Mimic Nature

I Step Outside My Door

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Mimic Nature

We were born to be free

I step outside my door
And take a walk through the trees
In love with nature
Life in beautiful diversity
And I marvel at the world
Nature moving in harmony

Society is different
People are strange
They push their agendas
Expect you to change
Adopt twisted beliefs
And become deranged

So why try to change
Who I’m meant to be
God gave me a choice
I was born to be free

Live your life and I’ll live mine
No forcing agendas
We’ll get along fine
Achieving harmony
Our Lives will shine

-DLR

Posted in guest post | Tagged freedom, life lessons, love of nature, nature, nature in harmony, people are strange, poem | Leave a comment

8 Reasons To Think About When Looking At Pit Bull Dogs

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Mimic Nature

What dog breed are you looking for?

When you look for a dog to buy, what do you look for? Length of hair, temperament, size? I am disturbed by the large amount of pit bull mixed breeds that are in our local shelters, why are so many up for adoption?

I have a pit bull mixed breed dog, and I’m going to share with you my experience, and why people should always consider what they are getting into with the breed they choose.

First of all, I totally understand that each dog is different and has their own unique identity and personality, especially when they are mixed breeds. But I do think there are general, overall qualities that do stick with certain breeds.

Sarge and Rocky

These are my dogs, the white dog is Sarge who we took from a family member because they didn’t have the room for him in their house. The other dog is Rocky, we rescued him from a shelter and he has, by far, been the best dog we’ve ever owned, thanks to the techniques from the Dog Whisperer.

I want to focus on Sarge since he is the pit bull mix. I want to dispel the negative ideas that people have about pit bulls, they are not vicious unless the owner trains them that way, hence it is the persons fault, not the dog. These are good watch dogs, they will notice when things are out-of-place on your property, and they are good guard dogs since their massive, strong bodies, and loud barks, make them sound worse than they are.

But here are some little known facts about pit bulls people should consider before owning or rescuing one.

Some are big. Our pit is medium size, and I think with his massive muscles he weighs around 100 pounds. Not the best lap dogs, even though they will try to be.
They eat a lot. For the longest time I thought he was eating all the dogs food and leaving none for my other dog Rocky.
They have very little hair. This is a constant problem from fall to spring in our house in the Midwest United States, he whines all the time when he’s cold, and he will become a nuisance trying to get under the covers with you. Sarge has to be in a cage because he sleeps so close I can’t turn over in the bed.
They need constant supervision. Sarge will kill our outdoor cats if we don’t keep an eye on him, I’ve even tried chaining him up and all he does is start digging in my yard and he makes these horrible noises that I’ve never heard a dog make.
He is also very needy and he requires lots of attention, although this could coincide with number 3 and be because they are cold.
They are vocal. Sarge loves to “talk” and I find it very cute and funny until he barks. We live in the country so it doesn’t bother anyone but his barks are so loud and deep that you can literally feel the sound wave go through you, so we discourage him from barking a lot.
They are stubborn, very, very stubborn. If you are considering getting one, I would also sign them up for obedience classes or get educated on how to train the dog yourself, because this type of dog untrained, is a car accident waiting to happen.
Last but not least, they have LOTS of energy and need to run this off every day. Rocky helps in this situation since they can easily burn off energy together, but it can become a problem in the fall and winter months when I don’t want to stand in the cold so they can run, and I can’t leave them unattended or they kill the cats.

looks can be deceiving

All I ask is that people take a minute to really think about whether they want these types of dogs, do some research before you buy or rescue. It doesn’t help the dog to buy or rescue them and not be able to handle them yourself. If people stop getting these types of dogs then maybe people will stop breeding so many of them, because buying them just for the pit bull label is not fair to the dog or you, educate yourself.

I can honestly tell you that I didn’t know what I was getting myself into by helping out and taking this dog, but I will keep him until he dies, because I can be stubborn too, and I want to finish what I start. But I now know, that I will never own another dog like this again, he is a lot of work that I don’t have the energy for anymore.

With the right training and the right type of energetic family, these dogs are a great breed to own.

Posted in permaculture | Tagged animals, dog breed information, life lessons, my experience, my life with a pit bull, pit bull, temperment, training your dog | 2 Comments

Is Life Really Supposed To Be Simple?

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Mimic Nature

Eagle and young

The other day I watched a movie called “Mom’s Night Out”, and one part really caught my attention. It was the part where the mother was hiding inside her closet, watching the mother eagle take care of her baby over the internet. The eagle looked so peaceful and confident in what she was doing, no worrying about this or stressing about that.

Most parents feel inadequate, and when you add in the hectic speed of life, pushed by society, then you are destined to come to a breakdown in your closet at the end of the day. I know my week was hectic and all I could think of was laying in the fetal position in my closet, pushing out the thoughts all of the things I needed to get done and pay that day.

Can we humans, learn to take advice from, or mimic nature when it comes to parenting? If you observe nature in its raw form, you will notice that the parents are constantly busy, only when they live among humans are animals less active.

Animals are constantly searching for something to eat, keeping an eye out for danger, cleaning their young, and doing all the other things they need to do to ensure their survival. I have to say that many human parents are doing this same thing, only in a different manner. It takes more training to teach a human child to live a life of success and happiness, especially since our lives are given more options than animals.

Keep your life simple

Although I could also say this is our downfall, we think too much, judge too much, stress too much, which causes us to drink too much, get angry too much, and look for alternative ways of escaping our reality. We are too stressed to even be present in our lives, so we look for other ways of coping.

One recurring theme in my life lately is simplicity. I’m so sick of things being too complicated, or too hard, nature is simple, life is simple, but only when we allow them to be.

I challenge you to take one day and live simply, don’t do anything you don’t really want to do, if you don’t want to feed the kids a big supper, fix them sandwiches or something that is simple. Just take a day and live the simple life, and then see how hard your parenting skills were that day. Did this day feel more natural to you?

flow of life

Maybe when we stop seeing life as “hectic” then we will see that life just is, and life will flow how it wants, but the flow never stays the same, it is always changing.

Posted in Life lessons | Tagged blog, downfall, eagles, feeling inadequate, growing, hectic, keep life simple, kids, life lessons, mature, parenting, simplicity, speed of life, storms of life, taking care of young | 4 Comments

Is There Any Such Thing As An Enemy?

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Mimic Nature

Enemy

What is an enemy? How do you know who this so-called enemy will be? Does nature hold the key to answering these questions?

Enemy is defined as a person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something; a thing that harms or weakens something else.

I have been brought up to believe that anyone who doesn’t believe like me or those who don’t hold the same ideas as my country, is my enemy. I have even been taught that an entire group of people can be my enemies as well, but is this true?

I believe that nature holds the key to this, animals don’t have titles like friend or enemy, and the only thing they understand is body language and energy. Animals instinctively know when other animals are no threat to them, and which ones are a danger to their survival by how they act and present themselves.

Survival

Humans can do this with each other as well, they notice body language and they can feel each others energy, but usually this only happens when they are not too busy focusing on themselves, and are more aware of their surroundings.

I think we have all noticed that certain people give off a specific energy that either attracts us or repels us, energy that mingles with body language. We have all felt the energy and body language of a financially powerful person or a hooker.

Personally, I don’t like titles and labels, so I don’t like the title enemy and friends. Most of us know that people are fluid and a friend can quickly become an enemy, or an enemy a friend.

Energy

I challenge you, for one day, to drop these labels and really pay attention to the people you interact with. Really pay attention to those that are no threat to you, and those are a threat by tearing you down or trying to kill you physically, spiritually, and mentally.

You might just be surprised by what you find out.

Posted in Life lessons | Tagged blog, body language, challenges, enemies, energy, harms, life lessons, nature, nature holds the key, relationship, weakens someone | Leave a comment

What Is In A Word

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Mimic Nature

What are words?

What is a word? What is in these individual letters, that when formed together, tie the inside world of your mind, to the outside world we live in? Some words are short, some are long; some words heal and some words hurt; some words are fun, and some words are not so fun.

In my experience, words are a primitive form of communicating with other people. Words can never capture the depth of my emotions or the true meaning of what I feel and say, nor can they accurately describe a situation or event.

Words can also cause dis-ease among people because of their variation of meanings. What do you think of when I say the word magic? Do you think of Sorcery, witchcraft, or demons? Do you think of illusion, trickery, and slight-of-hand? Or, do you think of the things in life that take your breath away?

Maybe it makes you think of all of them, but how do you know which meaning the writer is trying to express? It’s very easy to misunderstand a persons thoughts and emotions when there are so many variations of meanings to each word.

A more accurate way of understanding someone is by body language and energy, but since we can’t see the author of the book, blog, or any other source of reading material, how can we tell what the author is really trying to say beyond the words?

Sensing nature

I believe the energy we feel when we write, gets transferred into the letters and literally becomes a part of our stories and articles; writers really do put a piece of themselves into their work. Have you ever read someone’s comment and felt anger, or happiness, or complacency? Or read a book and felt an excitement that you didn’t feel with other books that were about the same thing?

Maybe, just maybe, you sensed part of the energy that the author felt at the time of writing it?

You may be wondering how this pertains to nature, but this is the only way nature has ever communicated. Dogs don’t speak like cats, or birds like guinea pigs, but the energy and body language expressed by animals is sensed by all.

I challenge you can take one paragraph of whatever book, blog, or article you’re reading and try to sense what is being expressed behind the words, and try to see inside the heart and mind of the writer.

Heart of a writer

Posted in Life lessons | Tagged blog, body language, communicating, communicating with others, dis-ease, energy, frequency, heart, heart of a writer, life lessons, meanings of words, nature, variation of meanings, vibration, words, words and their meanings | Leave a comment

Nature Shows That Change is Possible

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Mimic Nature

leaves of change

If you are like me, and the millions of other people in the world, you often wonder about change, how can a person change themselves or change their surroundings?

Nature shows us that change is possible, in the fall, leaves change from green, to yellow, orange and a vibrant red. But sometimes, nature changes spontaneously in a short amount of time, how this happens or why, is still a mystery.

Sequential hermaphroditism is a type of hermaphroditism that occurs in many fish, gastropoda, and plants. Sequential hermaphroditism occurs when the individual changes sex at some point in their life. Some of these are,

clownfish
tapeworm
the black swallowtail butterfly

It’s amazing how nature knows exactly what it needs to do to survive, and then does it, regardless of if it’s possible or not, or regardless how long or short of a time it takes also.

So how does a person change? We can look to nature and find the answer. Know that in every moment, anything can happen, and when the odds are stacked against you, know that the solution will present itself in the exact moment you need it. And when you change yourself, your surroundings will change as well. As simple as that sounds, it’s easier said than done.

Change is a process, but sometimes, change can be an event that happens in the blink of an eye, don’t let anyone control your mind and tell you it’s going to take years to implement change, because as nature has shown us, anything can happen.

Posted in permaculture | Tagged change, change can happen instantly, changing surroundings, hermaphroditism, leaves of change, life lessons, nature has the answers, survival | 5 Comments

My First Guest Post

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Mimic Nature

I’ve heard many talk about having other people guest post on your blog, and I really loved this idea, who says that I am the only person who needs to be heard? So here is my first guest post.

Hearing aid.

I grew up as the middle child of a family of five. We were very poor and to complicate matters my older brother and younger sister were born hearing impaired.

Many times it was a struggle for my parents to be able to hold things together both financially and emotionally. Most people are overwhelmed by money problems alone, but when you throw in the challenge that my siblings presented it would be enough to make quite a few people give up. Having said that my parents relied on me heavily to help them, which I always saw as a burden. In my defense what child would see caring for his brother and sister as a blessing?

burdens of life

Helping to care for them and watch over them was a full-time job which required a lot of patience, and that was the blessing. In growing up the way I did gave me patience and understanding well beyond my years and has been one of the biggest blessings that I could have ever asked for. We may not be able to see the blessings that are in our lives because we are too busy calling them our problems, but we as human beings grow most in difficult times.

When we look at our trials as blessings instead of problems we can transform our lives. Just like anything else in life when we have a positive mindset we can take almost any situation and use it to redefine our way of thinking and give us a better, more productive way of life. I want to challenge you to really examine your life and the hardships you have endured, try to see the strength that you have gained from those situations. I want you to see how, like a broken bone, when you are broken you can heal and become stronger.

Blessings of Life

Use your strength, use your experience. Help show others how to find their blessings, or simply be a blessing to them. Look for the opportunities wherever you can find them. I want to leave you with a little story, I remember a lazy morning at the local Tim Horton’s my wife and I were enjoying some peaceful alone time away from the kids. We were talking and having a wonderful Panini (I highly recommend the Chipotle Turkey Panini) when a man sitting across the aisle from us accidentally knocked his full cup off the table and on the floor. Ice tea was running everywhere.

A couple of women were walking by and laughed at the man, saying that they had been there too. I got up and helped the man clean up the mess and began to talk to him. Even though you could tell that this gentleman was really upset and embarrassed, as we talked and cleaned he began to calm down and feel better about the situation. This interaction caught the attention of the staff who came out and gave the man a free replacement of his drink. In the end what could have been another lousy situation for the guy actually turned into a blessing for him.

He was shown that people can care and that what seems like a bad situation may not always be one.

DLR

Posted in guest post | Tagged bad situations, blessings of life, burdens of life, deaf, hearing aid, hearing impared, life lessons, overcoming, patience and understanding, positive mindset, problems in life, storms of life, strength, trials | Leave a comment

My Thought of The Day

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Mimic Nature

Do we sell ourselves so much that we hurt those family and friends?

Do we sell ourselves so much that we hurt family and friends?

Today I went to check my email before work, and I noticed one from a friend who was sending calendar events.

As I scrolled down to the bottom, I was bombarded by this persons business credentials in big bold letters. Maybe it’s just me, but I find this to be a little egotistical, I mean, I can completely understand these titles in a business environment, but to add these to personal letters or texts to friends, shows a huge lack of respect, in my opinion.

All I see is convenience, you just want to hurry and send an email, or text, and you don’t care, or want to take time to remove these credentials when talking to people personally. It’s just easier for people to keep them on no matter what is being sent, and to whom.

trying to attract a mate

It reminds me of the animal kingdom when they are trying to attract a mate, one sex tries to impress the other sex by dances, showing off their vibrant colors, enlarging certain areas of their bodies, singing, and various other ways of getting their attention.

Apparently even us humans fall into this cycle of trying to impress others by physical attributes, or by our fancy titles; personally, I love the raw, simple people. The ones that aren’t afraid to show their faults, and don’t hide behind some part of themselves they are trying to sell, are usually the most loyal and loving of friends.

I’m not trying to put people down who do this, I’m just trying to show a different perspective of what some people may be thinking when this is done to them. When I send an email or text to my mom, I don’t add titles or anything fancy, she is my mom, and I am plain with her.

It just makes me feel that there is an ulterior motive when this is done to me, you are not talking to me to just talk to me, you are trying to sell your product to me, and this actually makes the whole conversation, even if it’s not about business, uncomfortable. Who wants to talk to someone who is not interested in them at all, but is more interested in making money off of them?

I love to blog, but I’m not in this to ‘sell’ myself, I never was and never will be a good salesman. I want to be myself with others, I want to express a genuine interest in people’s lives, and never fall victim to only caring for others to see what I can get out of it.

We all talk about being connected, and that we are all one, but is this what we really practice in our day-to-day lives? Or do we actually show disconnection from others in the name of money?

Being real

I am not telling people they have to be friends with everyone, that is not my point, my point is that we can either be real or fake with others, how we present ourselves is very fundamental and important in life. If someone want’s to sell me something then they should be upfront about it from the start.

What do you guys think? Do you think it’s fine that family and friends text or email their credentials, or does it bother you as well sometimes?

As I said, I am not trying to put others down, I’m just trying to express my thoughts about this topic, and to figure out why it bothered me so much this morning.

Posted in Life lessons | Tagged animals, attract a mate, being connected, being one, convenience, genuine interest, getting others attention, lack of respect, Selling yourself, ulterior motive | Leave a comment

One of the many things I can’t do

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Mimic Nature

Contemplation

When I started this blog, I want to share certain tips about permaculture, and for the most part I have. But one thing I cannot do, is parrot information back at people.

A few days ago I was so busy that I didn’t have time to get a blog out when I wanted too, so what I did was push myself into posting a blog that I really didn’t like. I don’t like parroting information at people, I found that I have to say things in my way, and in my interpretation, or my inner self suffers.

I love permaculture, but mostly I love it because it’s focus is on returning control back into the hands of where it belongs. Nature knows what it’s doing, and for many decades now, we have tried to take control and act as if we know better. The Creator of all that is, knows what it is doing.

So many life lessons can be learned from nature, more than I could ever put in a blog, but my latest life lesson has been about pruning.

If you read one of my past blogs called “One odd way to enhance the growth of your plants”, you would remember I talked about a tree I wanted to buy, but didn’t because it cost way too much. I found this same plant at the beginning of the fall marketing season all dried up and appeared to be dead for only $5, of course I bought it wanting to save this poor living plant.

Starting new

All the leaves were dead and shriveled up, so I figured they would fall off like the trees outside do. But they never did, and they were really stiff and wouldn’t come off. At one point I wondered if the leaves were only half dead and not fully dead like I thought.

My husband decided to prune these leaves off, but got busy doing something else, so he never finishing the whole tree. So when I was transplanting the tree the other day, I seen that those few branches were now sprouting a lot of new growth. What was happening was that the tree was putting unnecessary energy into trying to revive those half dead leaves when it was just easier to cut them off and start again.

How true this rings in my life.

How many times have I put a lot of energy into trying to revive certain situations that should have been cut off and started over? How much energy was wasted in trying to grow plants the old-fashioned way of rows and paths, and of living my life the way other people said I should? Too much.

Removing unwanted thinking

After figuring out what was going on with my tree, I went through all my plants and pruned off any dead or dying leaves, branches, and flowers. Now I will have to go through the rest of my life and do the same.

Posted in permaculture | Tagged blog, growth and change, life lessons, nature, permaculture, pruning, renewal | 1 Comment

confessions of a nature blogger

Posted on October 19, 2014 by Mimic Nature

Confessions

In one of my blogging groups, I was challenged to write a confession for my blog, unfortunately there are so many to choose from.

As I sit here thinking about what my confession will be, I can’t help but notice that I have a lot of problems, and could confess each day for the rest of my life, but I will pick the deepest and most personal I can think of.

First of all, I don’t like being vulnerable, I don’t like putting myself out there for people to actually see because I lack confidence in myself and can break down from one persons criticism, although I do have to say I’m getting better at this as I’m getting older. I have put myself out there before and had my “head chopped off”, (has anyone read the book Through The Looking Glass: Awakening Your Inner Alice” by Sunni Chapman? She talks about the Red Queen with the big head, symbolic of our ego, who is always saying “off with their heads” because these people don’t agree with her, and she needs to kill anyone who defies or disagrees with her) sorry, back to what I was saying, I’ve had my head chopped off by many people all through my life, so I am timid when it comes to sharing a piece of myself.

My problems

So when it comes to my nature blog, I have to confess that I don’t have the best green-thumb on the planet. I haven’t taken what I’ve learned and put them into practice yet, but I will get there some day. When it comes to gardening, I was taught the old way by my parents, and they were taught the old way by their parents, and so on. The only reason I decided to look into something different, is because I am tired of working so hard in my garden, I knew their had to be a smarter way of growing things, and with all the other commitments I have in life, I can’t spend all day working in my garden pulling the unwanted plants (I’m not going to call them weeds) out.

I also have a problem with work, I don’t mind working, and I don’t mind working hard, but when I work hard and have little to show for it, I begin to question what I am doing, and if there is an easier way of doing it. Here lies my next confession, I don’t allow myself to be creative, I don’t trust myself enough to come up with a solution to my problems, so I go looking for other people’s thoughts and opinions, which is okay for some situations but not okay for others. There will always come a time when you need to look within yourself for your answer to live the unique life that is yours.

I don’t like fake people, people who don’t live their lives and just mimic other people, acting as if they are unique. Why? Because I am one of those people. With age comes wisdom, so as I get older I am getting better at all this, and I have to say that blogging is helping me as well, it helps me to put myself out there a little at a time.

So there you go, my confession(s) of the day, like I said, I could add a whole bunch more but I would have to write a book since there is so much to talk about. Despite everything I know that is wrong with me, I see a beauty in being broken, a beauty that surpasses all other.