hiking

If you seek internal answers, nature can help. Whether you believe it or not, nature can help extract internal messages from us when we consciously make the decision to open up and set the intention to listen. It can make us aware of things in regards to ourselves as well as circumstances in our lives we may need assistance with. There are also times when it can give us inner-encouragement as well. Nature can point out to us internal messages in many ways, and I am here to share my own personal example with you.

As winter approaches there is a lot of work that has to be done in order to prepare. I usually start with the garden.

There is a myth surrounding acorns that states Acorns are poisonous and can’t be eaten! Acorns can be eaten, but you wouldn’t want to just pick one up and eat it. There’s a leaching process that must be done in order to make the acorns edible.

One of my favorite parts about living on a farm or off of the grid is getting to work with the animals. Chickens are usually the first animal people get on a farm – or sometimes even in a backyard.

There are literally hundreds of chicken breeds out there. You could look at pictures and decide which ones you want to raise according to looks but I recommend looking into some things. Important factors to consider when choosing a chicken:

The Autumn Equinox is one of my favorite seasonal transitions to experience. Don’t get me wrong – I love all of the seasons and I appreciate the changes, but Autumn is just the bee’s knees.

Nature is good for me because it shows me a different, more expansive side of life that people too often do not expose themselves to in the cubicles of their minds' eye, from the limited contours of the concrete jungle.

Living off the grid provided me with several encounters with nature in many forms – whether it was the weather, creature critters or the growing forest. Some of my favorite encounters were with animals and I love them all. I was far enough out in the woods that spotting wildlife was as easy as finding a game on ESPN. I have so many experiences but today I will share with you a few of my favorites.

The Big Bear

No matter the lifestyle you are living, there are bound to be certain worries that come along with it. I lived “on the grid” for most of my life. In 2012 my little family and I decided to plunge ourselves into the woods and off of the grid. As I studied, practiced, and prepared for this transitional tidal wave of a shift, I realized that my worries and concerns would now be different in many ways. It was interesting then, and still is today, to sit back and compare the differences.

Before electricity, the fireplace or wood stove was the heart of every home. For those of us that live off of the grid, we know that fire is life, just as it was back then. Fire is everything: it provides heat for warmth and cooking and provides light at night.

Everything about fire serves a purpose in one way or another:

“I love not Man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel”

Quote From Lord Byron: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage