Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Celebrating Earth Day











Every day is earth day in our home, so yesterday we did what we usually do. We offered gratitude to Mother Earth before our meals. We sang songs of thanks and read this lovely story during our morning circle time. We hit the trails for a lovely little hike and left bird seed here and there for our feathered friends to enjoy. These are things we do day in and day out throughout the year because we enjoy showing our appreciation for this earth and all that it offers us.

We have started seeds over the last few weeks, started the yearly yard clean up and added some new bird feeders as well as nesting material around the yard. With Earth Day fast approaching I wanted to have something special for us to do to celebrate and make the day special for Reece. We decided a few bat houses around the yard would be really useful and the road we walk on for our daily family walks could use a little clean up.

After lunch yesterday Justin and Reece made up a few bat houses and we found the perfect place to hang them. Now we wait patiently to see if any bats will use them, fingers crossed. We then headed out for a family walk with garbage bags in hand. We spent over an hour out there and filled two large bags. It constantly amazes me what people will throw out their window as they drive by.

We sadly found a chicken in a shopping bag on the side of the road. We noticed the bag yesterday, but didn't look inside and today it looked like some animals had been in it and you could tell it was a chicken. We decided leaving it on the side of the road was not the best thing, so we went home to grab a shovel, dug a hole at the side of the woods, just off the road and buried the hen. We offered up a prayer and gratitude and said good bye.

We came home after that, I did a little yard work and Justin and Reece started a fire. We then sat around the fire talking, laughing and enjoying the afternoon, together.

It was a good day.

How was your Earth Day? What did you do to celebrate this amazing planet we live on?

25 comments:

  1. I especially love the beautiful colors in these photos! Sadly, we didn't do too much at home to celebrate earth day, but the kids had very special celebrations at school - and they all brought home seeds to plant! We have plans to do some planting this weekend - we're hoping for good weather :)

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    1. Thanks! Seeds to plant, that is fun. I hope the weather is good for you this weekend.

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  2. You are right - every day is Earth day :)

    We just had a quiet day - enjoying the spring day the Earth had to offer - and we spent as much as we can of it outside! :)

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    1. Sounds like a good way to spend the day Renee :)

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  3. We celebrated in much the same way - planted some seeds, chatted about what we do and why we do it and just enjoyed the sunshine!

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  4. I think you have it just right. There shouldn't really be jsut one special day for the Earth. It should be everyday in the way we live!

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  5. A day well spent-to bad every day isn't earth day. When the kids were homeschooled they're favorite thing to do was picking up trash alongside our country road(bags of it)...every little thing helps.

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    1. It was a good day. And our walk along the road today was beautiful :)

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  6. Aww, how sweet of you guys to bury the poor little hen. Sounds like it was a nice Earth Day.

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    1. Just felt like we should do that, there was no way I could leave it on the side of the road and putting it in the garbage bag didn't seem right either. So we buried her.

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  7. Sounds perfect! I was amazed at how much trash we picked up yesterday too! We live in town (a smallish town) and picked up at least 20 Tim Hortons coffee cups within 45 minutes - pathetic!!

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    1. We had a lot of those too, and cigarette cartons.

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  8. I love the way you all make the most of each day and how gentle and kind you are to the earth along the way.

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  9. that's beautiful. i've always wanted to do that for animal.

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    1. Awe, thanks. It was a really lovely moment for us.

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  10. Lovely Kim. What a great day. We tend to always pick up trash around our property on Earth Day. So sad about the hen...you did a very honorable thing....again our minds are in sync....

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    1. Thanks Jennifer. It was a wonderful day. Very sad about the hen, but we felt so good giving her a proper good bye.

      After reading your post today, I see your point, in sync for sure :)

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  11. Oh! Such a beautiful bit of nature you have there! That is something I miss so much, living where we are now, and in a city: the hills and woods and of course the ocean. If we go deep enough into the park, I can *almost* pretend we're somewhere more isolated, but it's not the same, really.

    One of our neighbors saw all the children outside in the afternoon on Earth Day and offered a dollar to whoever could pick up the most trash; there is a lot of it around, not purposeful litter so much as bits and pieces that get blown up the street on trash day. (For some reason they seem to always end up in my front yard...) The children collected it all in one bag - because that was all we had handy - and then they decided together who had picked up the most & should get the dollar. I was pretty proud of them for that. xo

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    1. We are pretty lucky, I can't deny that. I feel so very grateful to have found our little home and the nature that surrounds it.

      How great that your kids picked up so much trash. So, who got the dollar :)

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  12. Love the bat houses...have you seen any yet? So sad about the chicken!

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    1. Thanks. Not yet, I think it might be a little early for them, it is still pretty cool here. I would think in the next 6 weeks or so we might see some...fingers crossed.

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