The Whys Make all the Difference

taking a moment to remember some whys, in the garden, and in life

Thanks for connecting here at Nature Moments, where we explore the wonders unfolding in the world all around us all the time. I hope my photography + stories will inspire you to be curious, be amazed, and then do it again!

Why is like a shore full of pebbles in a rolling tide.

When you find your why, you’re absolutely certain you’ll never lose sight of it. It’s so clear, so obvious, so perfect.

But…there are a lot of pebbles. A lot of rolling waves. A lot of tides, always in motion, always rising, or falling. It’s mesmerizing, you know? And all of a sudden, you can find yourself waking from the hazy reverie of tumbling whys to ask yourself, wait, which one was my why, again?

Why is important. Foundationally important, in a way that is easy to lose track of in the busy business of everyday life, where many small whys can easily become all-consuming. Because it needs to be straightened up, because someone’s hungry, because we need to run errands, because it’s time to pay the bills, and because it’s due tomorrow :)

I’m sitting here beneath the arching boughs of our old wild apple orchard, hemmed in by damp fog, in the midst of a string of unseasonably warm August days, listening to the cacophony of so many different birds, likely preparing for their autumn migrations, and thinking about my whys. All the whys. So many whys.

A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker drills sap wells just above my head. His why is clear and true and lovely, his tapping an anchor in a world adrift. An American Redstart is hunting, acrobatically flashing her signature yellow tail-stripes as she plucks flying insects from amongst the apple leaves. My soft exclamations are no part at all of her why, but they are an essential part of mine.

Last week, I stood in my garden, surveying a wilderness of tangled grassy weeds that I’d had no time to weed, choking out the haphazard remains of flowers that I had hastily scattered. And I thought about whys.

Why had I planted a garden that I knew I wouldn’t have time to properly care for?

There was no way we were going to be able to devote the necessary time to farming and gardening this season. This year, we’re recovering from a year spent away, and we’re finally able to move forward on building and renovation projects that have been on-hold for several years due to the pandemic and my mother’s Alzheimer’s journey. My oldest boys are in their junior and senior years of high school, getting their driver’s licenses, preparing for college. There’s just a lot going on, only so many hours in a day, and not nearly enough of them to really do farming and gardening well.

But you know what? Seeds don’t last forever. When we had to leave on short-notice, we didn’t get to plant our seeds for the year. And with every year that passes, seeds lose a little more viability. So this year, we had a very specific farm and garden why - to plant all that we could manage, just specifically in the hopes of harvesting fresh seeds for next year.

So I stood, looking at the messiness, looking at the weeds, contemplating my shortcomings - and remembering my why. It’s not evident from a quick glance, but those golden seedpods waving above those tangled grasses were the exact fulfillment of the why that I had plucked from the pebble-shore at the beginning of this season. I’d almost forgotten :)

This year, planting is messy. Weeding is sporadic. Harvest is messy. But you know what it’s better than? Nothing :) It’s better than waiting until next year when I could do it more perfectly. This season’s why is actually for next season.

We live life in the present, moment by moment, day by day. And our momentary whys and our daily whys are important, too. But our journeys are stories written over the course of long years and an entire life - and sometimes we need to take a specific moment, make a specific effort, to return to a why that seemed so bright when we first chose it, but may have since been filtered, been dimmed, by many small whys along a winding road.

Why do I write Nature Moments?

Writing is like that, isn’t it? We begin with a why for our writing, but writing-by-writing, why can sometimes fade into the background. It’s good, on this misty birdsong morning, to put why into words, once more :)

I write Nature Moments because nature is amazing - and amazement is meant to be shared!

Even when I’m quietly amazed, I often find myself softly murmuring, “Oh, isn’t that amazing? Oh, aren’t you amazing? How wonderful, just amazing,” to anyone, and no one at all, in my immediate area.

Amazement is a feeling that definitionally, perhaps, wants to be declared. Wants to be pointed out to an audience. Wants to be noticed and observed and witnessed. Wants, above all, to be shared, in any and every possible way.

Sure, I can share it with myself. I can share it with the object of my amazement. I can share it with all the air and sea and light and life around me, even when I’m all alone.

But if I can also share it with my husband - even better. If I can also share it with my family - exponentially better. So, what if, as is now possible, I might also be able to share it with, potentially, the whole world? Might as well give it a shot, right? That’s a why to keep coming back to.

Why do I have an online nature photography print gallery?

And photography is like that, too.

My why for photography is inextricably entangled with my nature-amazement. How can I be amazed, and not try to capture that amazement with whatever tools I have at hand? 🤣 Sometimes, I must be content to capture my amazement with only my memory, but often, I am able to capture it in a format that I can share more widely.

I started my online print gallery because I wanted to order items for our own family, for our own home. Because I honestly think that nature moments are some of the best subjects to decorate our daily lives with.

Wall art, greeting cards, coffee mugs, notebooks, tote bags. All the little daily-use items that populate the most mundane corners of our existence - why not fill them with nature connections, and immerse ourselves in reminders of the wonder and beauty of this natural world as much as possible?

I like to imagine a yoga class, and someone unrolls their mat, and it’s a crashing wave…or the deep serenity of a full moon in a night sky…or dappled light filtering through a forest canopy…

Or an errand, and someone packs their groceries into a tote bag, and it’s a hovering hummingbird, or a sipping butterfly, or bright sunshine captured in sunflower petals…

Or sitting down to my desk, and I’m greeted by a spring peeper, or growing baby grapes, or the palest aqua snow crystals…

Life is busy. I like to think the busy-ness of life is constantly improved by reminders of nature - and since we can’t always abandon our activities to seek nature in its element, it’s a privilege to pursue any ways in which we can bring reminders of nature into ours :) And that’s a why I need to keep coming back to, as well.

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The fog has lifted. The birds have moved on. And I’m off about another day on the homestead. There will be laundry and meal-times, schoolwork and housework. And we’re building a road. A lot of daily whys tumbling along today’s shores.

So I’m grateful for this week’s journey, a journey set in motion by a golden seedpod in a messy, messy yard. Supported by a misty morning in a noisy orchard. A necessary journey, a valuable journey, and a journey that I hope you’ll also take, when the time is right for you - the journey back to remember why.

Your support helps me keep photographing and writing 💕

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