Muddy Feet

Meeting nature on nature's terms

Feet are wonderful

When was the last time that you wriggled your toes in the sand or felt the grass?

There are 26 bones, 30 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments in each of your feet and countless nerve endings which is why our feet are so sensitive.

I was prompted to write this piece because I spend most of the time bare foot. As I’ve got older I find that I enjoy the freedom of feeling that I get from not wearing anything on my feet. In fact, as I have written previously, Skyclad? I am often completely naked and get an even more a sense of freedom, but there are occasions when this is not appropriate so barefoot is a good second best. My blog is not called Muddy Feet for nothing.

I rarely even wear socks, when I have to wear anything my footwear of choice are a pair of well worn moccasins with bare feet. On the occasions that I have to wear “proper” shoes and socks I feel so detached from everything.

It has been dry here recently and each time that walk out into my garden and along the path by the river I am conscious of the tiny changes under my feet, in places it’s dry and dusty in others the earth has a cool dampness from the numerous spring lines that feed water through the land, there are twigs, grass and stones and I am aware of each nuance as I pass. Its my feet that connect me.

So how connected are you? Feet are wonderful.

Nathair

8 responses to “Feet are wonderful”

  1. Nico Avatar
    Nico

    I also like walking barefoot or with socks, but not in the streets. I’ve got some moccassins like you and also some barefoot shoes, which obviously are more shoes than barefoot, but I have a good connection with them. I was happy to learn that in astrology, planet Neptune represents spirituality and, in regards to the body, the feet!

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    1. Nathaire Avatar
      Nathaire

      Hi Nico, I tend to wear something on my feet when I’m in an urban area as there is so much stigma to being barefoot but around where I live there’s no one to complain..

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  2. Nico Avatar
    Nico

    Yes, there’s stigma in urban areas and also the danger of injuries from shards of glass, small parts of sheet metal or hard plastic. I don’t want to watch my step all the time.

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  3. christineanne Avatar
    christineanne

    As my house cat frequently wakes me before dawn, wanting to go into the cat run but refusing to acknowledge the cat flap, I’ve taken to stepping out barefoot and just standing on the stone, studying the sky and the dark shapes in the garden. It’s surprisingly exhilarating and worth the early morning call for.

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    1. Nathaire Avatar
      Nathaire

      That’s wonderful….particularly in the dark…

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  4. James murphy Avatar
    James murphy

    When I think of muddy feet, I think of Nora. Nora started working on my grandmother’s farm when she was a young teenager. And over her lifetime came back and worked with us on different occasions. It was a joy to be in her company, she worked hard and told a great yarn. Meal time with all my siblings around was great fun , with Nora recounting old stories and jokes and maybe finishing off with a song. She’d had a hard life, but was always in good form.
    One of her favourite jobs was sorting the poppies(potatoes). Stored in an old dark stone outhouse with an earthen floor and Nora on her hands and knees turning them over and picking out any bad ones. When I was a young teenager, and Nora in her sixties, I remember thinning turnips with her, my brother Joe and Jerry, our workman. A drill of turnips might be a few hundred yards long and we’d start out with hessian bags tied with twine around our knees, down on all fours and take lumps of eath and young seedling turnips out of the drill to let a single seedling evenly spaced every 10 to 12 inches apart as our seed drill just sowed a continuous line of seed. She told me her favourite way to relax of an evening was to go out in her garden and do a bit of work in her bare feet and feel the earth between her toes.
    One of the best parties I had the privilege to attend was Noras 100th , with her son , grandchildren,great grandchildren and many neighbours and friends in Nora’s beloved garden, and she finished the night with a song.
    She lived to 103 and her funeral was thronged and equally happy occasion. “To Nora”

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    1. Nathaire Avatar
      Nathaire

      Thanks for sharing such a lovely story…

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  5. It’s the little things that matter – Muddy Feet Avatar
    It’s the little things that matter – Muddy Feet

    […] last blog was titled Feet are wonderful and this is where the two ideas merge. It’s about paying attention to all the nuances that […]

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