Sarah MacGregor

On Sunday I walked in a conservation land I'd never visited before, just 18 minutes from my house. The trail was beautiful and filled with glacial rock formations you could climb up. A sign told us on the way back that this area had been one of the 1st settlements around here and was founded by a few family's from Chelmsford. The settlement became known as The City and later the Lost City as the inhabitants moved away after the 1800s and all that remains are a few cellar holes now filled in and forested over. There is always something interesting and connecting in learning about those who lived in the same areas you did in the past. I wonder what the landscape looked like then. The sign said they came to the area because it produced good hay, which was in high demand at the time. I am used to seeing my home town covered in forests, with fields dotted here and there, but once the forests where the things dotted in a sea of fields. You still come upon the old stone walls which separated one field from another walking through the forests in thus region today. I'm glad the trees have been allowed to take over again and with them bring their biodiversity and heat capture. 

People that spend most of their times inside on screens miss the calming effects nature has. The sounds, smells and sights are so soothing and breathtaking. They also miss learning about all the amazing plants and animals which exist on this planet. Observing the animals that live around me going about their daily lives, from my beloved jumping spiders, to the various birds at my feeder and the rare sightings of opossums, fisher cats, raccoons, otters, and bob cats, is one of my great joys in life. Equal only to spotting a wild flower or mushroom I'd never seen before. I think being out in nature invites you to not only be inquisitive but also has the ability to give you a sense of both place and belonging, in what can often feel like a chaotic world.

 

I listened to one of BBC earth's Podcasts "The Man-Made Forest that led to extinction", It started out talking about how human's have shaped their landscapes across time, often to the detriment of the native species both plants and animals which live there, but ended on a more positive note about how, if we put in collective effort, humans can work to change the adverse effects they created. The example given was the Chinese Government's push to transform the Loess valley from the dessert it had become due to local farming and agricultural practices, back into the rich green ecosystem it had been before humans over farmed it. I will have to check out John D. Liu's documentary on the project called  "Regreening the Desert".

The meatless meal that changed my life (for the better) and made me realize that sandwiches (which I'd always disregarded) could be made delicious beyond compare, was Flour Bakery's original tomato, pesto and mozzarella sandwich. It elevated sandwiches to a whole new level for me.