Taylor Bourassa, RP, DTATI
Ottawa, ON

Nature’s Way is a regular column by Envisage writer Taylor Bourassa, exploring eco-art therapy techniques to incorporate into therapeutic practices, and invites us to practice ways of interacting with, befriending, and enhancing our relationship with the earth.

Taylor Bourassa is a Registered Psychotherapist and art therapist with a private practice, Wellness Grove Therapy. She incorporates the environment into her practice through the use of natural materials, meditative practices that centre the earth, inviting the natural environment into sessions as a co-facilitator, and sharing the primordial knowledge the earth provides.

Winter settles into Ottawa like an unexpected yet anticipated visitor. Always with a quiet crawl, followed by an onslaught of blankets of white and blizzards that rattle window panes and freeze the bones.

And as we hunker down, cozy up with our loved ones and batten down the hatches we start to ignore what's happening before our very eyes.

Sipping cocoa, knitting scarves, listening to jazz and Christmas music we occupy ourselves with distractions and comforts from the cold.

But not Jeremiah and his family. They know that with the first snow fall they don't have much time to prepare for the spring. They also know that the first snow fall in Ottawa, doesn't last.

They grab their canvas bags, filled to the brim with crocus bulbs. Wrapped in scarves ready to brave the cold they venture out: Jeremiah takes the west end, Lucia takes the East, and the South is divided amongst Baron, Saran and Lucinda. It takes them the total of a week. Finding open space, and digging deep enough to satisfy the bulbs. Hundreds and thousands of bulbs buried deep in the land just waiting.

They kiss the ground where they lay, recite a silent wish for their safety and growth and head back home. Where they too sit by the fire with warm cocoa reminiscing about what's to come.

And now here we are, Spring is upon us and all of their hard work is showing. Blues and purples, teetering on strong green stalks. The crocus have arrived and fill our yards with breathtaking beauty.

We take for granted the hard work Jeremiah and his family put in each winter. They know loving and caring for the land takes time. Patience. Acceptance. Admiration. We can learn something from the squirrels. Consider the gifts the land gives us each year, each season. Express your gratitude and appreciation. Thank the land for the beauty and soft invitation for rest.

You can find Jeremiah and his family now sitting by the crocus as the sun shines down. Sipping cold lemonade, shaded by the oaks above.

"Good work everyone," and mother Earth replies "thank you."