This afternoon I headed to Onetangi Beach, just below our home, to do some earthing. I put my feet in the water and walked for about 2km there and back again along the beach.
"Grounding is a therapeutic technique that involves doing activities that “ground” or reconnect you to the electrons on the earth. According to advocates, water can be used to ground in the same way the earth is used for grounding. They suggest simply wading in a clear lake or swimming in the ocean as a way to ground yourself. This practice relies on earthing science and grounding physics to explain how electrical chargesTrusted Source from the earth can have positive effects on your body." I submersed my feet in the sea up to my ankles and walked in the sand with water splashing as the waves came in and out.
On my way back I spotted a huge boil-up - "when shoals of predatory fish species such as kingfish, kahawai and trevally often concentrate their prey - anchovies, pilchards and krill - close to the sea surface, producing ‘boil-ups’ that attract large numbers of surface-feeding seabirds. In New Zealand, these can include shearwater, petrel, and prion species, Australasian gannet, red-billed gull, white-fronted tern, and grey noddy depend on these boil-ups to obtain much of the high- quality food needed to rear their chicks successfully. There is some concern that the frequency, size and duration of these events may be declining due to changes in fish stocks, for whatever reason. If so, this could reduce the birds’ overall foraging efficiency and compromise breeding success."
Today's was a real boil up, I have never seen one this active before. Maybe with no boats around, the sea feels free to behave like it did 100 years ago when boil-ups like this were probably everywhere.
As I go for bike rides and walks in lockdown I have started to think about nature returning to the wild. It has taken 3.8 billion years for nature to evolve, then humans come along and wipe many of those species out. I suspect many of those species are crucial for us to live here forever.
I am interested in a planet to sustain us all. Nature seems to know that every species is crucial to its existence. Why do we interrupt that? My mind starts connecting with all of nature and my mind returns nature to the wild. We need boil-ups to sustain life. I think I could create a boil-up on the land. I think a team of us could plant a regional diverse vegetable garden in spring on some vacant council land behind where we live. We could get a "boil-up" of fresh vegetables six to eight weeks later. Young people, teenagers and adults from all walks of life, could arrive at the vegetable patch with bags ready to pick a variety of vegetables at the same time. The boil-up in the sea requires biodiversity. You need bigger fish chasing the little fish, and where the seabirds can find them. You need anchovies, pilchards, kahawai, gulls, petrels, shearwaters and more. On the land we will need worms in the soil, lots of vegetable variety - tomatoes, peppers, lemongrass, lettuce, potatoes, kumara, water cress, and more. And we will need easy access for children, Maori, pakeha, other ethnicities, young people, teens and adults too.
After I thought of this idea I found a YouTube clip about how humans should think about copying nature in what they do. It is called biomimicry.
Then Bill (the only person in my bubble) and I went on our regular bike ride. I spotted a tui on a power line really singing and calling loudly, like I had never seen or heard before. I did not get a photo, and I later wished I had. I could not get it out of my head, and so I searched the internet to find some photos or videos of tuis singing and calling. I did find a tui like I saw - you know, really being self expressed.
I also found Woof the Tui. Wow. She was so loud, self expressed and clever.
In the future I would like to be self expressed planting edible natives and vegetables in gardens on vacant land all over New Zealand to look after Papatūānuku - Mother Earth. I saw a country calendar programme last week about Regenerative Farming. I love this idea allover Aotearoa too.
Here is another find not far from our home (the flax bush, not the sign).
I love the Harakeke flax bush with the flower in the middle. It is on its own. It is amazing how a flower grows this big - how it sprouts upwards and blossoms.
Then there are the signs about the new rules under the outbreak of coronavirus everywhere. I want more flax with flowers in this photo too. I want more plants surrounding the beach. They look beautiful and they also stop the erosion of the sandbanks into the sea.
Now it is your turn.
Go out into nature. Stay still looking at a scene for about ten minutes. Photograph something in the scene that you are drawn to. Say why you are drawn to it and then create a new future with it. Create something that puts nature you like back into the wild. (This can be a photo or if you have a piece of paper you can draw your hope for the future.)
Send it to me at info@storiesinaction.co.nz if you want to. I'd love to see what you come up with. I could post it in my blog? Parents and children and families can do it together or individually. (Please credit whoever was involved.) I can't wait to see what you come up with. In return for your photo/drawing, and your "new world" photo/drawing I will send you another activity like this one. (That is if you want it.) And if you get to three activities I will send you a free e-book or game to play!
And you are free to send this blog to anyone who wants to create a new world returning nature back into the wild. Be filled with joy as you have fun in nature.