Birdgirl's 30 Days Wild, Day 7 - for a diverse community

My Neice Laila with a home made trowel to dig with

This month is 30 Days Wild 2016, an initiative of The Wildlife Trusts who say "This June, can you do something wild each day for a month?" 

What they are saying is that nature is everywhere, so by looking for it through your normal day, you should start to notice it and enjoy it more.

They say that they don't want you to give anything up for June, just give yourself time in the wild with your family, to reconnect with nature. 26,000 people have already signed up, but it would be great if you signed up to taking part at http://bit.ly/1WZnYKW.  

So, for my 30 Days Wild, I have decided to connect with nature each day in a different way, that could feel relevant to Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities or People of Colour (POC) in the USA and be practical if you live in an inner city area. Things that BAME people can identify with and so might find it easier to try.  Not just young people, but BAME people of all ages.

For day seven, I thought it would be good to do a little gardening. If you feel like it, fill a medium sized container with compost, plant seeds for veg you like and make sure you water regularly.  If you live in flats, put the container on your balcony or have something small for an inside window ledge.

As easy option is as follows:

My niece Laila holding an old fruit container

My niece Laila holding an old fruit container

My niece Laila holding an old fruit container

My niece Laila putting an absorbent material into the container, to cover the holes

My niece Laila putting an absorbent material into the container, to cover the holes

My niece Laila with some cardboard

My niece Laila using cardboard to put ordinary soil into the container

My niece Laila using cardboard to put ordinary soil into the container

My niece Laila using cardboard to put ordinary soil into the container

Laila using cloves in water to soak but try whole coriander soaked and split

Laila planting cloves (not sure if they will grow but that is part of the excitement)

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Or, if you or someone in your family have a garden, help out and involve your children and elder family members.  Elder family member may be particularly interested in gardening and many have allotments.  My Nanu (gran) has always grown vegetables and herbs.  She used to supply the family restaurant with coriander in the 70's and 80's.  Now she is disabled, but still pays someone to do the gardening for her, coming out in her wheelchair to watch it all grow.

Child helping his grandfather in the garden

Child in her grandparents' garden

About the Writer

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly

Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig 

Mya-Rose Craig is a 14 year old young British Bangladesh birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and Penguins in Antarctica over Christmas 2015, her 7th continent.

Mya-Rose was a Bristol European Green Capital Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol Ambassadors. She has also been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter