Back To Nature

New journal page, restarting paid subscriptions, and other updates

I’m not a scientist, but I do love nature. I love its aesthetics. I love its synergy. I love how it makes me feel. And I especially love the birds.

So when I found a feather outside the library, it felt like a sign. “Susannah, it’s time to start a new season of journaling, of Cricklewood, and of wonder.”

I was walking along a shady path from the village library to my car when I noticed a little brown bird in the grass up ahead. Such a saucy little creature scampering across the lawn, pecking the ground for something tasty.  As I got closer it hopped across the lawn and flew into the bushes under the Children’s Room windows. That’s when I saw the feather laying on the grass. Long, slender, and blue with black bars. Another bird had been dining here, too.

One half of what will eventually be a “Blue Jay spread” in my nature journal. More to come soon!

I had a guess as to which bird it belonged to and on sight could definitely rule out the little brown bird. To be honest, though, I really had no idea with my limited mind bank of scientific knowledge and small yet growing catalog of bird sightings. I guessed the bird most familiar to me based on the color of the feather.

The fact that I’m not trained in the sciences has given me a big, fat case of imposter syndrome. Who am I to lead a nature journaling community? Substack is filled with the most beautiful writing about the natural world written by actual biologists, environmentalists, and activists. 

Their writing is important as well as interesting and gives deep insight into the plight of our environment. I can’t identify plants or most birds without the aid of apps, my Sibley’s Guide, and copious amounts of research. At best, I’m merely a keen observer. What can I contribute to this conversation?

We all have in our own way something to add to the dialogue about our world. For my part, it’s my illustrations and this Substack.

Art is my microscope. It’s the way I acutely observe everything – plants, animals, people, rocks, mountains, water, woods, etc. Words are the way I think through my experiences. I try to be factual and record data, but I have an emotional response to nature and sometimes I can’t leave that out of my journals.

I anthropomorphize and personalize what I see. Maybe that compromises my objectivity, but isn’t it also a tool of empathy? If I can understand nature and its processes from a place similar to my own experiences in the world, doesn’t that give me common ground from which to add more scientific knowledge provided by the brilliant, scientific minds in our society? I hope so.

I think of nature journaling as a combination of field journal and diary. It’s filled with questions and guesses, and peppered with corrections after further observation and investigation. It’s my story of waking this world.

In this instance, I was running a quick errand and had nothing in my bag but a couple scraps of paper and a pen. It was enough, though, to make a quick sketch and jot down notes about the color, markings, and size (I have my hand measurements in my head and use it when I’m caught without a ruler).

At home I was able to use the Identify Feather Tool from the USFW Forensics Laboratory, a site I highly recommend, and identified it as an adult male Blue Jay’s (Cyanocitta cristata) primary wing feather.

Nature is not my life’s work as it would be for a biologist, but it is personal and an integral part of living because I take up space in this ecosystem just like any other creature. Thus I impact it both positively and negatively.

So my contribution to the conversation is through journaling and sharing my experience with you so that together we can cultivate our positive relationships with Earth and all her inhabitants. 

The “Cricklewood Nature Journal Pause of 2024” ends soon, and we begin a new season of Cricklewood Nature Journaling with all this in mind – personal connection, describing our experiences as one of many of this biosphere’s inhabitants, and following trails of inquisitiveness.

This Saturday, August 31, I “turn on” paid subscriptions again. If you are already a paid subscriber, please review your subscription settings before the 31^st if you want to change your subscription status. I’m not sure if billing resumes on your original subscription date or immediately. (If anyone knows the answer to this, let me know please!) Let’s assume immediately so no one is caught unaware.

Below I have the new publishing schedule and benefits of subscribing. The season’s first post and prompt will go out later next week.

Thank you to all my subscribers thus far, a special welcome to the new subscribers who found their way to Cricklewood during The Pause and signed up even while there was no new content, and thank you squared to my current paid subscribers. You make it possible for me to produce this newsletter!

xoxoSusannah 

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Free And Paid Subscriber Benefit Review

When you subscribe, you will receive updates every time there is new content on the following schedule:

For Everyone

• Daily – updates to Notes (in the App);

Free Subscribers

• Newsletter at the beginning of the month from September through June;

• Exclusive nature journal spreads;

• A related prompt to encourage you to develop your nature journaling practice;

• Access to a monthly “Nature Journal With Me” video for 1-week before it goes behind the paywall;

Paid Readers

Paid subscribers enjoy everything free subscribers receive above PLUS:

• Monthly issues of the Tiny Owl Dispatch – with extra content (more prompts, more nature journaling, personal and studio updates, behind-the-scenes, etc);

• Access to the full archive of posts and videos;

• A special bonus season spanning July and August with special editions of the Tiny Owl Dispatch, videos and/or livestreams from the field, nature-journal-with-me videos and/or livestreams.

• Anything else I can think of that will add to the nature journal experience!

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Support

Cricklewood is a space where we can learn from nature and each other as we rewild. Because nature journaling is so beneficial to our well-being, I make almost all of the content available to all subscribers.

To be completely blunt, however, Cricklewood cannot exist without the support of its readers. This publication provides one of my income streams in a year with paid subscriptions funding all content creation and activities that happen here.

If you find this content interesting, valuable, and want to support this project, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Other ways to support my work

If a paid subscription isn’t for you, consider hiring me for illustration or purchase original art.

Sharing this newsletter, commenting on posts, and engaging with my posts on Notes (in the App) are all fine ways of supporting my work.

And finally, if you just can’t swing a subscription but want access to all the content, just drop me an email and ask me to comp you a paid subscription. I’m happy to do so, no explanations needed. Things happen to all of us, and I don’t want lack of funds to be the reason you can’t reap the benefits of nature journaling.