From our newsletter... On Nature

When I was a kid, I used to go outside all the time. In fact my mother would force me to spend the long summer days and cold snowy winter weekends outside with my dog, exploring our land.

I grew up in the mountains of Canada and in the winter, it was a regular occurrence to wake up to a fresh foot or two of snow that fell on top of the already accumulated foot or two of snow. Winter was my absolute favorite time of year: the cozy dark, the crisp cold, the soft snow fall.

My favorite memory of winters as a kid, is of our high country chalet. This sounds a lot more glamorous that it was: basically it was a shack in the woods that had a wood stove in it. It was essentially camping but warmer.

None the less, we would cross country ski up there (I have no idea how long it was but it felt like 20 miles when I was 10) and spend the weekend skiing and playing in the snow. We were warned by our parents to be careful of the pits that form under trees as they could be up to 10ft deep and impossible to get out of. We snowshoed up the mountain further and saw giant fir trees weighted down by 2 feet of snow on each branch, glittering in the cold sunlight, each little snowflake seemingly defined.

At night, we would sit on the hard, wood bench at the table and play cards and drink hot chocolate as the snow fell quietly outside and in the morning, we would have to dig our way out of the house.

I think if you asked my parents, they might say that i complained about the long trek up to the chalet and probably moaned about cold feet or fingers once we got there. But now, looking back, these were the days that formed my love of the outdoors and my instinctual need to be out in the wilderness as much as possible. People call this nature bathing now, I’ve heard, and I like that term. But for me, it’s more than something that I do every so often to recharge- it’s something that I need to do everyday; even if it’s just sitting in my garden watching the robins.

We are so fortunate here in Mendocino to have so much nature everywhere we go. And we at The Color Mill are extremely fortunate to be working with some of the organizations that are working hard to preserve these natural spaces for generations to come.

Even though we don’t have snowy mountains here on the coast, we have moss covered redwoods and craggy tidepools to explore. So anytime you have a spare minute, go to the ocean, or sit and watch the robins in your garden and notice how it makes you feel. I hope it brings you calm and peace.