Brief:
Woods are inspiring in so many ways and so are forests. How does one differentiate these and what does canopy cover mean? Inspiration is a necessary ingredient in our lives and we draw inspiration in different ways. Join me on this podcast as I share more about our recent decision to live in the woods and explore the types of inspiration including some insights to the creative space ships in movies.
Episode 102: Whispering woods
Hello Everyone, and welcome to the podcast of the Ordinary Maverick. This is Ajey, your host, an ordinary Maverick sharing real life thoughts and experiences and Maverick tips. If you haven’t hit the subscribe button yet, please do so, and you’ll not miss another episode.
Greetings from Mumbai, yes I travelled again for a short trip to India.
Forests, woods, these words evoke a vision of endless greenery, trees, nature. Often we use the terms of forest and woods interchangeably, but in actuality they are distinct.
A forest is a thick growth of trees and underbrush covering an extensive tract of land. A wood on the other hand is defined as a thick grove of trees.
Wood actually means the material that makes up a tree. In the plural, it can mean a group of trees.
One may ask what’s the difference between woods and forest. It actually comes down to the canopy cover and tree density. Forests have a thicker canopy cover which relates to the amount of land covered by the tops of the trees. In comparison, woods have a more open canopy and sparser tree density. And generally woodlands are between forests and open land.
The trees in the woods are tall, taller than 5 meters, that’s 16 feet and a canopy cover of between 5% and 10% and a combined cover of shrubs, bushes and trees over 10%. A wood can become a forest, if it gets dense enough to cover over 10% of its land with tree canopy.
The definitions also change depending on the country. North America, the UK, Australia all define woods and woodlands differently. However, the classification does rest on the tree density, the height of the trees and the canopy cover.
It is because of these open canopies that more sunlight reaches the woodland floor. And that’s where the flora, fauna, the wildlife like deer, racoons, hedgehogs, rabbits, all abound in the woods. While forests typically have animals that can live exclusively among the trees.
Now you might be wondering why I am speaking about the woods. Well, recently we’ve done another one of our moves. You know we have the travel bug. And I’ve shared about our relocations and moves in other episodes too. Well, this last one brought us to the woods.
It just so happened that we liked a house up in the mountain in the midst of the woods and said to ourselves, let’s give living here a shot. Ha ha.
In many ways, it was akin to moving off the grid. Woods are typically a bit away from the heart of the city. And there are several things to consider if one is thinking of living there. We started asking around and checking on basic questions. How long will it take to get to the nearest store for example. What about health care, and basic services like the police and fire brigade. How is the internet and signal strength. What about power, electricity and water supply.
We sought out all these answers and many surprised us. We’d never lived in this ‘out of the run’ kind of place. But being Mavericks at heart, were intrigued and excited enough to give it a shot.
There was just something about the woods. I will come back to that but first the answers to the questions. Well, the big flip side was that one needs to drive everywhere. The nearest store is about 15 minutes away. And yes, all basic services are there, including delivery via post, email and online shopping. It wasn’t that far out!
However, there was no home delivery from a wide variety of restaurants. Just a few that would deliver at home. Kind of pushes one to eat healthy actually! Ha ha….and eat home cooked meals. Otherwise, one ends up just ordering pizza, or Chinese takeaway or something from door dash or other apps and it’s so easy that you end up doing it more often than you realize. Well, not if you live out in the woods!
There’s a quieter social scene too. Fewer neighbors, actually the closest one to us is 5 acres away hahaha… and a tight knit community that’s always ready to help and support. That’s been a real plus. Meeting people and making new friends and connections. Another big plus is the slower lifestyle, the peace and quiet…one sees a zillion stars in the sky at night and hears the natural sounds of birds and water flowing in the stream nearby.
You get more exercise out here. Walking everywhere and the woods draw you in and you feel like going out there, exploring trails, experiencing nature at its very best. I walk in the woods here, and honestly, I can feel the woods whispering, there’s a sound in the woods that’s indescribable….and the calmness and serenity unbeatable.
Often along our driveway, we find deer. Yes, a family of deer walking along, and it’s just so beautiful. They come near to the house too and we spend many blissful moments, sipping our coffees and watching the deer. Regarding the question on water supply. Well, ours comes from a well…which is 650 feet deep below the surface of the earth. The water is clean, pure and couldn’t taste better.
And another big plus, we get fresh milk, butter, cream, and organically grown micro greens. Such a blessing, especially in today’s hectic, fast paced and commercial world. I have spoken about the A2 milk in my earlier podcast.
Our experience living in the woods has brought home the fact that simple living is equal to daily inspiration. I often wonder about ‘inspiration’. What does this really mean?
Inspiration is the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative. Did you know there are 3 types of inspiration, one that’s from the head, known as Rational inspiration, two, from the gut, known as Emotive inspiration and three, from the subconscious, known as Serendipitous inspiration.
For me, the woods are an example of number three…Serendipitous inspiration. It’s the kind of inspiration which is random. Ideas stumbled upon by chance. And often this happens when out in nature, out in the woods. Remember the discovery of gravity by Isaac Newton? It happened because he observed an apple falling out of a tree. Completely random, right? But it led to inspirational thinking that changed the world. In fact, these random thoughts, creativity and inspiration can lead to amazing creations. You know the Star wars series by George Lucas? When it first came out in 1977, we were all completely awestruck! The designs of the space ships, weapons, robots, everything was just Wow! Everyone wondered how George Lucas came up with these designs? But when one looked closely, there was something…you know what? A lot of the designs of the ships came about by juxtaposing ships with different letters of the alphabet. There was the X wing aircraft which combined the letter X with a jet like spacecraft. Then the A wing was like the letter A, The Y wing like the letter Y, and the Tie fighter was a flying letter H. very interesting right? It was an example of taking an approach to inspiration which was linking random, unrelated things together.
See ..inspiration can lead us to do all kinds of things. It’s in fact, a much-needed ingredient in our lives.
As we enter into the new year and start off January, let’s commit to finding inspiration in our lives. It can be from the head where it’s rational, relies on research, knowledge and a rational way of thinking. Or it can be from the gut, like emotive inspiration, coming from a feeling, emotion of human experiences, or like I shared from completely random sources, from places we did not expect, could be a chance encounter with someone, something we see somewhere, or like in my case, walking in the woods. Hearing the sounds, the whispers, seeing the beautiful tall trees, the greenery, the moss on the trees, basically anything that gives us that joy, that feeling of doing something creative.
As I continue my meanders through the woods surrounded by the swishing of the trees and the gentle wind, I wish all fellow Mavericks to explore and find inspiration through the head, gut or the subconscious. And yes, if you get a chance, do get to the woods – for sure, the whispers will inspire.
Do keep writing your comments and sharing feedback at ‘theordinarymaverick@gmail.com’ and follow me on Instagram #theordinarymaverick. I love hearing from you. This is Ajey, signing off and wishing you have an amazing day and a super amazing year! Keep well.
This podcast series was put together as a team effort from the Bhardwaj family. Concept, design, title, researchers and reviewers: Ajey, Sanjana, Avantika and Niharika Bhardwaj; Script– Sanjana; Cover design – Niharika. All rights reserved.