What do gardening, birding, hiking and fishing all have in common? They provide wonderful opportunities to get up close and personal with nature -- to experience it on such an intimate level that we quickly realize the absolute wonder of it all -- and the need to protect it.

Gardens allow us to co-create. In a garden, we work hand in hand with nature, co-creating a masterpiece of form and fragrance, color and design. We may carefully choose each plant and flower and painstakingly plan our garden layout, but it is Mother Nature who adds the finishing touches and has the final say.

Backyard birding and wildlife gardening allow us to observe the miracles of life and to share them with our families. A few carefully placed bird feeders, plants chosen specifically for butterflies or the addition of a backyard pond all provide us with the opportunity to bring the wonders of nature right into our own backyards. Which birds mate for life? How long does it take for the complete life cycle of a butterfly or for a tadpole to turn into a frog? Inviting wildlife to our garden allows us to experience these miracles on a daily basis and from the comfort of our home or garden.

Hiking, camping and outdoor photography allow us to experience nature with all of our senses. The sights of mountains and oceans and fields of wild flowers call out to be captured on camera or canvas. Hiking an unknown trail with the sounds and scents of nature provides the opportunity for experiencing new wonders around every bend in the path. And nothing can quite compare to the feeling of sleeping outside under the stars and waking to another day as it unfolds before us.

And fishing, whether it is standing thigh high in a cool mountain stream with a fly rod in hand or strapped in to an angler's chair far out at sea, allows us to test our skills against nature.

Spending time in nature restores our spirit and all of these activities soon show us the importance of protecting the environment.

This website, Ma Nature's Child, hopes to encourage you get outside and experience nature. We want you to run your fingers through the soil and dig your toes deep into the sand.; to listen to the surf and the songbirds and smell the scent of whatever happens to be blooming at the moment; And we want you to keep doing it until you see the wonder in it all - until you realize how important it is protect it.

To that end, we have created affiliations with carefully chosen merchants that will help you enjoy the great outdoors. Garden supplies, outdoor decor, patio products, birding and wildlife supplies, hiking, fishing and camping gear, are all available from the links on this website. Purchasing your products here will allow us to earn a small commission which in turn, helps support this and other environmental websites.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings once said, "I do not understand how anyone can live without one small place of enchantment to turn to."

We hope we can help you to find that place of enchantment, and that you will visit it often.