This last week Bracken and I started going on a daily walk. We always make a point to go outside every day. Adding a walk to the mix has been wonderful. It starts with a visit to the chickens, caring for them and gathering eggs. Sometimes there is an excursion to haul some firewood to the house. Then Bracken usually pleads “Walk mama!” and we head on our usual path. We head out the back garden gate and tell the chickens not to try to follow us. (They’ve been finding escape routes through all the fences lately.) We walk along the cedars, down below where the chicken coop sits up on the hill, under the peach tree, past our favorite summertime blackberry picking spot, and past the nettles patch. To the maple tree, where we pause for a bit. I hold his hand while he climbs the stairs (where our goats used to climb.) Then sometimes we walk through the woods with ferns and huckleberries and up part of the driveway to the house. Or we turn around and go back the way we came. It’s not a very long walk, really, but it feels like the perfect one for us right now.

As I’ve said many times before, Bracken is truly happiest when he’s outside and I see the transformation every time we walk out the door. Sharing our walks together has been so good for both of us. There is always so much to do inside and honestly, I need to get away from it all for a bit each day. I need to breathe, forget about everything that needs doing for a brief time, and be in the present moment with my boy. Nature time is essential for the soul. I’m reminded of that again and again.

P.S. In the pictures with our yard: those are giant mole hills in case you are wondering. The moles do serious damage here and we’re still trying to figure that all out. Any mole experts out there, by chance?