Photo by Angela Kirk

Sunday was one of those beautiful fall days. It was too nice to be inside the house, so Doc and I decided to go out and start some fall clean up in the yard. To be honest, Doc did most of the work and I stayed busy stealing the last of the green tomatoes that had fallen off the vine and burried them in the soil for a later date.

There is something wonderful about being outside even if you have chores to do. Digging in the dirt, pruning the plants to get them ready for winter and just being in the warm sun has a way of lifting your spirits. Nature always brings you back to a place of calm.

Doc say she worries sometimes that everyone is getting too detached from nature. She feels that the more society becomes disconnected from our roots of farming and interacting with the earth, the more anxious and depressed humans become. There’s been gobs of research to back up what she’s saying ( I know, because I looked it up.) So it’s always a shock to me when I hear someone say they don’t like the outdoors. Nature is part of who we are. You don’t have to be hands on with it like Doc and I, but everyone can be soothed by a beautiful sunset or gazing at the stars on a moon lit night.

Albert Einstein once said, “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” What a smart and observant man. I think humans sometimes believe that the answer to everything lies in technology. Although technology is wonderful, it will never match the perfection of nature. Nor will technology ever sooth and sing us to sleep like the sounds of the crickets on a cool fall night.