Rusty Pritchard of Flourish Magazine recently interviewed Mark Linfield, co-director of Chimpanzee, to be released today in theaters across the United States. FLOURISH MAGAZINE: What inspired you to make Chimpanzee? Mark Linfield: Well, you know my codirector Alastair [Fothergill] had filmed chimpanzees in that forest 25 years ago, so he always had a hankering [...]
children and nature
by Rusty Pritchard The wiring is already there. The mental infrastructure is in place. It’s up to us to provide the raw materials. I’m not a romantic. Don’t accuse me of putting the “noble savage” on a pedestal. I’m part scientist, part economist. It doesn’t get much more rationalistic than that. But I already know [...]
You can’t love something if you don’t know it – this is especially true of the Earth. However, we live in an increasingly technological world where time spent outdoors is being replaced by time spent in front of screens. The move indoors presents a challenge for those who would care for creation, for how can [...]
At Youth Farm kids “do everything from seed to harvest” and then they get to cook and eat what they have grown. Its a camp devoted to developing youth that uses food and nature as tools to teach kids life skills and give them a hands-on experience of growing and cooking (and eating) food. Daniel [...]
What do we owe the next generation of environmental stewards?
Eat local: “Not as an act of hatred against grocery chains or an act of defiance against the commercial food industry in the US but as an act of character, of learning and of growing.”
Caring for creation and learning about it are both fundamental not only to our identity as Christians, but to our identity as humans. And who does it best? Kids!
A low-key game or activity can help your kids see something new in creation and can persuade them they’ll have fun when they think they’d rather stay in and watch TV. These three activities are proven catalysts for joyful, unstructured play in nature.
You and your children will learn the basic principles of composting, build a compost container, and maintain the compost pile for a home-grown supply of free, organic compost to enrich your garden soil.
Map your assets and plan what features to build into your yard to produce food and attract wildlife. Use your garden map, dream big about what you’d eventually like to see, put it on your plan, then decide what you can realistically do this year. Maybe just a couple of raised vegetable beds, or a butterfly garden.
Butterflies, hummingbirds and blueberries seem like a world away at this time of year, but now ‘s the time to start dreaming! With your kids, create a map of your outside space and get ready to envision Eden. Start now to give yourselves time to plan ways to welcome wildlife and grow some groceries this year, learning hands-on about God’s creation along the way.
Once you’ve set up some backyard birdfeeders as described in Part 1, go beyond the simple pleasure of watching birds with these few steps, outlined below, to engage your family’s intellect and passions in a deeper understanding of birds and local ecology.
