While I'm sure it's not this guys intention, a "nature" calendar is also why the calendar was invented to begin with, specifically for growing crops. Another incarnation of the nature calendar is the Farmer's Almanac.
i observed the start of "local astronomical spring" this year. the first time the sun was high enough to shine directly into my eyes was feb4.
i observed the last day it shone into my eyes sometime in november.
This is the kind of thing I think about to get the useful bits out of the "touch grass" meme.
Unfortunately I'm not very good at it and time isn't real until the stores put out the commercialized holiday crap: It's only really summer when the 4th of July kitsch is put out on the shelves. It sucks and I want to be better about it.
It helps to be more in tune with your surroundings outside. Many of us become disconnected from the land around us because of the pace of modern life: working 40+ hours, driving everywhere, and generally not having energy to go outside in our spare time. But even taking a short walk around the block each day will let you get in tune with your local climate. You'll learn what the temperature is like when the first flowers start to bloom, when foods are in season, when the frost starts to come.
Unfortunately, this may also mean you start to notice how out of whack the cycles have become thanks to climate change.
