What is your favorite hobby for connecting with nature and why?
What is your favorite hobby for connecting with nature and why?
Mine probably has to be mountain biking. I just love riding through the forest, sometimes catching some air time and swallowing the occasional fly whilst going downhill at 30km/h.
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My personal way is to actively restore it. Australia, for example, is a highly degraded and fragile country and there aren't enough people getting out there and doing anything that has a measurable effect on the state of it. There are far more people actively ruining it.
To me, looking at it is not enough, we have to repair it. Looking back after a few years at the habitat you've created or the degradation you have reversed is true connectedness. You can say "I did that" and be proud of the change you've made.
"A society grows great when old people plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit” - slightly paraphrased.
That sounds almost inspirational...
How do you organize and find the time to do it? Did you join a group that already existed, or perhaps just go out with some friends? If you don't mind me asking.
I quit my job and moved out into a rural area to put my money where my mouth is and actually try and restore something. I got another job doing "Landcare" or paid rewilding which is mostly chemical weed control. I set up a nursery to propagate and grow native plants (some fruits trees etc) and then I just plan some sites (or slap trees/plants into areas that are lacking), look after them a while and then repeat. I've got 20 years horticultural experience in a number of related industries so doing the actual work is just second nature.
The last planting I've just completed is a riparian zone next to a creek, 3000 plants or so. All by myself, from seed to pot to ground.
The hardest part is just committing to it each year, dependent on rainfall. Last 3 years we had La Nina so it was a lot of rainfall which made me work twice as hard (6500 plants total). El Nino will be depressing watching everything wilt (maybe burn) which will means I'll reduce size of nursery and do other things. I do run a little charity thing disseminating Vetiver Grass (I posted a link to it as one of the first things I did here), getting people out and showing them how it's done and then sending them off with some plants for a few bucks, far less than what the industry charges hence the "charity". Sets people up so they can start attacking their worst problems.
How do I find the time? Just an hour here or there. Larger plantings might be a few hours in arvo when it cools down. As last project wound up, one hour or two adding grasses/sedges each weekend really pumps the numbers up. I think I planted 80 plants every weekend for months when the weather was good. Takes about an hour to 1.5 depending on how much weeding to do. Maintenance is handled with a bit of work but better design and understanding on how weeds work helps mitigate the amount of effort.
Here are some pics with some thoughts, I'd add photos here but it keeps erroring out with json errors:
https://aus.social/@treevan/110284722924931438
https://aus.social/@treevan/110324596499778557
I hope that helps.
Oh wow, that's amazing! It sure sounds like a lot of hard work and care goes into your project. Cool pictures too.
Perhaps I should try joining a local gardening / urban farming collective myself when I find the right time, or something similar. Thanks for sharing!
In Australia, one can volunteer time to restoration through local government or catchment groups. They supply everything and you just do a couple hours once a month.
While ideally, it would be nice to see people get paid for work like that as time is valuable, it's something at least. Usually the groups are filled with retirees so the labour isn't efficient. It's quite a perplexing situation, how do you get people out there? They have to want to do it. I often, as per the permaculture ethic of fair share, offer amounts of native plants for free to help someone get started with a project and no one ever takes me up, the effort in planting and maintenance takes more than the cost of the plants I guess.
When you can't give things away for free, something is fucked up. No one has the time, the grind of life is too much. Restoration is a job, not a fun hobby.