What was your favorite childhood nature moment? Jodi’s new blog explores how childhood experiences in nature can make a lifelong impact.
There was a wild spot I visited often as a young girl growing up in Orange County. Well, technically, it was a golf course behind my childhood home. But thanks to two major floods, and lack of attention by the city, it was wild for several pivotal years during my childhood. I have vibrant memories of catching frogs in swampy ponds with my older brother, building a tree fort with my neighbor Gage, playing with plants, and that one time my brother’s shoe got stuck in the mud, I thought we were both going to get sucked under like quicksand… but WE SURVIVED!!!
Looking back, I see how those edge experiences of adventure, exploration and connection in the natural world made a profound impact on my life, pushed me to grow, and continue to benefit me today.
Without those experiences, would I have had the inspiration to create Earthroots? Probably not.
When I moved back to Orange County as an adult and started leading nature connection classes, I really felt the pressures of land conservation in our area. My childhood nature spot had been manicured, and is no longer the same. Land here is extremely valuable in many different ways. It’s no surprise that neighborhood wild spaces are disappearing for today’s youth.
While there are amazing county parks, the most accessible wilderness parks have restrictions prohibiting the things that made my childhood nature connection experiences so amazing. I truly understand the benefit of “no touch” conservation, especially in a high density populated area like ours.
But I need – we all need – access to wild places where we can be ourselves in nature. Where we can build relationships with the plants by harvesting and tending them over time. Where we can follow the animal trails, splash in the creek, spend time year after year with the same trees, and have the opportunity to model this freedom for the young, and young at heart.
Thankfully, in 2011, Earthroots was able to step into Big Oak Canyon and begin a relationship with the land. A relationship that will hopefully continue for generations. Privately owned natural areas fill a niche that is not met at the city or county level.
Taking decades of experience in the fields of ecology, biology, and permaculture, Earthroots staff and board members have been managing Big Oak Canyon’s private 39 acres with care and connection at the center. Of the total land, approximately 9 acres is accessible for programs, where our students learn to harvest wild plants for food, medicine, shelter and tools, learn about stream ecology, wilderness survival and regenerative agriculture. While doing so, students learn the meaning and value of ethical harvesting, how to tend the land by giving value to diversity, strategies to restore native habitat, and making use of invasive species that are removed. The remaining 30 acres live untouched. It is important for us to preserve the life of this land – the soil, the air, the water, the plants, the animals, and the beauty of it all.
All human presence has an impact on nature, and we are working to make a positive impact at Big Oak Canyon. Motion sensing cameras along the trails confirm that our human presence allows for a diverse range of wildlife to be at home at Big Oak Canyon. Have you watched the trail camera videos yet?
Deer, bobcat, fox, coyote, owl, hawk, squirrel, mountain lion… it’s incredible to know that we all walk along the same trails day after day, year after year.
The land, the animals, the plants, the water, the people… we go hand in hand. It is hard work to tend the land with care. And it is meaningful work that brings a smile to my heart because it touches on the childhood memories that are like gold to me. Earthroots does the hard and meaningful work to care for Big Oak Canyon so that today’s youth and future generations have a place to build their own unique nature connection memories that will inspire their lives into adulthood, and as a place of rejuvenation for all.
Many people in the Earthroots community have meaningful childhood nature memories, and give that to today’s youth by investing in Earthroots. Income from programs does not cover the maintenance and expenses of caring for Big Oak Canyon. We are grateful that the land remains wild, and that we are creating spaces for our class participants to work on projects, prepare food that they have harvested, and keep our resource library out of the elements. Thank you to everyone who has, and continues to support this vision. I am grateful for you, the Earthroots community.
I felt a lot of joy reflecting on my adventures as a child. I want to ask you to do the same. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and let yourself daydream about your favorite childhood memory in nature. I hope it brings a smile to your face.
With gratitude,
Jodi
