This Earth Week, our staff put their heads together to give you recommendations on how to bring the #OutsideInside. Here are some ideas on how to celebrate Mother Nature in quarantine. Have ideas to share? Please send them to cwood@leelanauconservancy.org and we will add them here!
- Put up a bird feeder and start your own #backyardbirdcount (here’s how).
- Look out your window and observe- the sky, trees, creatures, passersby- write down your observations.
- Start seeds and put them in a windowsill, watch them grow.
- Repot your house plants.
- Write or read nature-inspired poetry – Mary Oliver and Wendell Berry are some favorites. Then upload a recording of your poetry onto social media (tag #whyleelanau and #leelanautogether!)
- Read a nature-inspired book: some staff favorites are Silent Spring, Sand County Almanac, Beak of the Finch, and Bringing Nature Home.
- Observe a small patch- 1 meter squared- in your backyard, see what new things sprout up each day.
- Build a bird or a bat box.
- Catch a good documentary about nature like Our Planet, Winged Migration, One Strange Rock, Big Pacific, or Biggest Little Farm
- Check out Film fests like Banff or Fresh Coast, or Ted Ed for short nature-inspired documentaries and videos
- Plan out a new garden space and prep garden beds– be it flower or vegetables.
- Download and listen to some podcasts like BBC Earth or Nature.
- Explore places like Yellowstone, Yosemite or Grand Canyon on Google Earth.
- Play a nature-based board game like Wildcraft, Photosynthesis, Wingspan, Camp, Into the Forest, or Trekking the National Parks
- Build a fire outside and enjoy evening bonfires, and then after you Marie Kondo all your paperwork, add it to the fire.
- Just sit outside in your yard and listen – it’s much quieter.
- Tie fishing flies.
- Start an insect collection from around the yard or your local stream.
- Take a walk every day and find something tiny that you haven’t noticed before; take a picture if you love it and share with the hashtag #whyleelanau
- Use the apps iNaturalist or Seek to identify flora and fauna around your neighborhood or in a nearby natural area.
- Collect driftwood and rocks for painting at home.
- Wake up early and listen to spring (birds)
- Transplant bulbs or other perennials and create pocket gardens around your yard/property
- Collect natural materials and make fairy gardens or houses with your kids/grand kids
- Check out some live zoo cameras- great if you have kids at home. If you search “live zoo camera” on YouTube, some really good stuff comes up- pandas, penguins, Monterey bay aquarium jellyfish. Two of our favorites are these bald eagles nests. One has 2 eaglets and the other is lying on 2 eggs.
- Watch livestreams of eagle nests:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eMBHKBVkos
