I live in the forest and I’m sure most of my friends feel I live the Polly Pioneer life style. We don’t get cell phone reception and there are quiet a few modern conveniences we lack because of our choice of where we want to reside.
What I lack on the technical side I make up in natural beauty and a life less stressful. I can always go outside and sit and watch nature in its natural setting. Birds, insects, lizards, and other forest creatures are always a form of entertainment.
A simple strainer filled with seeds can be a complete entertaining and educational experience all in one.
While nature is all around me I know that is not true for many of my friends. Surrounded by the busy world of today sometimes does not yield the availability to escape hurried schedules, constantly ringing cellphone calls and the stress of the world through the media and traffic jams of life.
I can look at this:
Seeing nature is my daily routine while my friends may be seeing life in the fast lane in their routine.
photo from http://www.belovedcars.com
The U.S. Forest Service, The Wilderness Society and the Ad Council knows the richness and beauty the forest may hold for everyone.
They feel escaping to the forest holds many benefits for us.
“It’s good to get outdoors! Daily life can be stressful and it can be hard to break free from our busy routines to reconnect with nature and with our children. But there are many proven benefits for children who spend time in nature: research shows that children who play outside have lower stress levels and more active imaginations, become fitter and leaner and are more likely to become environmentally conscious in the future.”
These Services help families experience nature and offers ideas for where to go and what to do, which makes it easier to grab your kids and start exploring by their development of DiscoverTheForest.org.
Wouldn’t you like to take some time and take a break and get in touch with nature?
The U.S. Forest Service, The Wilderness Society and the Ad Council on GOOD Maker need our help to spread the word about the “Discover the Forest’s Get Your Community Outdoors!” Challenge.
They are looking for ideas on how you can inspire your friends and neighbors to escape their stress and discover the great outdoors. One Grand Prize Winner will receive $1,000 to bring their idea to life as well as a $500 Frontier Airlines voucher to escape to the forest of their choice for a vacation.
Do you have an idea how to help your friends escape?
Submit your own idea to the challenge at one of these sites:
www.discovertheforest.org and www.wilderness.org
Don’t forget to join the conversation at http://www.facebook.com/discovertheforest
about gracehodgin
Grandma Blogger encouraging grand parents to remain active in the lives of their grand children and to inspire imagination and creativity.
When Grace is not writing articles for her blog then she morphs into GracieLoo and is off to ZombieZoo where she is the resident Grandma who hands out cookies, kisses, band-aids for booboos and reads stories to her beloved ZombieZoo Residents.
Thanks for sharing the info. I am a forest kind of girl stuck in the city and it drives me crazy!
I love where you live it forces some tranquility.
I’m sooooo NOT an outdoors person but I’m sure HUbs and the kids would jump at the chance of “hanging” out in the forest!
I’m a Girl Scout leader and LOVE nature–thanks for sharing
This is a very interesting post. I, also, live in a forest and I forget about those who never see the beauty of nature on the scale that I do each time I open my front door.
what a neat post and an interesting cause!!
Lovely scenery. It’s nice to get a reminder that we can slow down and enjoy nature more.
Lovely reminder about what is really important. One of the joys of living in the Northeast is how beautifully wooded it is. We need to remember to enjoy it before the bleakness of winter begins, thank you.
I have always loved living in the woods, or in a place heavy with nature. Beats city life any day!
This is interesting. I live out in the country now, but when we were city dwellers I got us to a park as often as possible.
I LOVE living in the middle of TWO national forests! We have 50 pine trees in our yard alone! It is always very relaxing! There are times when I miss the city life, but it’s always good to walk outside and hear the squirrels running for cover! I feel bad for people that don’t have the forest in their everyday lives because they don’t know what they’re missing!!
Super Idea. I didn’t know you lived in the forest. How do you get such great signal for your blogging and computer? Love this approach of the community Escape Challenge!
We subscribe to BrightHouse Cable and they are great!
If I was near a forest, I would be there! The peace and beauty are a great prescription for relieving stress!
Nice story! My backyard has over 30 trees, so in the summer we can pretend that we live in an aspen forest. Unfortunately in the fall the leaves fall and we have to look at our neighbors all winter…YUCK!
What a fun idea! I will have to think about this and then submit my entry!
I enjoy nature but I don’t think I would want to live without modern conveniences. Not that I have cable or anything but I do like having my internet although it has barely been working this week and I live in town.
I’m a city girl, but enjoy nature under the right circumstances
I share your joy for rural (forest) living. We are smack dab in the middle of the Daniel Boone National Forest and it is truly a blessing. What a great challenge and cause!
We used to live in a rural area, but it’s tough to find jobs in our line of work without living in a big city.
I love when we go on vacations to national parks and have a chance to really enjoy nature. However, I could never live in a rural area. In fact, I couldn’t handle the suburbs anymore once my kids left home and my husband and I move into Manhattan and I love it. But I spend a lot of time in beautiful Central Park.
You live in the forest, I live in the mountains. It’s really something huh…far from the noises and pollution
Kids love being outdoors and it’s so important for their development…we try as often as possible to give our kids outdoor time
I like to get out into nature sometimes but I do love living where I can shop…Thanks for sharing!
I live on the edge of the forest, although I’m also right around the corner from a mall, so I kind of have the best of both! Having nature around really is important.
Grace thank you for reminding me of the importance of supporting (and enjoying) our outdoor wilderness. Even if it means raking some leaves next weekend!
I envy your surroundings! We’re in the ‘burbs but the hubs and I are looking forward to (hopefully) moving lakeside in within the woods after the kids graduate. We sneak away every chance we get!