What's in Your Backyard?

Now that it’s summer, we’re biking a lot.

Exploring country back roads, rail trails on old railroad beds, hiking paths, and single-track trails in the woods. 

Discovering a lot of things we did not know existed.

Roads and towns and animals we have never seen before. The foundation of a train turntable from 1850 and multiple historical train depots. Blueberry patches and day lily gardens. Old mill yards and stone foundations of old homes. Graveyards with legendary veterans and heroes—such as Richard Potter, America’s first renowned black celebrity over 200 years ago. Ponds and lakes, snowmobile trails and conservation lands, hilly and mountain views. 

What have I learned?  

It’s illuminating to explore your own geography. 

As kids we learn about famous places in our state and the world and study capitals and countries. But sometimes we don’t know what’s in our own backyard. 

What is in the woods near you that you have never explored or discovered? 

Even if you are more of a city dweller, what museums and theaters and parks have you not yet uncovered?

We have found a conservation area that host the oldest gum tree in New Hampshire. Cedar swamps full of rhododendrons. Covered bridges and iron trestles connecting land over rivers. Little libraries where people give away books at the end of their driveways, and farm stands that sell eggs and fresh vegetables or homemade cookies.

What are you walking by, riding by, or driving by right now that you don’t even know is there?  

What local treasures are within your arm’s reach? 

It’s this way with support that is there to help us—and with our own potential too. We can walk right by things or ideas that could help us, not even realizing they are even there.

We installed trail cameras in our backyard a few months ago, which borders conservation land. We were curious what the camera would capture, assuming that we might see deer and our neighbor’s cats. 

In the end, we definitely saw deer.

And the neighbor's cats.

But also two different black bears bumbling along. 

An opossum.

A coyote! 

A family of raccoons. Over and over again the raccoons. 

These animals clearly have secret lives that we know nothing about, as if Beatrix Potter’s own countryside dwells right behind our house. 

At night, we can hear the barred owls calling back and forth to each other.  

There's much wisdom in these animals that we could learn from. They bring healing energy and the promise of new life.

Kayah George, a Coast Salish matriarch in training, shared something her grandfather used to say: “Get to know the animals and nature around you. Because if you don’t get to know it, you won’t understand it, and what you don’t understand, you fear, and what you fear, you destroy.”

This certainly is true of the biodiversity around us. 

But this also can ring true of what is in our own geography. 

Ask yourself: What support am I walking by right now in my life that might be helpful to me? What am I passing that could save hardship or difficulty in the future? 

This broadening of our view sharpens our atonement to all kinds of things in life. 

What’s in your broader landscape that might bring you joy? 

What help do others offer that you are stubbornly refusing to accept? 

What grace in your own landscape might you be missing?

Pause. Take a few steps. Look around.

Wisdom and beauty might be patiently awaiting.

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