Spring, optimism, and getting outside
By Dan Ryan for Ethos magazine: issue 09 | February 2019
This issue of Ethos rolls off the printers at the end of February on the cusp of winter and spring. As we pivot on a change of season, so we also pivot on a change of mood. The sun becomes more vivid in the sky showing us that spring — that most optimistic of seasons — is upon us. It’s the time when I start getting outside again in earnest; walking trails, digging the garden, and watching birds streak across open skies returning from their overseas adventures.
Cornish winters can be notoriously bleak, so it’s a bliss to have Eden’s steamy Rainforest Biome to shelter in. I’ve not needed to take refuge there much this year — while writing this in mid-January we’re in the midst of a spell of bizarrely mild weather. So mild in fact I thought I was hallucinating a few weeks ago as I pulled a ripe-ish tomato off a straggly plant. Only yesterday I walked a wooded inland creek and you’d be forgiven for thinking it was mid-October, rather than mid-January, such was the bounty of forest floor fungi. It can be easy to forget it’s not normally like this…
This time of low productivity between the winter crops and spring growth is called the hungry gap. This to-the-point name means there’s not enough nutrition in fields, allotments, and hedgerows to feed all the hungry mouths. The hungry gap was much more of a problem for our agricultural ancestors than it is for us, of course, but it’s also the reason this is the key time to be feeding our garden birds.
As the light floods back in, much of my optimism comes from noticing the world come back to life. You’ll have your favourite moments, as well, I’m sure. Snowdrops in January? Daffodils in February? Birds scoping nest sites in March? The arrival of swallows in April? Or the greening of the land as oak and ash come into leaf in May? These are the miracle months of sensory overload when we feel the world come alive around us.
I’ve found ways that help me notice the changes; collecting things, scribbling notes, and making photographs. Since moving to a new house 20 months ago I’ve kept a record of every bird and flowering plant I’ve found in the garden, for example. These simple acts keep me connected to the symphony and, although my relationship with nature is very personal, I’ve found some joy lately in sharing these things with others. A few months ago, I came across a movement on Twitter called #WildFlowerHour — every Sunday between 8 and 9pm it bursts into life with people sharing images and stories of wild flowers they’ve found. Oh, what a colourful antidote to the background din of Brexit and Trump!
#WildFlowerHour led me to a chap called Miles Richardson, Professor of Nature Connection at Derby University, whose work, among other things, reveals how making a note of the good things we find in nature can have positive psychological benefits. This research has manifested itself as another mini-movement #3NatureThings, where people share three memorable moments from that day. Today I’ve had a rather one-sided chat with a buzzard, got eye-level with a clump of snowdrops, and inhaled the pineapple scent of gorse cloaking the Eden pit.
At Eden we’ll be spending these warming spring days taking people outside to connect with each other and, the rest of nature. Whether it’s teeny tinies in our outdoor pre-school Little Eden, to those referred to our horticultural therapy scheme, or business leaders on quests to work more ecologically, we could all do with a bit more nature. And when we do make these connections, nature undoubtedly benefits too. Personally, it looks like I’ve just got hold of an allotment on a sunny south-facing slope so that will keep me busy. How will you be getting outside this spring?
Dan Ryan is an eco-optimist. He’s an educator at the Eden Project in Cornwall, where he teaches university students, facilitates workshops for businesses and is part of the team creating new Edens around the world.
