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Category: Gardening And Outdoors

There Is Nothing Like Gardening And Outdoor Life For That Free Nature Feel.

Published on Leave a comment on Anxious, Depressed, Distracted — What If The Cure Is Just Outside?

Author Florence Williams talks trees, cities, and creativity in her new book "The Nature Fix."

You Spend 5 Percent Of Your Day Outside. Try Making It More. At a time when more than half of all people live in cities, the influence of the natural world is at a low ebb, while our understanding of it keeps growing.

Try Spending Some Time Outdoors - It Lifts Your Mood Level

For two decades, Florence Williams could sit on her porch at night and watch the alpenglow on the Rocky Mountains. Then she moved from remote Colorado to Washington, DC, and started noticing the changes.

“I felt disoriented, overwhelmed, depressed,” she writes in her recent book, The Nature Fix. “My mind had trouble focusing. I couldn’t finish thoughts … and I wasn’t keen to get out of bed.”

Williams was suffering, she says, from nature withdrawal. She spent the next three years digging into the science of how nature works on our brain. In short, it makes us more relaxed, more creative, and more socially connected. She traveled to Japan and Finland, the deserts of Utah and the urban forests of Singapore, to study just how much we stand to gain by bring nature back into our lives.…

Published on Leave a comment on 5 Simple Ways To Spend More Time Outside As A Family – Have A Peep

That lifestyle is what drew us here. We wanted to provide a different type of upbringing for our three young girls: one that focused on adventurous time spent in nature. So for the past two years we’ve been committed to finding fun and imaginative ways to spend as much time as possible out in nature. Over time we’ve grown from a family that considered a trip to a local park an adventure, to one that hikes and camps, fishes and skis.

We’ve grown closer as a family as we’ve grown to embrace our new lifestyle. And our difficult daughter? Well, we still have our moments, but almost never outside.

At first we didn’t know exactly why we wanted to raise outdoor loving kids – it just instinctively seemed like a good idea. If we did have a specific motivation, it was the hope that by starting them early our girls would grow up physically strong and healthy, and with a lifelong love for outdoor activity. Over time we’ve come to learn that the emotional benefits of more time in nature probably outweigh the physical ones.

BENEFITS OF SPENDING MORE TIME IN NATURE AS A FAMILY

It builds confidence.…

Published on Leave a comment on Oh The Joy: USA Farmer Grows 2 Million Sunflowers To Make People Happy!

THEY SAY AMERICANS LIKE TO DO THINGS IN A BIG WAY, AYE? WELL YOU MUST READ ABOUT WHAT THIS STRAWBERRY FARMER IN WISCONSIN DID LAST YEAR WHEN PEOPLE COULDN'T GO OUT MUCH DURING THE PANDEMIC. IT BROUGHT SMILES TO EVERYONE'S FACES - EVEN THOSE WHO WERE TOO FAR TO COME. I'VE OFTEN SAID PLACES ARE FROM A TO B IN ADELAIDE, A TO G IN OTHER STATES, AND A TO Z IN AMERICA. THIS DID NOT STOP PEOPLE TRAVELLING FROM MANY CITIES NEAR AND FAR. SOME FOLK HAVE A WAY OF "CHEERING PEOPLE UP" AND THIS STRAWBERRY FARMER IS ONE OF THEM - WHAT A NICE THING TO DO, SUCH A KIND GESTURE!

'Everyone Is So Happy'

Scott Thompson wakes up each day to a field decorated with more than two million blooming sunflowers.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with a dark cloud looming over the world, the Wisconsin farmer decided it was time to breathe joy into 2020.

So, he planted millions of the vibrant yellow flowers on his strawberry fields.

"As the season went on, the pandemic never went anywhere ... and we thought people might be looking for something to do, and what a great way to social distance and ...…

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Published on 2 Comments on The Importance Of Green Spaces And Their Practical Applications – Researched

GREEN SPACE IS A TERM USED FOR GARDENS, PARKS AND NATURE SETTINGS THAT ARE PLANNED OR INTRODUCED IN CITY AND SUBURBAN AREAS FOR THE BENEFIT OF RESIDENTS, WORKERS AND VISITORS AND ENHANCING DEVELOPMENTS. THEY PROVE TO BE BENEFICIAL FOR HEALTH, MENTALLY AND EMOTIONALLY. THE THERAPUETIC BENEFITS CAN EVEN BE EXPERIENCED PHYSICALLY AS WELL. EVEN THE YOUTH BENEFIT BEHAVORALLY WHEN THERE IS GREEN SPACE IN THEIR AREA. LAND DEVELOPERS ARE NOW CONSIDERING MORE GREEN SPACE IN NEW DEVELOPMENT AREAS. THIS IS SOMETHING THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN INCLUDED YEARS AGO AND IS NOW BEING CORRECTED. GARDENS AND NATURE IS SOMETHING THAT IS NECESSARY IN OUR LIVES AND WE CAN ALL BENEFIT BY SPENDING SOME TIME OUTDOORS.

Gardening For Health: A Regular Dose Of Gardening

By Richard Thompson – Royal College Of Physicians UK

There is anxiety that the NHS cannot cope now and in the future with the health needs of an increasing and ageing population. It is also realised that pharmaceutical drugs are increasingly expensive and are not always as effective as they appear in the results of early, enthusiastically reported, clinical trials. Drugs are also prescribed at the cost of side effects, which are a leading cause of admissions to hospitals, particularly for the elderly, who are poorly represented in trials.…

Published on Leave a comment on We Are Custodians Of The Earth – Lets Take Care Of Nature And She Will Take Care Of Us

By Janet Vargas - Owner Of This Website

Each Country, Each Person. With All Of Us Playing Our Part, There Is Still HOPE. Our Creator Knows Best And We Have Separated Ourselves From NATURE. Sadly But True. In PART, Many Are Waking Up To This, Governments, Countries And Individuals. We Have Made Advances In Clothing And Textiles, Technology And Manufacture Of Many Goods - We Have Much Knowledge In Recent Decades, Yet For The Most Part, We Remain Ignorant About NATURE And NATURE'S ROLE In Our Lives. This Post Is About How Each Of Us Can Make Meaningful Changes As Individuals And Families, Awareness Groups And A Nation, Here In Australia. If You Are Visiting This Website From A Different Country, Welcome, I Encourage You To Practice And Spread Principles You Will See In This Article.

On This Earth, In This 'Civilised' Generation, Indeed We Have Separated Ourselves And Our Children From The Benefits And Privileges Nature Has To Truly Endow Us With. It Goes Without Saying, How We Have Treated This Earth And Sea Very Poorly And Are Reaping Climate Changes Etc As A Result By Disturbing The Elements. We Have Tried To 'Better' Nature (In Her Wisdom) By Turning To Man-Made Medical Drugs And Chemical Agriculture.......In…

Published on Leave a comment on Scientists Are Saying That Birds Make Us Happier And Less Stressed – Find This True

THIS LAST YEAR HAS BROUGHT MANY OF US INTO MORE CONTACT WITH NATURE WHEN HAVING TO DISTANCE OURSELVES SOCIALLY. I'VE ALWAYS LOVED TO HEAR THE BIRDS WHEN THEY VISIT NEARBY, WAKE UP EARLY IN THE MORNINGS, SEE THEM IN THE PARKS, AT THE BEACHES, FLYING IN FORMATIONS ON OCCASSIONS ABOVE THE HOUSES IN MY LOCALITY WHEN I STEP OUTSIDE. I'VE JUST PURCHASED A SECOND BIRDBATH RECENTLY, SO I HAVE A DEEPER ONE OUT THE FRONT FOR THE MAGGIES WHO LOVE TO SPLASH IN IT, AND A SHALLOW ONE FOR THE BACK, SO THE SPARROWS CAN REFRESH THEMSELVES TOO. I CAME HOME THE OTHER DAY TO SEE A PIGEON RESTING PEACEFULLY IN THAT ONE FOR QUITE SOME TIME - NOT SO QUICK TO FLY AWAY, AYE? WITH A LITTLE PATIENCE, YOU CAN BEFRIEND SOME BIRDS A LITTLE - ATLEAST WE CAN MAKE OUR YARDS INVITING AND EXPERIENCE PRECIOUS MOMENTS HERE AND THERE ON DIFFERENT DAYS.

Being Around Birds Makes Us Much Happier Says New Science

By Andy Corbley

We see them nearly everywhere we go, we hear them every day, they live in every environment, and now, two new studies have shown their mere presence makes us happier.…

Published on Leave a comment on Garden Areas Improves The Health Of Children In Daycare Centres And Hospitals

I FOUND THESE ARTICLES RECENTLY CONCERNING THESE NATURE ELEMENTS THAT ARE MISSING IN THE LIVES OF SO MANY WELL CHILDREN AND ESPECIALLY IN THE LIVES OF CHILDREN WHO HAVE LONG STAYS IN HOSPITALS OR MAYBE EVEN LIVE IN. THERE IS NOTHING LIKE THE INTRIGUE AND PEACE AND BEAUTY OF PLANTS TO CHILDREN. THEY'RE COMFORTING AND ENJOYABLE. THEY HELP TO OFFSET SOME OF THE MODERN DAY TECH AND EQUIPMENT CHILDREN GET ACCUSTOMED TO IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT IN THIS MODERN ERA. MAYBE IF YOU DON'T HAVE A GARDEN AT HOME, YOU WILL CONSIDER GROWING SOME PLANTS IN SOME WAY, SO YOU CAN ENJOY MORE TIME OUTDOORS IN THE FRESH AIR AND SUNSHINE.

New Study Shows Garden Areas Improved The Immune Systems of Daycare Children In Only A Month

A study in Finland showed, for the first time, that the immune system of children ages 3-5 improved when lawns, and planter boxes were added outside daycare centers.

Dozens of comparative studies have previously found that children who live in rural areas and are in contact with nature have a lower probability of catching an illness resulting from disorders in the immune system—and a lower risk of developing coeliac disease, allergies, atopy, and even diabetes.…

Published on Leave a comment on Go With Nature Instead Of Pesticides – Beneficial Plants/Insects Will Help Your Gardening Efforts

CHEMICALS ARE BAD NEWS, NATURE IS GOOD - IT WILL HELP YOU TAKE CARE OF YOUR GARDEN IF YOU WORK WITH IT'S PRINCIPLES, SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS THE LAWS OF NATURE. JOIN THE MANY FOLK WHO ARE GOING CHEMICAL FREE. IF IT WASN'T FOR THE USE OF NASTY CHEMICALS, MEDICAL WAITING ROOMS WOULD BE HALF EMPTY. YES THAT'S TRUE, SO LETS LOOK AFTER OUR FAMILIES, HEY? AND SPREAD THE NEWS FROM THIS POST TO NEIGHBOURS AND FRIENDS, SO THEY CAN BENEFIT TOO. MANY ARE TURNING TO THE DIGGERS CLUB OR YOUTUBE AND VARIOUS WEBSITES FOR BETTER SOLUTIONS, SO HERE'S SOME OF MY EFFORTS TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR SEARCH, INCLUDING 2 SAFE ORGANIC SPRAYS.

You Will See 5 Beneficial Insects To Encourage.

EXCERPTS FROM DIFFERENT WEBSITES

To Help Insects, Make Them Welcome In Your Garden – Here’s How

By Brian Lovett - Postdoctoral Researcher in Mycology, West Virginia University

Lawns Are Insect Food Deserts

Some gardeners choose native plants to attract and support helpful insects. Often, however, those native plants are surrounded by vast expanses of lawn. If you’re a gardener looking for a new challenge this year, consider revamping all or part of your yard to support beneficial insects.…

Published on Leave a comment on Former Musician Turns to Gardening In The Pandemic – Others Are Doing This!

ABC Wide Bay / By Eliza Goetze July 2020

Up until earlier this year, Luen Free was typically in a dimly lit nightclub, entertaining.

But with the Coronavirus pandemic putting her and many others out of work, she is using the time to pursue her other passion: Organic Farming.

And with the pandemic leaving fewer backpackers who typically go 'WWOOFing' — volunteering on organic farms — Australians are being encouraged to help out on home soil. Soaking up knowledge.

WWOOF stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms, a worldwide movement that has connected thousands of volunteers — many of them travellers — with farmers who offer food and a bed in exchange for gardening know-how.

From DJ To Permaculture During Pandemic

G'Day Farm co-founder, Greg Dixon, said he and his wife Dionne would struggle to run the farm smoothly without WWOOFers.

They welcome a small number of regular volunteers, who donate a few hours each week, as well as visitors like Luen and her husband Patch who stay for a week or more. "Each WWOOFer we've had, they've been great — a huge help," Mr Dixon said.

WWOOF Australia manager, Traci Wilson-Brown, said border restrictions meant fewer backpackers, who typically make up 80 per cent of WWOOF volunteers — but more Australians were taking their pandemic passion for gardening to the next level.…

Published on Leave a comment on Social Isolation Helped Me Discover The Wonders Of Walking and Enjoying Nature!

By Zoe Victoria April 2020

It’s been 16 days since my university shut down classes and I went into social isolation. Those first days of isolation felt like the end of the world. I felt constantly on edge. I was in a terrible mood most of the time and I resented the fact that I was stuck inside the house for everything. My work was online, my studies had transitioned online, I could only see and talk to my friends online. And amidst all of that, the internet bubble of news only seemed to be getting more and more anxiety-inducing.

I spent those sought after minutes of freedom walking my neighbourhood in an attempt to rid myself of the negative feelings of anger and anxiety that seemed to be constantly swirling around inside me. 

I have begun to look forward to my daily walk not just as an escape but as an enjoyable activity in its own right

And so my daily walk began as a way to escape the confines of the four walls of my house. If I didn’t leave I felt I would go stir crazy. One morning I woke up and did my level best to eat breakfast and change into my gym gear without encountering any of the other three people who live in my house.…