October

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.

This month, I welcomed the wisdom of acorns, the joy of creating botanical pumpkins with old friends, the first frost, and the return of cardinals to my garden. Listen as I read my October love letter to nature. What moments of joy, love, and gratitude did nature offer you in October?

Transcript

Hi everyone! Welcome to Season 3 and Episode 33 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, including Plant People, An Anthology of Environmental Artists, Vol. 5 which was released yesterday. You can read my essay, Strawberry Love, and the discover the work of other talented creatives on their website, (www.plantsandpoetry.org) In addition, I have had essay published in Wild Roof Journal (www.wildroofjournal.com) an online journal of environmental writers, poets, and visual artists. 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.

So October moves us deeper into the autumn season. For those of us living in a temperate climate, it marks the end of the growing season. It is a month of transition as so fully represented in my kitchen table. I have had a couple of frosty nights and my kitchen table is full of a little summer and a little autumn. It is decorated with beautiful botanical pumpkins; an arrangement of dried, homegrown, strawflowers whose bright orange and yellow shine through the more muted seas oats and grasses; a big, vase of vibrant pink and coral colored zinnias picked the evening before the first frost; big, juicy, shaggy-capped acorns collected on walks with my granddaughter; and a late-blooming stalk of vintage rose yarrow that reminds me the big bouquets of yarrow from that same plant that my grandson and I put together in the spring. I am so thankful for the slow transition and the beauty and bounty of each season.   

To my beloved Nature, 

In October, 

I thank you for:

1. The continued support from my participants (I love you all so much), Powhatan State Park, and the natural world for Self-Care Sunday - October’s theme was tending. In natural systems, the tending of populations occurs through the continuum of nature’s rhythms and cycles. In the season of autumn, we see nature’s tending as release – leaves, seeds – the parts that longer serve plants, but prepare them for a new growing season after the season of rest. Abscission is the 50-cent word meaning the shedding of various plant parts, the dropping of leaves, fruit, flowers, or seeds. Out with old to make room for the new as time marches forward.  

Other examples of tending in natural landscapes are 

·      Decomposition, or the breaking down of complex organic matter necessary for nutrient recycling and the return of important elements and compounds to air, soil, and water.

·      Perturbations, like fire, flood, and disease which help natural systems to regulate invasive species, replenish nutrients, renew habitat, and retain balance. 

·      Natural selection leads to the tending of populations over time. The individual organisms better adapted for reproduction and survival tend to produce more offspring that inherit the favorable characteristics. Over generations, these characteristics, or traits, increase in frequency, resulting in a population that is more suited for survival in its environment. 

On our wander through the woods, we sought out examples of tending and discussed how we can tend our inner landscape during this season of release to make room for rest and regeneration in the coming months. Nature teaches us so much if we make room to notice. 

2. Acorns - I have been really tapped into to acorns this autumn season. On our October Self-Care Sunday wander through the forest, I found an acorn on the path. There were lots of acorns on the path, but I chose this particular one as my symbol of tending. Although it was not quite ripe, it had been released by the oak tree. As I reflected on the acorn and its meaning to me, I realized that maybe I can release something to the world that I have been hanging onto even if I don’t feel completely prepared - like an idea or a project and it will be OK. I learned that even if I am not quite ready – I can let it go – take a leap, like my found acorn from its tree – and it will still grow into something big and beautiful – like the acorn into an oak tree. I have been working on a project for the last couple of years trying to release it into the world. Recently, with the help of a good friend, I have decided to jump. I will share details as the project moves closer to fruition. 

After this deep reflection, I had a dream about acorns – big, shaggy-topped acorns just lying on the ground. These acorns were a foot long, top to tip. I didn’t actually remember the dream until late the next day when I was picking up acorns with my granddaughter while we were on a walk. I researched the symbolism of an acorn in a dream and what I found out was fascinating:

·      Potential and growth – small beginnings have the potential to grow something powerful and significant over time

·      Patience and effort – success is coming, but requires hard work and patience

·      New opportunities emerging 

·      Resilience and strength

·      Childhood, simplicity, and endless possibilities

·      Good luck

In my dream, I was picking the acorns up off the ground. This symbolizes success

after a period of hard and difficult work. Throughout the month, I have been picking up acorns. I have found two different kinds of acorns from species of oak trees I have never heard of – the sawtooth oak and the overcup oak.  The sawtooth oak acorns I found in a parking lot! I have a whole collection of these beautiful acorns on my kitchen table. The acorn has provided me so much insight and wisdom this month. I am so thankful!       

o   Botanical Pumpkins – Two girlfriends and I have recently started a monthly supper club we call Grit and Gratitude. We have been friends for 30 plus or so years – our kids grew up together and our families camped together often when the kids were young.  During those years, my two friends and I would gather regularly for food and scrapbooking around one of our dining room tables.  So much has changed in those years from then to know – divorce, breast cancer, death of spouse, and of course, our children our grown and we are in the grandmother stage of life. We have not always kept in touch. I am so grateful for our reconnection long years of friendship. Years later, our conversations have shifted from kids to grandbabies. At our last gathering, we shared dinner and the news of expectant daughters/daughter in law and babies due in the spring. In addition, we used dried, pressed flowers and Mod Podge to create the most colorful decorations on pumpkins. As we sat and chatted, we remembered the times so long ago when we were sitting around the same table as we shared photo memories and place them thoughtfully in scrap books. I am grateful for the flowers and pumpkins that bring beauty to our bond.                                                                                                             

o   The late summer bloomers. Last week, I had two nights of frost. Even so, my zinnias and sunflowers are still happily hanging onto summer. I have enjoyed seeing the lingering pollinators – moths, small butterflies, wasps, and even a lone, renegade Monarch butterfly. The marigolds and basil are bumblebee resting spots. 

o   Planting of cooler crops – Although my peppers are still producing, I am excited for lettuce and turnips. The Amish Deer Tongue lettuce is my favorite! The seed packet from Hudson Valley Seed Company describes it as “a lettuce that licks the sky.” I love it! 

o   The visibility of the constellation Orion the Hunter - As a winter constellation in the N Hemisphere, Orion takes up space higher in the sky this time of year. If I am out after dark, it is the first constellation I look for in the sky. Since I was a little girl, it has been my favorite. 

o   Return of the cardinals to my garden.  In my summer garden, I have a lot of chatty mockingbirds spilling the neighbor tea, Carolina wrens with their early, recognizable wake up call, black-capped chickadees with their chick-a-dee-dee song, house finches with their ability to make a nest in the narrowest of ledges on my deck overhang,  mourning doves (always a pair) splashing around in the bird bath or resting in the garden, and the bright yellow American goldfinches feeding on seed heads. But I don’t see cardinals. Joyously, they have returned. Their bright red bodies stand out in the mostly muted garden. I look forward to them standing out against a bright, white snow covered landscape.. but that is a couple months away…hopefully. 

o   Her ability to make us feel better. The other day, I was at my daughter’s house visiting my grandsons. Although he had a wonderful morning at pre-school, the four-year-old was a bit grumpy – unusual for him. His mom asked him why he was a little out of sorts, had something happened at school? He told her he only got to play outside once. She explained that he only has two outdoor play periods on extended days. He said to her, “I didn’t get enough air.” So she said, “Well, let’s go get some air. We can go sit on the front porch and Gramma can read your books outside.” He and his two-year-old brother barreled out the front door and our time to breathe and read books turned into an hour or more of riding bikes. We all felt better. Times are uncertain and stressful – maybe just step outdoors and take a deep breath or two. I know it doesn’t change what is happening in the world around us, but it will shift your perspective and most likely make you feel better!

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, December 7th.  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!