Our Memorial Day weekend adventure continues with day two of camping in the mountains of Virginia. Question: what happens when you get curious, introspective people out of their daily lives and into the forest? Apparently you get discussions around philosophy, psychology, anthropology, brain chemistry, culture, society, and unexplainable phenomena tied to the nature of reality. And s’mores. You get s’mores too.
After reading Florence Williams’ The 3-Day Effect, I wanted to experiment on my friends and see what benefits we experienced on our upcoming Memorial Day camping trip. Our little group had an amazing weekend in the mountains of Virginia from Friday afternoon to Monday morning. We had a lot of conversations about how our minds and bodies were adjusting to our return to nature.
We know anecdotally that time spent in nature is beneficial, but there are scientific studies demonstrating various positive impacts on health, cognitive function, stress, and emotional wellbeing. I recently finished a book on the effects of three days in nature on the human mind and body, and this post is set to publish while I, myself, am camping in the mountains for three days.
A few weeks ago I came face-to-face with some termites in our garden wall. We were not thrilled about the prospect, but I researched some alternatives that are more environmentally friendly than calling an exterminator. We did some things that will hopefully prevent the situation from getting worse and introduced a beneficial parasite that will hopefully eliminate some if not all of the colony.
About three years ago I could no longer stand the thought of sending a full grocery bag of used kitty litter to the landfill every week or so. At that point, I started researching how to compost pet waste in order to offset our kitties’ carbon footprint. It is possible to do it as long as you do your research and follow some very specific guidelines.
Several months ago I saw an article posted on a sustainability website that suggested upcycling your Christmas tree to make beer. As the article correctly states, there is a precedent for using tree components in brewing. However, the article incorrectly implies that using your Christmas tree is the best way to go about making something drinkable.
I haven’t done any gardening yet this year because 1) I haven’t had time, 2) I’m lazy, and 3) I’m doing my part to protect any beneficial creatures that may be living in my garden. (Yes, you can justify laziness with sustainability!) In case you haven’t started your spring gardening yet, I hope this information will prove useful for you and your garden’s inhabitants.
It has been an interesting and challenging Lent. Some things I will keep doing; some I probably will not. All in all, it was very educational – I found myself doing research on subjects I hadn’t considered before. I was much more informed, thoughtful, and intentional in my decision-making, which was ultimately the goal.
Going into Lent this year, I realized that food would be my biggest challenge – whether eating while traveling, fueling/recovering from running, or just finding a way to make sure I got some nutrition during my long, busy days. This week I spent some time in the kitchen, cooking more in one day than I have during all of Lent so far, creating almost no waste.
I hadn’t expected to need to shop for clothes during Lent, but this challenge is about opening my eyes to problems I hadn’t considered. As certain clothing items are giving up the ghost, I’m becoming aware of what I should and shouldn’t do to replace them (both now and in the future).