There are many reasons why people wouldn’t want to get dirty and muddy.

You’ll notice that most small children have a natural urge to put soil to their faces and even into their mouths. Research is showing us that this could be because of an an organic compound inside of it, called geosmin, the metallic smell of which is more pronounced after it rains.

A paper by a team at the School of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences in South Korea looked at the effect of smelling geosmin on the brain activity of men and women. The team concluded that the brainwave activity was linked with calmness and relaxation states in the brain, particularly in women, meaning that there is a real benefit to getting up close and personal with soil, something that children want to do naturally but that we as adults have been trained to unlearn. 



So don’t just take our word for it. Go outside. Take a walk in a beautiful wild place or what's more, come to one of Wild Blossom's groups or workshops. Allow your children to get dirty and become aware of the way that it nurtures them, and all of us, from the inside out.