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| Nina beaming after her walk in the forest |
This past
October, good friend and naturalist/phenologist Merridy Cox took a group of us
on a nature walk in Earl Bales Park, located south of Sheppard Avenue W and
east of Bathurst Street in North York, Ontario. Earl Bales Park spans 127 acres (51 hectares) of natural
park and features a dogs off-leash area, playgrounds, a sensory garden, splash
pad, outdoor amphitheatre, memorials, paved walking/cycling trails, picnic
sites and fire pits. The park also has one of the two Ski & Snowboard
Centres run by the City of Toronto. I parked off Don River Blvd and found the
group gathering at the head of the trail.
It
was a brisk 6 degrees out as Merridy led us along the main trail through a
mixed woodland of black walnut, ash, maple and paper birch.
Merridy
stopped beside a sumac shrub, leaves and berries now a brilliant red, and
invited everyone to experience the forest with all our senses—including taste.
The sumac’s deep red berries are dried and ground into a coarse powder as a
spice in the Middle East. I’ve used ground sumac in many of my salads and dishes
with poultry to add a “pop of colour and taste”; so, I wasn’t surprised when I
detected tangy lemon—even in the leaf.
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| Sumac with berries in fall |
Another
example of “tasting” the forest are the twigs of the birch tree—particularly
the yellow and black birch—which, when scraped with a knife (or chewed with
your teeth) will give off a strong wintergreen smell due to methyl salicylate
produced in the bark.
We
strolled along a wide path that led to a pair of murky settling ponds with a
colourful view of the forested hills of the park. Filtering the surrounding
storm water runoff, the marshy ponds eventually flow to the Don River. We
looped back via an enchanting side-path of cedar and hemlock, overseen by a well-established
maple upland forest.
At
the beginning of the walk, Merridy instructed everyone to stay silent and focus
on their environment. She suggested that each person find something of interest
in the forest and be ready to share their discovery at our lunch spot by the
ponds. Mine was the ubiquitous Queen Anne’s Lace, now gone to seed. Merridy
showed us how its outer “basket” enclosed the cornucopia of seeds inside.
Essentially, the large flower head had become a dried cluster of 70 or so
smaller clusters with 20 or so seeds—each sticky and light enough to be blown
great distances to find some animal to stick to and disperse it even further.
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| Showing the seed clusters inside the "basket" |
According to Legend mavens, Queen Anne, the
wife of King James I, was challenged by her friends to create lace as beautiful
as a flower. While making the lace, she pricked her finger, and it’s said that
the purple-red flower in the center of Queen Anne’s Lace represents a droplet
of her blood. But Merridy has another version of this story, and you must ask
her. This plant, considered a weed by most, is also called Wild Carrot, given
it is the wild progenitor of today’s carrot.
Five Steps to Wellness
Merridy
was using elements of her booklet “Nature Breaks for Busy Urbanites: Five Doses
of Relaxation” to connect people with nature. The booklet provides five steps
to help those wishing to reacquaint themselves with the natural world around
them. “Walking every day for a few minutes in a park or along a trail preserves
our health,” writes Merridy. “The benefit is not just from walking but from the
very act of gathering in the scents, sounds, and the feel of the natural world.”
In her booklet, Merridy prescribes an easy stepwise emersion in Nature through
five steps with associated “dose” of relaxing Nature. Step One, for instance—which
is 5-10 minutes in Nature—is a dose that is good to see you through the work
day.
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| Water drops on Black Locust leaflets |
Step One is a dose of 5-10 minutes in Nature, once per day. Given our
busy lives in the city, this obviously means finding Nature in the city: urban
forests, parks and parkettes. This is, in fact, a critical step; it’s the first
step toward turning to Nature and connecting in some way. Merridy recommends practicing
breathing, listening to bird song and focusing your eyes on natural things,
both stationary and moving: clouds, trees, birds, squirrels and other little
things. This first step is key to training your senses of the natural world. It
will take some practice (to filter out the city sounds) but soon the natural
world will make itself known to you.
Step Two is a dose of 20-30 minutes in Nature, two or three times per
week. This might be during a lunch hour or other break long enough to permit a
longer walk. This entails you finding a suitable area and park to walk to and
through. This might include walking to and from work through a different route.
“Create a destination, such as a landmark tree, rock, or architectural
structure,” says Merridy. During your walk, she recommends looking for natural
phenomena. Hone your skills from Step One; she suggests taking an observation
and looking for change over the times you visit. For instance, a tree over the
seasons. What the wildlife are doing. Cloud-gazing is one of my favourite
things to do.
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| upland maple forest |
Step Three is a dose of 2-3 hours in Nature, once per week. This is
easily done, because you can incorporate your day-off time into this pursuit.
It may include some driving time to get to a natural park outside of town. If
so, try to find an easeful way to get there. For example, I currently live in
Toronto and I discovered the Little Rouge River woodland and the Rouge River
park nestled within farmland outside of Markham. The route I’d initially
navigated was through the miasma of endless suburbia. I then chanced upon an
alternative route: the 401 Highway to Morningside then Old Finch Road, a
charming little winding road that led me along the high cliffs off the Rouge
and eventually to the Little Rouge. This made the entire trip relaxing and
wonderful. I’ve been regularly walking the trails since.
Merridy
writes: “A red leaf, a splash of water, a fish jumping, a white gull against a
blue sky—all of these are moments of grace, a gift from Nature that takes you
outside of yourself and lets your heart soar.” The effect on your sense of
well-being and ability to accomplish things is palpable.
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| fungal growth on white birch tree |
Step Four is a dose of one full day in Nature, once every two weeks.
While she doesn’t specify, I assume this means at least four hours—possibly six
or more hours of Nature experience. Long enough for a totally immersive
experience. Merridy writes: “You may come away with a memorable meeting with a
wild animal; you may find a copse of woods filled with radiant bird song; you
may be inspired to write a poem or draw a landscape.”
Step
Five is a dose of a whole weekend in Nature, once every month. With this kind
of immersive potential, Merridy suggests being mindful of natural rhythms, the
diurnal motions of sun and wind. You can pursue “forest bathing”, explore more
deeply by returning to the same place over each day. You have the chance to
truly study Nature using field guides. You can create poems, write letters to
friends, sketch or paint. Look for solitude and simply “be.” I enjoy my longer
moments in the forest or meadow, when my quietness allows Nature to return to
its natural rhythms and the wild animals ignore me to go about their business.
It
has long been proven that a human’s well-being is enhanced and maintained
through personal experience with the natural elements. A forest. A stream. A
meadow. A mountain.
I
write about this (particularly on the influence of water on our well-being) in my
book “Water
Is… The Meaning of Water”. Articles related to Nature’s influence
on our well-being include:
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