Allison Aanderud Cover Arielmae Shatlaw 34

Northern New Yorker

Nature: February Woods Arielmae Shatlaw

Nature, what is it but a bunch of trees, hills, and dirt? Nature is defined as, “The phenomenon of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and features and products of the earth…,” (Oxford Dictionary of English). So yes, nature is trees, hills, dirt, but it also encompasses every organic and inorganic matter not created by mankind. It has been here before us humans and will stay long after. Nature is strong, self-sustainable, and everlasting. This reminds me of a walk I took almost 4 years ago through the woods behind my home.

It was a brisk late February day, the 25th to be exact. Around this time, I had just received a new iPhone 7+, and I could not wait to go outside and take some photos with it. I have always been into nature photography, but it was never anything I pursued in high school or even so far in college. However, I do consider it a hobby. And, as I was walking through the woods, I noticed even with all the snow that had just fallen, the forest was still blooming with new life. My senses were happily overwhelmed with the dewy, earthy scent that floated along the chilly air, the fresh flashes of greens and yellows as moss and grass began to grow again, the sharp sounds of birds calling to each other from overhead, and the contrast of textures under my boots as I stepped through layers of frozen snow and sloshed through thawing puddles of mud. After some time, I stopped walking and began to observe the world around me. One thing I am always on the hunt for when I go on nature walks are mushrooms. I love the variety of texture, color, size, sometimes the smell, too. I almost never touch the marvelous array of fungus as I know some can be dangerous for consumption or to even touch. Nevertheless, that does not stop me from photographing them. And, as I stood looking at the trees surrounding me, I noticed this quaint little array of fungi (Fig. 1). I loved the top of them, smooth but firm in texture, glossy from the thin layer of ice that must have frozen over from that morning’s dew. They were absolutely beautiful.

I continued a little further into the forest, looking above me this time instead of below. I was now on the lookout for some birds’ nests sitting high upon the bare branches, but I did not see any, nor any of the birds that I could hear. I stopped again to let myself absorb my surroundings and think deeply. It was like I was alone in one sense and surrounded in another. Walking in the woods unaccompanied can be eerie but is a soothing feeling to me. It is like the towering trees are showing me that life can continue, even in a hard and difficult time. Despite the cold, the ice, the wildlife that trenches through the land, etc., the grass continues to grow, the leaves on the trees come back every year, the birds sing, the bees buzz, the rain collects and falls and its never-ending cycle. Life simply continues.

I feel like nature is something that we have lost touch with as humans who honestly depend on it for our survival. Mankind has become so comfortable with nature that it is taken granted for and abused. In the end, nature will outlive us. In the meanwhile, all we can do is try to make individual impacts, thus creating a larger one to sustain nature to sustain ourselves. Our relationship with nature should be one that gives to each other, not a one-sided effort from the earth that provides us life. I know I will always appreciate nature and take in as much of it as I can in way that benefits us both. Nature has taught me to continue growing my body, my mind, and my overall life, because again, life continues, always. Works Cited “Oxford Dictionary of English.” Microsoft. com. Oxford Languages, nature definition - Bing. Accessed 9 Jan. 2022.

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