Spring is a time for action, and action is a powerful antidote: to lethargy, boredom, anxiety, and even all-out despair.
Last spring, I published my first list of ideas for spring projects—a resource to help coax and inspire us all to get back out there, to re-engage dormant hands and get the gears turning again.
This year, I'm excited to present the follow-up, including projects with fewer barriers to entry, and a new category called "Being." Some entries might be familiar (like axe sharpening), while others (like tramping) serve as small "instigators" to do with what you please.
Regardless of the level of your spring ambition, I hope this list inspires some momentum.
Making:
- Clay hand-building
- Woodturning
- Box making
- Frame making
- Plaster cast making
- Leather painting
- Pyrography
- Indigo dying
- Weaving
- Book binding
- Dying with natural plants
- Felting
- Quilt making
- Paper making
- Flag making
- Sewing / mending
- Brush making
- Landscape watercolors
- Drawing with Sharpies
- Stone wall building
- Origami tessellations
Restoring & Repairing:
- Kintsugi
- Darning
- Outerwear Maintenance
- Knife sharpening
- Axe sharpening
- Small engine repair
- Chimney sweeping
Observing:
- Bird migration
- Animal tracking
- Plant identification
- Weather patterns
- Cloud spotting
- Stream dynamics
- Bee line hunting
Documenting:
- Field Recording
- Portrait photography
- Mapmaking
- Archival storage
- Collecting natural specimens
- Phenology
Helping:
- Human first aid
- Dog first aid
- Dog training
- Wildlife rescue
- Search and Rescue
Growing:
- Tree planting
- Fruit tree pruning
- No-dig growing
- Composting
Community Organizing:
- Event planning
- Newsletter publishing
- Clean-up / Maintenance
Exercising:
- The Burpee club
- Stone lifting and throwing
- Hillwalking
- Stretching
Recreating:
- Tramping
- Solo canoeing
- Canoe tripping
- Tenkara fishing
- Orienteering without maps
- Shelter construction
Communicating:
- Storytelling
- Speech writing
- Sign language
- Semaphore signaling
- Morse code
- Analog radio operation
Cooking:
- Foraging
- Baking with sourdough
- Making shrubs
- Cold smoking
- Japanese ice cubes
Being:
- Meditation
- Silent walking
- Breathwork
- Silent retreats
- Journaling
- Tea ceremony
Misc:
- Bushido
- Cryptography
- Hand writing analysis
- Knot tying
- Sleight of hand
- Dowsing for water
