People who garden are people that like to engage with the outdoor world. For many it’s task-related with an end goal of having a lovely garden landscape. But nature can give more than just beautiful gardens – it can in fact improve your well-being.

            This column was inspired by a pamphlet I kept from a visit to Hampton Court Palace in London, which boasts many wonderful and assorted gardens with different purposes. At the palace you will find two circular paths around the gardens to help you explore mindful walking in nature. The emphasis is to make a connection for mental and emotional wellbeing using step-by-step directions with suggested sensory and grounding exercises. This lends insights into the benefits of nature.

            Spending time in green space or bringing nature into your everyday life can benefit your mental health. It can benefit your physical wellbeing too. There are ways you can connect with nature. Doing things like growing food or flowers, exercising outdoors or being around animals can have lots of positive effects. It can:

            Improve your mood, reduce stress, help with anxiety, depression and seasonal affective disorder (SAD), help you take time out and feel more relaxed, improve your physical health, improve your confidence and self-esteem, help you be more active, help you meet new people and reduce loneliness, connect you to your local community, help you feel more connected to nature, and provide peer support.

            Take the opportunity to slow down, connect with the present moment, and gently tune into the natural world. Think of it as yoga without all the contortions! So, what is mindful walking? “Mindfulness is a widely practiced approach to supporting mental health and wellbeing, bringing attention to the present moment,” states the pamphlet. It helps to ground us in our bodies and surroundings and can be incorporated into everyday life. Maybe you are already doing it without labelling it. If so, you know how much better you feel afterwards. Here’s why:

            Mindful time in nature can help lower cortisol levels, reduce blood pressure and steady the heart rate – making it a powerful way to relieve stress and support a balanced lifestyle. Although these instructions are for walking in nature, I think it could be transferable to other outdoor activities. The guide offers suggestions rather than rules. There is no right or wrong way to mindful walk, “do what feels right to you.” The key principles of mindful walking are:

            1. Give yourself permission. Taking time out just for you is essential. See this walk as an act of self-care.

            2. Remove distractions. Silence or switch off your phone if you can. A little digital detox allows you to be less interrupted and more connected to the environment around you.

            3. Slow down. How often do you walk quickly, always on the move? Let this walk be different – slow your pace and notice what you see and feel. This is about connection, not completion.

            4. Connect with your senses. Your senses connect you to the present moment. Listen, look, smell, hear: sound of birdsong, scent of herbs, texture of leaves. Let your senses guide you.

            5. Be curious. Let yourself explore, look closer at patterns, textures or tiny movements. There is so much to discover.

            The guidebook dispenses advice and fun facts that I will extract here: During a 20-40-minute walk through the rose garden and the tiltyard (a historical enclosed area designed for jousting – common to Tudor era castles and palaces), and kitchen garden it suggests pausing before beginning – noticing your breath, your body and how you’re feeling. Notice the transition into the peaceful green space. Stand still and let your feet feel rooted. Let your eyes scan the space: colors, textures, and movement. Notice the scents in the air and the sounds near or far.

            It suggests wandering slowly through the tiltyard observing the shapes of the leaves and textures of the bark and how their branches stretch or twist “If a particular tree draws your attention, pause beside it. You don’t need to know its name – just enjoy its form and imagine its journey of growth.” Much the same applies to the kitchen garden where scents of aromatic herbs and the vibrant earth shout out. A fun fact: soil contains a natural microbe (Mycobacterium Vaccae) that boosts serotonin levels. Simply breathing in while walking, gardening or sitting outdoors can lift your mood. Nature is powerful medicine.

            Finishing the tour, it suggests getting up close to observe the detailed patterns of leaves, flowers, and stems. Yes, stems. Take a seat on one of the benches and absorb the richness of the garden. Having a seat within your home garden is essential for this reason. Upon the return to the rose garden, you’ll notice the palace rising in the distance, states the guidebook. “These gardens have long been a place for people to pause, reflect and find peace.” Reflection is part of the reward: Reflect on the footsteps that came before you and, on your journey, comparing how you felt at the finish to when you began.

            There is an additional nature walk of 60-90 minutes covering the wilderness, yew trees, fountain garden and the long water at Hampton, with lots of great suggestions such as pausing at the water’s edge and “let its vast expanse create a sense of stillness and perspective.” Did you know that trees release phytoncides, a natural compound that supports your immune system. Breathing in while among trees can boost your wellbeing. Another footnote noted in the guide state that natural settings offer ‘soft fascination’ – effortless attention that restores clarity, concentration, and mental energy.

            These are good take-aways for us to apply here whether walking through a woodland path or along the shore or in your own private space. Take nature in and disconnect. Try it now!

            “The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The Seaside Gardener

By Laura McLean

            This week in Revolutionary War history, let’s check up on what was going on 250 years ago in New England and the northern Thirteen Colonies. Last week, General George Washington recognized one year since the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Though there were no events to commemorate it, as fighting continues and fortifications around New York require the full focus of the army as Washington is generally disappointed in the current state of the city. To the south, Charlestown, South Carolina presets arguments against the King and calls for a new government.

            On April 26, 1776, Washington writes to John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. There has been pressures to send men and munitions to Canada, and the general writes, “I could wish indeed that the army in Canada should be more powerfully reinforced. At the same time I am conscious, that the trusting this important post (which is now become the Grand Magazine of America) to the handful of men remaining here is running too great a risk – the securing this post & Hudsons River, is to us also, of so great importance, that I cannot at present advise the sending any more troops from hence.”

            Though he states the city has become a hub of troops and arms, he adds, “our strength at present is, in reality, on paper only.” Men are untrained, undisciplined, and still under-armed for what will likely be a vengeful counter-attack from the British.

            Speaking of undisciplined troops, the next day, in his General Orders, Washington condemns “The riotous behavior of some soldiers of the Continental Army.” The day prior, soldiers staged a riot near Washington’s headquarters at 1 Broadway. In response to this, he writes, “the authors will be brought to the severest punishment if taken, or treated as a common enemy, if they dare to resist.”

            The same day, the general receives a letter from Captain Henry Miller in New Utrecht, a small town today a part of Brooklyn on Long Island. Miller writes, “this morning a small sloop came down the river the sentry on Staten Island hailed her as also those on our side but she would not come too each of the sentries fired several guns at her which she disregarded & passed under a smart breeze to the Asia Man of War.” Worrying reports that if true, showing a ship left New York and met with the British ship the Asia, signify British surveying or espionage.

            On April 28, Washington writes to Rhode Island Governor Nicholas Cooke, who had written to ask for supplies and personnel for the defense of Narragansett Bay. He says, “we have no engineer that can possibly be spared from hence, indeed we are very deficient in that department, & the state of this place is such, that had we many more than we have, there would be full employment for them.”

            This day would also be important in a different sense, as April 28, 1776 is the 18th birthday of James Monroe, the man who would eventually become the 5th President in 1817. Though he had taken up arms in Williamsburg, Virginia the year prior, he maintained his attendance at school up until the time around his 18th birthday, when he dropped out of school and joined the Continental Army.

            Though Washington is urging focus on New York, on April 29, a delegation arrives in Montreal. Benjamin Franklin and other delegates from the Continental Congress meet with General Bennedict Arnold in the city to assess the status of the northern campaign. Though the delegates received a warm welcome from the general and the troops, it ultimately pushed congress to oppose Canadian campaigns. Franklin would leave a little under two weeks later, remarking “it would have been easier if the Americans had tried to buy Canada than invade it.”

            May 2, 1776 may be one of the most consequential days of the Revolutionary War. 22-year-old King Louis XVI of France secretly agrees to provide funds and arms to the American revolutionaries. The material would be discretely given to America through the French company Rodrigue Hortalez et Compagnie. That same day, King Charles III of Spain also vowed to secretly support the rebels.

This Week in Revolutionary War History

By Sam Bishop

            This is the continuing monthly column for the astronomer in all of us, or the aspiring astro-physicist. Compared to areas near Boston or New Bedford, generally speaking, the Tri-Town has pretty good dark skies and thus are very fortunate in that regard. Last month, we even witnessed humans re-enter the orbit of the moon on the Artemis II flight!

            On May 1, the first full moon of the month will occur. This one is referred to as the “Flower Moon,” due to the blooming of spring. It is also referred to by others as the “Milk Moon” or “Corn Planting Moon.”

            On May 2, the asteroid Vesta will be at its brightest. Though it is visible all year, this is the best time to spot it. The asteroid was discovered in 1807 and is the second largest in the solar system. It won’t be visible to the naked eye in our area due to light pollution but is visible with a high-powered pair of binoculars or a telescope.

            On the night of May 6, the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower hits its peak. Though it is currently ongoing, occurring between April 19 to May 28, it will hit its height with around 30-meteors-per-hour. Meteors from this shower are produced by the famed Halley’s Comet!

            A few days after, on May 10, the Eta Lyrids Meteor Shower hits its peak. It is known as a “low activity” shower, with its peak being around 3-meteors-per-hour. Its meteors originate from the comet C/1983 H1.

            On May 12, the Messier 5 star cluster will be visible. The cluster contains 105 closely packed stars. Well, they’re closely packed relative to our eyes. In reality, they are many quadrillions of miles apart.

            May 16 will be the month’s new moon, making a good time to look for fainter objects.

            On May 20, the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter will be visible in a bunch together.

            As with earlier in the month, on May 28, the Messier 4 star cluster will be highly visible. It contains around 43 stars over the span of 35 light years.

            On May 31, another full moon! This one is the Blue Moon, and as it happens only once every few years, it lends itself to the saying, “once in a blue moon.”

Astronomy Update for May

By Sam Bishop