4 ms·

I think nature and plants always interested me since I was a kid. For example I loved to plant from seeds, see them grow, learn and explore a bit with curiosity

by giov4 2mo ago

I think nature and plants always interested me since I was a kid. For example I loved to plant from seeds, see them grow, learn and explore a bit with curiosity my mum or aunt plants and when being out in the forest, but not a lot more than that. Later, while growing up, I noticed my brain noticing plants or tree details, auto mapping them to possible genre, trying to find out, trying to memorize... but not always voluntarily, meaning that i felt like I was much more attracted and focused on plants and tree details and recognition after a certain age. Something similar happened with birds, my brain started recording and recognizing the different birds sounds, and I started recognizing birds types more. Like something that before was a random signal or a bunch of sounds suddenly with age started having patterns and clear distinctions that attracted my brain and memory, and I simply started being able to distinguish birds by just hearing them. I love it, I observe, I listen, I learn. I use the plant apps and birdnet for the bird soiunds (from CornellLab and Technical university of Chemnitz). Cool projects, lovely apps and interesting tech usage. I'm planning to upgrade terrace with constant camera feed for auto-detection. But the main point is, does anybody relate to this grown interest to plants and bird distinction with age? is it something known and defined? it kinda feels like part of a biological evolution related to age, but no idea.

visarga 2mo ago
> does anybody relate to this grown interest to plants and bird distinction with age I have a similar interest but mine is about passively assimilating foreign languages while watching movies. Every time I grok a new expression it feels like a rush of dopamine.
- giov4 2mo ago
  yeah ok, now that you put languages in the pot, I felt the same when absorbing other foreign languages too, and I totally understand your feeling. I was grokking successfully foreign language phrases or expression with the help of IT terminology and latin roots on the fly, was very interesting. It was like unknown input but with some clues and the brain auto decoding and mapping in that case. maybe is just how our brain is wired and predisposed to such things that let us notice and enjoy this evolution or process?
Eueudhsbsj32 2mo ago
I've experienced that with trees over the last 5 years. I've been working on forest restoration on some land as a hobby and everywhere I travel I try to identify the trees I see. For me, it's really just trees though. Birds and other wildlife are nice, but they don't draw my interest in the same way.
stinos 2mo ago
does anybody relate to this grown interest to plants and bird distinction with age? I do, and I've seen it in others, but from the limited data points I've seen there's no causal relationship with age. I.e. what I've seen is people largely oblivious of nature/ecosystems/flora/fauna sudenly becoming very invested in it, for various reasons, but this doesn't happen at or only beyond a certain age. For me it was around 30 but that's simply because of a series of coincidences (new house, large garden, needed solution for mowing, happened to see a 2nd hand scythe, looked into grassland ecology, etc). But I know people whos obsession started at 16 and at 60 and like everything in between.
- giov4 2mo ago
  cool! thanks for sharing, that's my usual fallback reason too. meaning that i feel it was a change also triggered by other factors and life conditions, or even a reaction to those, but at the same time I realize that my brain started receiving and analyzing and appreciating those signal, not me completely voluntary. one thing that comes always to my mind is the possible reason of reaction to shitty work and work related stress that makes us crave for nature and nature contact, like a story of a friend stopping the car just to touch grass with the feet. I relate to an approximate after 30 thing too. But in my case nature contact was reduced compare to initial life part, and I got a garden after that. But again, it feels like an over semplifcation or easy shortcut, and I believe there is maybe just something innate that blooms at a certain point. how can we get more datapoints for this? I was trying to crowdsource here :)
  - stinos 2mo ago
    one thing that comes always to my mind is the possible reason of reaction to shitty work and work related stress that makes us crave for nature and nature contact I'm sure that's a thing for some people. And there's research to back that up IIRC. Even seemingly silly things like the smell of a wet forest being beneficial. One aspect which stood out for me is 'awareness'. I find it deeply fascinating how many people, as I used to be one, can just stroll through everyday locations without even knowing the names of the most common plants let alone think about their connection to the surroundings. Once I started to realize how unaware I was of this I started forzing myself to be more aware and it's fascinating how much there can be going on in like even 1 square meter of nature. And of which I only know a fraction. And for me this is really meditative - even though it's somewhat counterintuitive. Meditation is usually about clearing the mind, but for me being in nature and filling my mind with thoughts about the whole interconnection of individuals in ecosystems can bring peace and relaxation. Well, as long as I do not think about how we're collectively destroying a lot of it.
Gud 2mo ago
I got very much into biology when I started growing weed at 24. Now I can’t not have a little garden(currently growing chilli’s and a citrus tree, from seeds)
- tsukurimashou 2mo ago
  weed was also my gateway drug for gardening
- pvaldes 2mo ago
  A tree is an expensive investment paid with years of time. You need to understand that a tree from seed is much more expensive than buying one on the nursery. You pay for exclusivity, but you will have a big tree that may bear decent fruit or not. Most probably not top-quality fruit, and most probably with vicious eye-poking thorns. If the garden is not very big, a smaller thornless tree could be much more convenient. Don't wait 30 years to discover this. If your citrus species is sensible to citrus tristeza virus you may prefer to replace your tree or graft it on a tolerant rootstock. Orange trees over sour orange rootstock (= most of the orange trees planted before 1980's) have the virus. Lemons are tolerant, and its roots don't have this problem. Oranges may die after you have invested 15 or 20 years of your life on this tree. Grafted fruit trees are vastly superior. You will want seedless oranges, so just do yourself a favor, buy a good navel type orange, grafted on the best rootstock available for your soil type, and avoid the rest of your life spitting seeds from your orange juice. If replacing your tree is not on the table, you may want to graft yours. Extra point if you made a double or triple graft for enjoying different types of citrus fruits in the same tree. In this case Is essential to assure to buy virus free material before to graft other citrus tree with it. Never, ever, use the same tool to prune older and young different citrus trees without disinfecting it each time you move to a different tree.
7952 2mo ago
It is clearly a very useful skill to have as it helps us find food we know is safe. I think in the modern world this tends to be something most kids don't have an oppurtunity to develop. When in a more natural environment it would be expressed much earlier.
dividedbyzero 2mo ago
I don't relate to it myself, but I see it in people around me. It appears that's something that may not be limited to but is very prevalent in adults with very high functioning autism.
- giov4 2mo ago
  what is very high functioning autism? to me it sounds just more intelligent people that can see things average people cannot or don't care about, might be slightly biased :) beside jokes is that defined somewhere? or is just that if somebody can focus and contextualize more things and details ends up in that "category"?
- ambicapter 2mo ago
  ah yes, whenever someone is sincerely interested in something, it's probably autism.
forshaper 2mo ago
It seems to be the case for me, though I remember it being present as a child. It's like it went away in adolescence and came back later. Same goes for rocks, weather (beyond basic planning), and so on.
nemo 2mo ago
I knew I wanted to be a birder since I was a kid, but wasn't sure how to make that happen, now I can bird by ear and pick up a lot of species, have 700 wild bird species on the life list with photos, and hit the trails every weekend to look for birds, I run feeders, and track local wildlife with iNaturalist/eBird. I do think as some folks age they recognize that they want to be more connected with nature and work on that in their ways, my family was mostly the same. Nature's more real than what you see on the glowing rectangles.
germinalphrase 2mo ago
I grew up in a small town in the upper Midwest and always had a strong pull toward the neighboring forests, streams and wetlands. There was a lot of wonder at that age, but I wasn’t prepared to really start contextualizing the depth/breadth of information until I was much older (which has obvious parallels to the systems/complexity thinking I enjoy elsewhere in my life/career). As an adult, I have found great value in assistive tools Merlin and Seek/iNaturalist for bird and plant identification. I would encourage everyone to try out Merlin at least once to learn more about all the great variety of birds in your neighborhood. I am also building a personal tool that captures and analyzes various environmental data sources (GIS, weather, phenological factors, species-specific habitat factors, etc) so that I can explore landscapes/ecosystems in my area (Minneapolis and MN/WI more broadly) to make the ecology/terrain legible and support observing various target species (fungi, migratory birds, fish runs, wildflower blooms, and so on). The format of the tool is very map/visualization/dashboard heavy which is fine for me - but carries too much bulk for friends and family. The project for this fall/winter is rewrapping the iOS experience around a quiet phone/watch/earbuds field-mode that only surfaces information/guidance/cue-stake recognition in skill-preserving/developing and eyes-up/phone away experience. It’s a fun project.

by giov4 2mo ago

visarga 2mo ago

> does anybody relate to this grown interest to plants and bird distinction with age I have a similar interest but mine is about passively assimilating foreign languages while watching movies. Every time I grok a new expression it feels like a rush of dopamine.

giov4 2mo ago
yeah ok, now that you put languages in the pot, I felt the same when absorbing other foreign languages too, and I totally understand your feeling. I was grokking successfully foreign language phrases or expression with the help of IT terminology and latin roots on the fly, was very interesting. It was like unknown input but with some clues and the brain auto decoding and mapping in that case. maybe is just how our brain is wired and predisposed to such things that let us notice and enjoy this evolution or process?

Eueudhsbsj32 2mo ago

I've experienced that with trees over the last 5 years. I've been working on forest restoration on some land as a hobby and everywhere I travel I try to identify the trees I see. For me, it's really just trees though. Birds and other wildlife are nice, but they don't draw my interest in the same way.

stinos 2mo ago

does anybody relate to this grown interest to plants and bird distinction with age? I do, and I've seen it in others, but from the limited data points I've seen there's no causal relationship with age. I.e. what I've seen is people largely oblivious of nature/ecosystems/flora/fauna sudenly becoming very invested in it, for various reasons, but this doesn't happen at or only beyond a certain age. For me it was around 30 but that's simply because of a series of coincidences (new house, large garden, needed solution for mowing, happened to see a 2nd hand scythe, looked into grassland ecology, etc). But I know people whos obsession started at 16 and at 60 and like everything in between.

giov4 2mo ago
cool! thanks for sharing, that's my usual fallback reason too. meaning that i feel it was a change also triggered by other factors and life conditions, or even a reaction to those, but at the same time I realize that my brain started receiving and analyzing and appreciating those signal, not me completely voluntary. one thing that comes always to my mind is the possible reason of reaction to shitty work and work related stress that makes us crave for nature and nature contact, like a story of a friend stopping the car just to touch grass with the feet. I relate to an approximate after 30 thing too. But in my case nature contact was reduced compare to initial life part, and I got a garden after that. But again, it feels like an over semplifcation or easy shortcut, and I believe there is maybe just something innate that blooms at a certain point. how can we get more datapoints for this? I was trying to crowdsource here :)
- stinos 2mo ago
  one thing that comes always to my mind is the possible reason of reaction to shitty work and work related stress that makes us crave for nature and nature contact I'm sure that's a thing for some people. And there's research to back that up IIRC. Even seemingly silly things like the smell of a wet forest being beneficial. One aspect which stood out for me is 'awareness'. I find it deeply fascinating how many people, as I used to be one, can just stroll through everyday locations without even knowing the names of the most common plants let alone think about their connection to the surroundings. Once I started to realize how unaware I was of this I started forzing myself to be more aware and it's fascinating how much there can be going on in like even 1 square meter of nature. And of which I only know a fraction. And for me this is really meditative - even though it's somewhat counterintuitive. Meditation is usually about clearing the mind, but for me being in nature and filling my mind with thoughts about the whole interconnection of individuals in ecosystems can bring peace and relaxation. Well, as long as I do not think about how we're collectively destroying a lot of it.

Gud 2mo ago

I got very much into biology when I started growing weed at 24. Now I can’t not have a little garden(currently growing chilli’s and a citrus tree, from seeds)

tsukurimashou 2mo ago
weed was also my gateway drug for gardening
pvaldes 2mo ago
A tree is an expensive investment paid with years of time. You need to understand that a tree from seed is much more expensive than buying one on the nursery. You pay for exclusivity, but you will have a big tree that may bear decent fruit or not. Most probably not top-quality fruit, and most probably with vicious eye-poking thorns. If the garden is not very big, a smaller thornless tree could be much more convenient. Don't wait 30 years to discover this. If your citrus species is sensible to citrus tristeza virus you may prefer to replace your tree or graft it on a tolerant rootstock. Orange trees over sour orange rootstock (= most of the orange trees planted before 1980's) have the virus. Lemons are tolerant, and its roots don't have this problem. Oranges may die after you have invested 15 or 20 years of your life on this tree. Grafted fruit trees are vastly superior. You will want seedless oranges, so just do yourself a favor, buy a good navel type orange, grafted on the best rootstock available for your soil type, and avoid the rest of your life spitting seeds from your orange juice. If replacing your tree is not on the table, you may want to graft yours. Extra point if you made a double or triple graft for enjoying different types of citrus fruits in the same tree. In this case Is essential to assure to buy virus free material before to graft other citrus tree with it. Never, ever, use the same tool to prune older and young different citrus trees without disinfecting it each time you move to a different tree.

7952 2mo ago

It is clearly a very useful skill to have as it helps us find food we know is safe. I think in the modern world this tends to be something most kids don't have an oppurtunity to develop. When in a more natural environment it would be expressed much earlier.

dividedbyzero 2mo ago

I don't relate to it myself, but I see it in people around me. It appears that's something that may not be limited to but is very prevalent in adults with very high functioning autism.

giov4 2mo ago
what is very high functioning autism? to me it sounds just more intelligent people that can see things average people cannot or don't care about, might be slightly biased :) beside jokes is that defined somewhere? or is just that if somebody can focus and contextualize more things and details ends up in that "category"?
ambicapter 2mo ago
ah yes, whenever someone is sincerely interested in something, it's probably autism.

forshaper 2mo ago

It seems to be the case for me, though I remember it being present as a child. It's like it went away in adolescence and came back later. Same goes for rocks, weather (beyond basic planning), and so on.

nemo 2mo ago

I knew I wanted to be a birder since I was a kid, but wasn't sure how to make that happen, now I can bird by ear and pick up a lot of species, have 700 wild bird species on the life list with photos, and hit the trails every weekend to look for birds, I run feeders, and track local wildlife with iNaturalist/eBird. I do think as some folks age they recognize that they want to be more connected with nature and work on that in their ways, my family was mostly the same. Nature's more real than what you see on the glowing rectangles.

germinalphrase 2mo ago

I grew up in a small town in the upper Midwest and always had a strong pull toward the neighboring forests, streams and wetlands. There was a lot of wonder at that age, but I wasn’t prepared to really start contextualizing the depth/breadth of information until I was much older (which has obvious parallels to the systems/complexity thinking I enjoy elsewhere in my life/career). As an adult, I have found great value in assistive tools Merlin and Seek/iNaturalist for bird and plant identification. I would encourage everyone to try out Merlin at least once to learn more about all the great variety of birds in your neighborhood. I am also building a personal tool that captures and analyzes various environmental data sources (GIS, weather, phenological factors, species-specific habitat factors, etc) so that I can explore landscapes/ecosystems in my area (Minneapolis and MN/WI more broadly) to make the ecology/terrain legible and support observing various target species (fungi, migratory birds, fish runs, wildflower blooms, and so on). The format of the tool is very map/visualization/dashboard heavy which is fine for me - but carries too much bulk for friends and family. The project for this fall/winter is rewrapping the iOS experience around a quiet phone/watch/earbuds field-mode that only surfaces information/guidance/cue-stake recognition in skill-preserving/developing and eyes-up/phone away experience. It’s a fun project.