Growing up, my family and I lived off of a long dirt road, along the outskirts of a small town, with close to forty-five acres of untouched land around our home and yard. I grew up with two older sisters who loved to explore and play outside just as much as I did, despite the fact that we were all extreme girly girls who believed we were royal princesses. I can remember spending hours a day outside with my sisters enjoying nature. We would go on hikes through the woods and mess with plants and animals that could have possibly been poisonous. I remember having a pond in the backyard and going fishing many times. One of my favorite memories involving nature was when my parents and I drove to Andalusia, Alabama to go fishing on the pond at the “Country House” (which is what my family called the home and land that was owned by my great grandparents). This was such a fun weekend because we got up on Saturday morning and went fishing, caught about forty catfish, cleaned them, and then had a fish fry that night with the whole family. If you have not guessed it yet, my family is extremely southern.
Although many of my experiences with nature came from backyard adventures and trips to Andalusia with my family as a child, I did have quite a few experiences with nature in the smoky mountains. Every year when I was growing up, my family would take at least one trip to Tennessee. Our trips to Tennessee usually involved us staying either in cabins that were insanely high up on top of giant mountains or camping out. These trips were always exciting, especially as a child, because of all the nature I got to explore. I always thought that nature was just trees, grass, plants, and anything else that grew outside.
I never really thought much about what the textbook definition of nature is, all I noticed is that seasons would go by, leaves would change, grass would die, and flowers would bloom.
Although many of my experiences with nature came from backyard adventures and trips to Andalusia with my family as a child, I did have quite a few experiences with nature in the smoky mountains. Every year when I was growing up, my family would take at least one trip to Tennessee. Our trips to Tennessee usually involved us staying either in cabins that were insanely high up on top of giant mountains or camping out. These trips were always exciting, especially as a child, because of all the nature I got to explore. I always thought that nature was just trees, grass, plants, and anything else that grew outside.
I never really thought much about what the textbook definition of nature is, all I noticed is that seasons would go by, leaves would change, grass would die, and flowers would bloom.