and gratitude did nature offer you in April?

Transcript

Hi everyone! Welcome to Season 3 and Episode 29 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.

I aim to have each month’s love letter recorded and uploaded the last day of the month. This month was delayed. Unfortunately, I was in a car accident this week – the middle vehicle in a three-car pile-up. I am unhurt but needed a few days to re-ground myself and pull my energy back into body as it was so forcefully disrupted and displaced.  I have spent of the last few days outdoors in my garden tending the soil and my plants as they align my energetic field back to that of Mother Earth.  So here we go…a few day late.. 

April 2025

To my beloved Nature, 

In April, I thank you for: 

1.    The wisdom of early bloomers – chickweed, henbit, purple deadnettle, and clover. For many gardeners, they are unwanted, weedy, misplaced species. Each of these species, like every other being in entangled in the web of life, has significance and purpose. These ephemeral beauties are food for the early pollinators, hold soil in place, and have medicinal and culinary value. I know I pull my share of these very prolific plants to create space and air around my perennials, but nonetheless, I appreciate their presence. 

2.    The sweet pair of house finch that were trying so hard to create their nest on the metal lip underneath my deck roof. I watched them for hours, but alas, they moved on. I knew it was going to be a difficult task to make a home in that spot. I see them in my yard daily and just hope they have found the perfect place not too far away to create a comfortable home for their babies. 

3.    The Spring Pollination Event – in Virginia, it looks like a dusting of yellow snow. The pinecones just bursting with their yellow, fertile powder. The strings of oak pollen that resemble bits of brown twine falling from the sky. The maple tree helicopter seeds that twirl to ground in the wafting breeze.  It is a full-on revelry in reproduction wreaking havoc on many of us humans. It is true celebration of coming alive! I think about other species of living organisms that magnify fertility like the plants in spring. What comes to mind are the spore producing fungi and the coral reefs that synchronize their spawning, the release of egg and sperm, to the climax of full moon in the lunar cycle. 

4.    My strawberry bed – the bountiful blooms that will bear the sweetest and most beautiful fruit that will fill the bellies of my grand babies. 

5.    The new kin I met as I guided a Forest Flower Walk at a local state park. I met Aunt Lucy (Ellisia nyctelea) also known as Waterpod. She is a native N. American wildflower. She is in the same family as forget-me-mots, wild comfrey, common comfrey, and Virginia bluebell, among other species. I had never seen Aunt Lucy before and was so excited to meet her growing along the River Trail among the Paw Paw trees.  

6.    All the glorious shades of green that gauge the various stages of growth that greet me in my garden and in the forest.

7.    The serendipitous sighting of the swallowtail butterfly, both tiger and zebra, as they make their return to the meadow. 

8.    The hours of gardening with my grandsons. They are the best helpers – watering, planting, digging. I love teaching them the plant names and how to care for each plant tenderly, like a small child. I am modeling my deep love and appreciation for the natural world that I hope will grow in them.

9.    The joy for my new blueberry plants and the anticipation of sweet, summer berries!

10. The first strawberry harvest of the season! Six sweet juicy berries shared with my visiting daughter, her husband, and their unborn baby. The berries were grown, picked, and shared with gratitude, love, and reciprocity.

11. The sprouting of my mouse melon seedlings – after two plantings, netting the seeds from the birds –FINALLY, I see their first little green leaves poking up from their mounded dirt bed. We all emerge in our own time when we are ready.

12. My deep connection to the Earth that I have cultivated over my lifetime. I think about it as I nurture my land with love.  

13. The beautiful bounty of yarrow, sweet strawberries, and lavender as the first blooms and fruit of the season come to life in my garden.  I am overwhelmed with love and gratitude for nature and the gifts she so selflessly provides to me and my family. The strawberry ice cream fills our hearts and bellies. The smell of yarrow and lavender fill my kitchen. Soon, my tomatoes and peppers will take center stage on my kitchen table as I lovingly feed my family. In joy, I give my extra harvest to neighbors and friends. Thank you for a new season of growth. 

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! 

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!