Summer

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 belonging.

My summer has been busy – a fun-filled, mountain, family vacation, facilitating summer camp, and filling my belly with the rich bounty from my garden. Listen as I read my summer love letter to nature. What moments of joy, love, and gratitude did nature offer you this summer?

Transcript

Hi everyone! Welcome to Season 3 and Episode 31 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.

 Although I have not shared a podcast episode with you since May, I sit in gratitude with nature daily. As we stand at the doorstep of September and the turning of another season, I reminisce on my summer months filled with joyful days with my grandchildren, leading summer camp, family vacation, my youngest daughter’s baby shower, a visit from my brother and his family, gardening both in my own garden and for my wonderful clients, writing, nature journaling, and dog sitting.  Let’s start from the beginning – June.

Summer 2025

To my beloved Nature, 

I thank you for:

1.  The long, hot summer that jumpstarts my mouse melons, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, and basil. They grow and produce by leaps and bounds. As June ushered in the heat and humidity of a Virginia summer, I began to struggle. I have always felt a sense of seasonal affective disorder in summer – as I get older, I just accept it. There are days it is just too taxing to work outdoors – the hot sun, the humidity, and the biting bugs. Nonetheless, I do enjoy my early morning time in the garden to seek out the quieter magic and then watch the flurry of activity in the warmer parts of the day through the window – the bustle of the bees, butterflies, birds, and other beings. 

 2. The beauty of Snowshoe Mountain Resort, WVA. As matriarch of my family, I decided that beginning this year I wanted to encourage monthly family dinners and a yearly family vacation. Our first yearly vacation was to Snowshoe Mountain Resort in WVA.  When my children were young, my dad would take us all on yearly winter skiing vacation. Some years we would travel to CO or Canada, but there were many years we would spend a long ski weekend at Snowshoe Resort. The memories run rich for my children and I. Days in ski school, my son’s first black diamond run at the early age of 6 or 7. Our family dinners around the table at the end of a fabulous day on the mountain. So many memories that have shaped my children’s relationship with nature.  As adults, they and their spouses have enjoyed the resort in summer as well – mountain biking and hiking. I had not been to Snowshoe in years. It has really grown with an entire village with restaurants and new lodging. My grandsons are young – almost four and almost two. They both love to bike – the four-year-old is an avid mountain biker and he won the fun ticket for vacation this year. He absolutely loved the pump track and his grandpa’s Go Pro mounted to his helmet. “Cheer me up, everyone!”  My heart overflowed – so full that the love, joy, and gratitude I felt spilled down my cheeks. I felt my dad’s presence. He was there – sitting next to me on the chair lift as I rode solo up the mountain. I walked with my grandson as we hiked – we dawdled behind everyone else identifying wildflowers, watching the bees, looking for animals. I taught him how to nature journal. We all shared dinner together at the end of our long, fabulous days on the mountain.  

 3. The beauty of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. For the past few years, I have been honored to teach summer camp at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. I teach one week in June and one week in July. My Connect with Nature camp teaches elementary/middle school aged children to tap into their ecological body and their relationship with nature. We explore different areas of the Garden and participate in a variety of activities that help them connect to nature, themselves, and each other. They are enthusiastic and engaged in each activity and creative and thoughtful in their discovery process. I am so thankful for the support I receive from Lewis Ginter and that I am asked to return to teach camp each summer. 

 4. The opportunity to witness the very intimate metamorphosis of a black swallowtail butterfly. I had cut some flowers and herbs to share with my campers. One of the herbs was dill, a host plant for the black swallowtail butterfly. After camp, the vase of herbs and flowers sat on my kitchen table. A few days later, while eating breakfast, I noticed a black swallowtail caterpillar on the dill cuttings. There must have been an egg on one of the leaves when I cut the plant from my garden! I ran outside – and sure enough, my dill was covered in caterpillars. My grandsons came to visit, and I showed them the growing caterpillar on my kitchen table. The oldest one says, “Gramma, you might have a butterfly in your kitchen!”  I thought about that declaration for a second and realized I very well could have a butterfly in my kitchen. At that point I bought a netted butterfly house, continued to supply the caterpillar with fresh dill, and waited to see what would happen. After a week, I noticed the caterpillar was underneath a sprig of yarrow. I assumed it was either dead or getting ready to create its chrysalis. I had a busy day that day and the thought that I might have contributed to this caterpillar’s demise was too much to bear at 6 am, so I set it outside on the table on the deck. I came home later that evening and was delighted to see a chrysalis! I placed the whole jar of cuttings in the butterfly house and waited… 20 days later there was a beautiful black swallowtail drying its wings on the edge of the jar. It was amazing! It felt like such a sacred, intimate event to observe. I am a former science teacher. I understand the butterfly life cycle – but do I really? How does that caterpillar transform itself in 10-20 days to a butterfly. To witness it was mind blowing! Perhaps each human needs that single, intimate contact with a non-human being to feel a deeper sense of awe and wonder, to cultivate deeper reverence and appreciation for the natural world. Maybe then we will collectively love and nurture our planet as a living being. Since then, my grandsons gathered some monarch caterpillars from my milkweed and successfully nurtured and released four monarch butterflies into the world. It truly is an amazing event to witness. 

 5. The abundance from my garden. The small seeds that I planted in February, nurtured in the spring, and watched blossom and fruit in June and July continue to bring smiles and fill the bellies of the people I love through my shared baskets of peppers, cherry tomatoes, herbs, mouse melons, and beautiful flowers – homemade pimento cheese, pizzas, salads, and bouquets. 

 6. The sweltering hot days of July that help me to appreciate the cooler days of August. July in Virginia is just unbearable. That is about all I have to say about July. It was a lot of gazing at my garden through the window!

 7. The cooler mornings and decreased humidity of August. This year, August has been delightful! I just barely detected a slower pace in the garden. My zinnias and strawflower still provide the bright blooms of summer. I have another whole crop of sunflowers that will bring the golden yellow and red fall blooms. My butterfly weed is covered in monarch caterpillars that will chrysalis up and then fly south I suppose. I feel my own self settling into the next season – sleeping more soundly, my skin is returning to normal, and I am feeling more energetic and inspired. My garden will soon transition too – filled to the brim with the cooler weather crops like lettuce, turnips, spinach, and collards. 

 8. The variety of garden visitors I have seen this summer – besides bees, butterflies (in all forms), birds and other pollinators (and some pests) - I have seen a very large groundhog, a sweet bunny, a big black rat snake, and several small toads, skinks, and gorgeous garden spiders.  All are welcome!

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, September 7.  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!

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!