Bards From The Woods

About a year ago I jokingly debated the idea and popularity of creating a Forest Bathing kit in a box, and if I did would I become an overnight millionaire sensation from doing so rather than remaining as a poverty and penance man encouraging people to use the forests more often. Well, folks, the Forest Bathing kit is now available, created by someone else. I'm probably helping these folks towards their fame, fortune and exclusive prestige ... though they do state it is very limited edition. click here to 'discover' it Really I find this idea all a bit daft It reads to me as a quest to replace the forests if you are willing to pay $129 for a home use version. With this kit you can breath in the forests without the distractions of wildlife animal yack, aromas of other plants like wild garlic if you believe you are allergic to garlic, plus no muddy boots, no weather changes, no forestry allergies, and no possible biting insects, - total forest nirvana? I hav

In my last post of 12 things to do in the Forest, I included 'Clearing Litter' as I was inspired by a link posted by my daughter, Ivy, who is very well focused on litter and brand packaging and its problems to our environmental well being. The link was to a remarkable project called 'Litterati' Their campaign and services are for using Instagram to crowdsource cleaning up the planet of litter. The Litterati mission is to build up the world's largest database of litter through using Social Media, especially the Instagram service. Through this database the Litterati people hope to find ways to work with brands, cities and government organizations to prevent litter from ever reaching the ground again. How that will be done is still in infancy stages yet. My first thought, was Forest Litter I was in two forests with others last weekend and in both place litter was abound in the most beautiful and sacred of spaces in both forests. In Ravensdale, litter

I am writing up this post this as many folks have asked me about what do we do that's "interesting" in the forests. To even ask that I think something has got lost in human culture. So here's ten ideas ... 1) Share Poems, Words, Stories, Songs Yes we have done and will do a lot of all of all this with our Walks in the Woods. These inspired and expressive arts do wonders to help hesitant folks be inspired to write and share their words, have an audience that will listen to them and have a calm mind to listen to what others express and share. 2) Power Walking and Jogging Some folks feel this is really what a healthy Green Prescription in the forests is all about. There are many people who do assertive movement about the forests to get their aerobic engines going, get their metabolic rates moving, tone muscles, burn fat, loose weight, increase stamina ... Phew, I'm worn out just writing about it. 3) Mountain Biking and Skateboarding Tak

Interesting that when I first posted pics of this walk online, there was a reaction from some USA folks about the name of this place. I think the Devil is a more potent name over there compared to here. Apparently, Devils' Glen here describes a sound from the past. The usual quest for walkers here is to walk to the waterfall and back along a circular route that takes about two hours of hiking, about 7 km I believe. The waterfall today is a gentle trickle compared to how it was in the past. A dam now holds the water from travelling down the River Vartry. Before the dam the river roared over the rocks, a sound that echoed through the valley - hence the name Devil's Glen. I did not get a very good head count for today. There must have been 20 people, and it seems like this included 8 children, and there was one dog. Very few men on this walk, just me and one other. This was a lovely Sunday afternoon too, mainly sunny, warm, and the day before the upper 20s C, 8