Nature's Benefits

When I was a child my family lived in a small copper mining community in a relatively unpopulated area of Arizona. There were very few houses and acres of open wild land. Land that was just waiting to be explored by the curious minds of children, and that is just what we children did. There were no pre-school classes, no head start programs, and no kindergarten to take us away from our wild, unspoiled acres. We just had hours and hours of valuable exploration time; time which we put to good use.

To those with untrained eyes, those who have not had the love of nature handed down to them, the desert of Arizona may seem barren and boring. However, if you look deeper, sit still a bit longer, you too can see all the wildlife teeming around you. We children could stay still a very long time if it meant we would be rewarded with the biggest lizard caught that day. We would become so immersed in our surroundings that we could sense the slightest movement of the Horny Toad as it slipped further between the sun-baked rocks to avoid capture. We would be patient enough to work with the June bugs until we could get a string around one so that we could fly it on a leash.

It was a magical place. A place where we were free, unhindered by chores, schoolwork, and adult eyes. A place where we spent hours upon hours relishing in the "toys" that nature had given us. In the process, learning first hand how life changes and evolves without ever entering a classroom. We learned what animals were dangerous: the rattlesnake and scorpion, to name just two; and which were benign: the horny toad, the blue-bellied lizard, the tortoise, and the June bugs.

These experiences, these true life lessons are irreplaceable. I knew that not only did I need to continue to enjoy and observe nature for myself but I wanted my children to experience nature the same way. To experience the excitement of seeing the spider building its web, the tiny robin's egg, the tadpoles, the tree frogs that have such a loud and booming voice but such a small body, and all the other incredibly miraculous intricacies of nature. I knew that those experiences could not happen in the confines of suburbia without some assistance.