“The drama of the sky dance is enacted nightly on hundreds of farms, the owners of which sigh for entertainment, but harbor the illusion that it is to be sought in theaters. They live on the land but not by the land.”
-Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
Even those of us who consider ourselves the most dedicated “outdoor enthusiasts,” “conservationists,” or “nature lovers” find ourselves out of tune with the rhythms and rituals of the land compared with preceding generations. The incessant demands, distractions and comforts of our fast-paced, technological society have drawn us away from our connection to nature. The privileges and conveniences of our time have come at the cost of insulating us from the natural world, shadowing our inherent interconnection with the land. Many of us would be ashamed to admit that we are more familiar with the sequence of television programs on any given night than the sequence of flowering plants in a local prairie. A recent study found that kids today can identify 1000 corporate logos but only 10 native plants and animals. Our daily lives are increasingly out of sync with the natural world around us, to the detriment of the land as well as our quality of life.
Pasque Flowers
And yet, natural events and yearly cycles continue to take place all around. There is at least one annual cycle that never goes unnoticed, even by the least observant. Each April we witness the extraordinary rebirth of our slumbering Wisconsin countryside. The sun rises earlier in the morning sky, buds begin to break, and the singing of birds is unlike anything we’ve heard in months. Spring! The time of year when many living things, including some people, emerge from hibernation. Even those of us who cherish the solitude, silence, and beauty of the the serene winter world begin to grow anxious at the prospect of the shifting seasons. The landscape awakens from the fog of a long dormancy. April fires sweep away the remnants of last year’s growth, rejuvenating the landscape. Pasque flowers and prairie smoke bloom again, soon to be followed by a parade of brilliant colors and soothing textures, fertilized by the ash of last year’s duff. Chorus frogs, spring peepers, and leopard frogs can be heard serenading each swollen pond and shallow meadow across the land. It’s truly a miraculous season that people and prairie eagerly anticipate.
This season of rebirth marks the real new year in nature’s calendar. Take this opportunity and make the resolution to become more intimately familiar with your local landscape as we slide into summer. Although we may never part with the many luxuries of our time, it’s critical for us to remain attuned and connected, and to continue to enjoy the rhythms of the natural world. I’ve heard stories of a distant time before the onset of ipods, internet, and satellite television when families would gather in the April twilight and sit on blankets at the edge of a woodlot, eating popcorn as they watch the sky dance of the woodcock before them. Perhaps it’s time to take a lesson from our history and reacquaint ourselves with the natural world around us.
