NATURE INSPIRED New Year's Resolutions 2022

Hi everybody, happy new year! Today we're going to be talking about resolutions that can help you get closer to your plants and to nature on this new year. Number one, get to know the local plants where you live. This is such a special resolution and I'm also setting it for myself. Not only you get to know the plants that share the space with you, but also you get to understand a little bit more the land that you call home. For example, for this year I have the resolution to get to know the trees that live in Berlin. I want to get to know their names, how they change during the seasons, and maybe observe them more to see how they live, the changes that they go through, and also who else lives around me because on the trees many bugs live there, also birds, and maybe it's also going to depend on the tree. So I'm very excited to get to know a little bit more about the trees in this city. So you can do the same. You can either learn about the trees in your city, the plants that live there, you can go to a park even and focus on the plants that live on that park, and also get a little bit more local and get to know which plants are native to your area. Number two, join a book club that focuses on nature books and just our relationship with this planet. This is something that I wanted to do for such a long time and this is why I added it as a benefit on our Patreon community. This year over at Patreon we will be meeting every month to discuss books, essays, articles, and even films that talk about nature and our relationship with our planet. I can tell you it has been really inspiring to read these works and get to know a little bit of the stories and thoughts of these other human beings trying to consciously think about our relationship with the planet and then see what thoughts come to mind and talk about them with other people and also listen to them and see their perspectives on these topics as well. I would strongly recommend that you join a book club either locally in your area or of course you can also join our Patreon page. We have the book club every month and you will be supporting this community as well and getting to know other people in our community. So if you would like to join, of course you are always welcome and we hope to see you there. Number three, propagate a plant. You know in my experience one of the coolest things about growing plants at home is that we get to propagate them and see how they grow. I can tell you last year I didn't buy any plants but we still got more plants at home because I continue to propagate the ones that I had here. It is a sustainable way to bring more plants to your home and also I can tell you it's really inspiring to see the cuttings grow into mother plants. Another reason why I love to propagate is that you can propagate your mother plant and then give the cuttings to your friends so you can spread the love for plants around your community. If you are a plant beginner and would like to learn more about propagation this year I would totally recommend this book Root Nurture Grow by Carol Langton and Rose Ray of Rocco. This is a very good guide on propagation. First, you have different methods that you can use. For example, we have rooting, we have cuttings and then it also includes a table with the most common houseplants and the best methods to propagate them. I love this book. I can tell you most of the things that I know about propagation I've learned from this book and it has been very helpful to get to know my plants a little better each one of them and how they can propagate. So if you want to learn more about propagation this year I would totally recommend that you get this one. Number four, grow a plant from the seed. This idea I got from one of my patrons who's growing a Monstera from the seed and it was so inspiring to me to see that his Monstera is actually doing really well. So I thought this could be a good resolution for this new year. Now if you want you can combine this resolution with resolution number one which is about learning about native plants in your area. I'm gonna try to do that so I'm gonna try to learn which plants grow natively here in Berlin and try to pick one to grow from seed. You can always start gardening from seed and grow your mini garden at home. There are seasonal gardening calendars that can help you learn which seeds are good to sow in each month of the year and you can even find gardening calendars that focus on your local area. So these calendars will tell you which seeds are native to your area and when to plant them. Number five, go out for a walk at least once a week. You know in the last two years with lockdowns and COVID I have discovered the importance of a walk outside. Now with Jan we try to go for a walk every day at least for 15 minutes and right now in winter just feeling the cold air on our face can make a big difference. So this can be a way to connect with yourself and also connect with the nature around you. With the air, with the trees, you can try to be present in your walk. For example when we go out for a walk I don't bring my phone and I try to just look at the trees, look at my feet stepping one after the other, look at what I see in the sidewalk or we go to a park, what plants are there, what trees are there. You can also try to listen and see what you hear. You know a walk can make a big difference and can connect you so much to the world around you. It's just about practicing that presence step by step. And I can tell you for me it has made a big difference especially in the last two years. So I hope that I can continue doing it in this new year. You can add to this and journal about what you see in your walks. So right after you come back from your walk you can take five minutes or 10 minutes to just journal about what you saw. You can also make drawings of the bugs you saw or what you heard. If you listen to the birds you can write about it or just think about it for yourself, whatever works for you. Do you have any resolutions for this year? Let me know down in the comments. If you would like to support me and the work that I do here I have left the link to my Patreon page down below and I hope to get to know you during our book club reunions and our plant talks. So you're always welcome to join us. And yes, I hope that you're having a very happy new year, that this video made you smile and as always I will see you in the next one. Okay, adios!