You can’t be driving if you want to try this. Yes, if the pine cone was located inside a car, you could. But if so, there will be distractions. The radio, passing scenery, interruptions from passengers, sounds in and outside the car. Some benefit will result. What is it? What can be sensed while driving safely… colors, shapes, touch, light, dark, similarities, differences, patterns, textures. Even sounds when a flap is pressed and released can be heard.

The pine cone is a metaphor for small. There is no horizon or broad vista for a pine cone. You hold it and look at it. Grand nature such as mountains, expanses of water, meadows, and forests are important. And, close up contact is too. Moving life always attracts attention. A pine cone doesn’t move. Yet it can. Take a pine cone with closed flaps, put it in a zip lock bag and place it on the dashboard of a car in sunlight. Heat will cause the flaps to open. Then put some water in the bag and close it. The flaps will slowly close. The is science behind this. The flaps have spring-like tissue inside that respond to heat and humidity. Pitch Pine cones have flaps that are held in place by sticky pitch that vaporized when the heat of a fire surrounds them. The seeds twirl down falling on the ash of freshly burned litter. Using a propane torch, you can heat the cone and watch the flaps pop open.

A Pine cone that has been on the ground can be home to small animals. Find a cone that looks as if it’s been on the ground for some time. Look to see if anything has crawled in to use it as protection, or as a home. Further investigation might be identification. If the cone is under a conifer tree. What kind of tree is it? A spiral pattern can be seen. Trace your finger along the curving line of flaps. Why does the cone look like this? Again, science provides an answer. The flaps open one by one along the pattern starting at the bottom. Rather that release its seeds all at once, it does so slowly from the bottom up. This helps seed distribution. If a flap opens on a windy day, the winged seed inside will travel farther. A cone which has been open if tapped, will release some of its winged seeds. Take one and drop it from above yourhead. It spins like helicopter blades.

The title impiies that staying close to nature on foot will improve contact with it. Driving distances away from home means less contact. Walking is better. One doesn’t have to fly thousands of miles or drive hundreds to do this. Right on your doorstep is where to begin, then the neighborhood, then a shrub, a tree, weeds, flowers, birds…

Most of us don’t take much time to look close. Knowing the name of the object doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are giving yourself a chance to make a personal, intimate connection with earth. Just as looking at the stars is a wonderful experience, so is finding out something new about a pine cone or anything close at hand. There are thousands of opportunities to slake your curiosity by paying attention. You’ll pass by some of the complex chains and webs of nature. It is not necessary to learn the science behind nature. Just marveling at something that you discover that is tiny is a wonderful experience.Go find a pine cone and try.