Episode 13: The Engagement Calendar — And How to Build a Relationship with Nature This Year

What are you already in the middle of? This week, I spent a day away from my birds and realized something: the relationships that matter aren't the ones we're trying to build from scratch in January—they're the ones we've already been living and forgot to notice.

In this episode, I talk about:

Why missing one day with my backyard birds felt like breaking a promise I didn't know I'd made

The difference between "planting natives to save pollinators" and creating conditions for life to return when it's ready

How belonging is harder to sell than saving—but why it's what actually sustains us

Why wildlife gardening isn't about decorating a space, but entering a relationship

The worn path to my feeder and what it taught me about staying with something long enough to become part of the pattern

If you're tired of New Year's pressure to add more, do more, be more—this episode is about recognizing what you're already part of and choosing to stay with it.

What's the tiny ritual that starts your day? What rhythm, when you broke it, made you feel a little lost?

Those are the things worth returning to in 2026.

Not because they're new. Because they're true.

Related links:

Episode 12: Goal-Setting Theater vs. Nature's Quiet Rehearsal

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Follow along on Instagram: @flutterbymeadows