Today I woke up wondering if the chestnuts lining city streets are ready for picking. Then I went to query google, only to realize what I need to do is take a walk :-)
Since I've been actively looking for food from trees and shrubs, I've become more aware of non-human life. As I pass by trees, I try to identify if they might be oaks with acorns and if so, how long until the acorns turn from green to brown. If I see a red berry, I might take a bite, study the leaves and the stalks and return home to figure out the name. It's like seeing individual faces and shaking hands instead of passively looking through a crowd of blurry people.
I am sure there are many wonderful books out there that expound this exact point: that by relying on stores for food we have become less dependent on nature and lost our connection to plant and animal life and the rhythms of seasons. When we don't need nature, it's easy to be cavalier with the well-being of these friends; it's easier to say, 'there's an empty lot, lets dump stuff in it', rather than 'let's plant a garden'.
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