The crickets announce themselves as the night has fallen and the nearly full moon lights up the meadow. The Old Farmer's Almanac (and other people) state that you can tell the temperature by the number of chirps from crickets: To convert cricket chirps to degrees Fahrenheit, count number of chirps in 14 seconds then add 40 to get temperature. For example: 30 chirps + 40 = 70° F I've also been told that the temperature needs to reach a certain level before you will hear them and you won't hear them below a certain temperature. Don't know what that is right now though. The squash are in full spate- some of them are growing inches in a day. We had our first watermelon of the year- the first one ever. I haven't been successful in growing them and the trick I learned was to put black "plastic" (made from corn starch) so that it really heats up the soil. I've done the same thing with sweet potatoes- we'll see what we get. If it works, great. If not, not much lost in trying.
I remember as a boy of 4 or 5 playing with my friend Johny Menzies along the Pilchuck River in Machais, Washington. We were turning over rocks, picking up Perriwinkles, looking for Crawdads, and pretending we were great explorers. The Pilchuck wasn't a "wild" river like the Rogue, Deschutes, Colorado or some of the other great rivers. In the summertime it was a meandering stream. Yet to us it was a challenge.
We used to wander the forests, riversides, and meadows by ourselves. Today, someone would call Child and Family Services and my mother would be taken to court. There is something lost because of our desire for so much security. There is a power of being left to one's own devices to entertain and explore. People cry out that our children are glued to social media, texting, tv, and other non-contact socializing. But who started it? I think by not letting kids get outdoors and explore we've set up generations to not take risks outside, to let media define imagination rather than for imagination to lead.
Maybe I'm just getting older and looking back at the "good ol days" but I think there was value in that exploration and immersing myself in the sounds, feel, and texture of the natural world. Kids do need to be outside more. I don't know if there is a "real" thing called Nature Affective Disorder, as some people claim, but I do think we are a lesser people because we have lost touch with the earth.
I do think we need to let kids get outside beneath a full moon and play their games. They may twist an ankle but they probably won't. Could there be someone who will kidnap a child- sure. But the likelihood is infinitesimal. It is the fear of adults that have constrained the creativity and exploration of children and played a part in their addiction to video games.
In conclusion- eat more dirt and walk barefoot. It is worth it.
