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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to learn the names of any plants,

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Speaker 1: or birds or other animals that you see frequently. Giving

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Speaker 1: names to the physical landscape and its inhabitants can help

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Speaker 1: you feel more connected to nature and see your backyard

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Speaker 1: or the parks near your home in an all new way.

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Speaker 1: I took a botany class in high school that involved

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Speaker 1: traveling to parks all over my home state of Indiana.

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Speaker 1: I learned the names of various plants, like wild columbines

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Speaker 1: with their delicate red flowers, the skunk cabbage that grows

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Speaker 1: in swampy soil, and how to recognize a beech tree. Basically,

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Speaker 1: if you see a tree with initials carved into it

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Speaker 1: while you're on a walk in the woods, that's probably

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Speaker 1: a beech tree. The smooth bark seems to attract this Now,

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Speaker 1: whenever I spot these plants while I'm on a walk,

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Speaker 1: it feels like I'm seeing old friends. I met them

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Speaker 1: in high school, and here we are together now. Of course,

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Speaker 1: as a high school botany student, I didn't learn too

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Speaker 1: many names, But these days there's a quick way to

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Speaker 1: identify any plant. I recently downloaded the Seek app to

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Speaker 1: my phone. That's s e e K. You let it

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Speaker 1: access your camera and the app will identify any plant.

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Speaker 1: This was really helpful on a recent family hike when

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Speaker 1: we figured out what was poison ivy before stepping in it.

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Speaker 1: But it's also really fun to figure out that those

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Speaker 1: white flowers by my mailbox are summer snowdrops, or that

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Speaker 1: the poofy purple flowers are chives. Just as knowing people's

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Speaker 1: names helps us feel connected to them, knowing names of

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Speaker 1: things in nature helps us feel more at home there.

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Speaker 1: This is true for more things than plants. I'm working

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Speaker 1: on identifying the birds in my backyard, so when I

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Speaker 1: hear a song in the morning, I know who's singing.

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Speaker 1: Knowing the names of insects helps you know which are

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Speaker 1: beneficial and can be greeted as friends. Walking into a

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Speaker 1: park or backyard becomes something like going to a party

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Speaker 1: where you know everybody. It's so much more fun. So today,

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Speaker 1: stop and figure out the name of that beautiful plant

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Speaker 1: or tree you always see. If an app doesn't work,

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Speaker 1: post a picture on social media. Someone will know and help,

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Speaker 1: and then you can greet your new acquaintance properly. In

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Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's

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Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd

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Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the

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Speaker 1: number four, then breakfast p o D. You can also

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Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia

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Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying

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Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i

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Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.