The Flutter By Effect

Samantha Bean | Flutter By Meadows
  • 5.0 (1)
  • NATURE
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

The Flutter By Effect is a podcast about practicing attention in a distracted world. Through quiet observations of nature, everyday moments, and the small lives that often go unnoticed—birds, insects, changing seasons, and even the pull of our screens—this podcast invites you to slow down and notice what’s already around you. Some episodes begin in the garden. Others begin with a thought, a walk, or a moment of stillness. All are rooted in curiosity, reflection, and the belief that the extraordinary often reveals itself when we pause long enough to look. The Flutter By Effect is not about teaching or fixing—it's an invitation to notice, wonder, and reconnect with the world just outside your door (and within yourself). flutterbymeadows.substack.com

  1. 3D AGO

    Episode 18 | Winter Doesn’t Drain You. It Just Reduces Your Range.

    February can feel exhausting. The days are slowly getting longer, but energy still feels low. In this reflective winter episode, I explore how cold weather doesn’t necessarily drain us — it simply reduces our range. Like an electric car in winter, we may travel the same roads… just not as far on a single charge. After a fresh snowfall in my backyard, an unexpected female Eastern Towhee reminded me that even when life looks frozen, it is still moving underneath. This episode explores: Late winter fatigue and seasonal energy shifts The quiet accumulation of daylight in February The subnivian layer — life beneath the snow Battery metaphors, reduced range, and rest Why hibernation isn’t weakness — it’s strategy Noticing what still functions If you’re feeling low-power this winter, this episode is an invitation to conserve, recharge, and trust the slow return of light. Get full access to Samantha Bean at flutterbymeadows.substack.com/subscribe

    6 min

  2. FEB 11

    Episode 17 | The Loading Bar of Spring: Learning How To Recognize Beginnings That Don’t Look Like Progress Yet

    Have you ever watched a loading screen and felt your pulse pick up just a little? The spinning wheel. The buffering bar. That quiet instruction: Please don’t close this window. We’re uncomfortable when we can’t see progress. We want confirmation. A percentage. A sign that the wait means something. Late winter feels like that. This week’s episode explores that gap — the space between what’s happening and what’s visible. The quiet beginnings that don’t announce themselves. The kind of progress that offers no confirmation screen, no percentage bar, no green checkmark. Spring doesn’t arrive all at once.It loads slowly.And so do we. You can’t recognize almost-spring unless you’ve lived the whole way here. Through the dim light, the long nights, the repetition of cold mornings. The accumulated weight of it. The sequence. The repetition. Only then can you recognize what almost-spring really means. Red-winged blackbird recording courtesy of: Stanislas Wroza, XC1021377. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/1021377. License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Get full access to Samantha Bean at flutterbymeadows.substack.com/subscribe

    8 min

  3. FEB 4

    Episode 16 | The Art of Dialing In: Why You Might Be Giving Up Without Even Turning the Knob

    Episode 16: The Art of Dialing In Sometimes what you've been searching for has been right in front of you all along. You just weren't tuned to the right frequency. After years of trying to hand-feed chickadees, a red-breasted nuthatch landed on my palm. I'd been trying to feed the wrong bird. In this episode, I explore what it means to dial in instead of starting over. Why native plants struggle in an instant-hit world. And why attention often matters more than effort. In This Episode: The moment a nuthatch finally landed (and why it took years) Why we're measuring slow work with fast metrics The difference between buttons and dials What native plant gardening teaches us about presence The invitation: notice what's already working Mentioned in This Episode: Episode 15: Snow Regrets: I Never Learned So Much From a Bird Connect: Instagram Website Email: flutterbymeadows@gmail.com Get full access to Samantha Bean at flutterbymeadows.substack.com/subscribe

    7 min

  4. JAN 28

    Episode 15 | Snow Regrets: I Never Learned So Much From a Bird

    I went looking for one bird on an early morning beach walk... I found a different one. And somehow, it taught me far more than the bird I was chasing. Last week, I wondered whether a trip away from home might leave me without words. Without the familiar inspiration of my known surroundings. Not just writer’s block. But writer’s drought. Instead, the trip handed me the story. Sometimes, what we’re looking for isn’t found by chasing. It’s found by showing up, paying attention, and letting the moment arrive on its own. What happens when you stop rushing the moment…and let it come to you? Interestingly, the story was swirling around in my notebook for 20 days, I just needed to turn to the page to see it. On January 7th I wrote: “You don’t find the thing by chasing it. You find it by being present when it arrives.” January 28th, the story finally surfaced. Here is the companion piece I wrote a few years back. Get full access to Samantha Bean at flutterbymeadows.substack.com/subscribe

    8 min

  5. JAN 21

    Episode 14 | Snow Isn’t White and Blue Jays Aren’t Blue

    In this episode, Samantha reflects on the unexpected surprises that life presents, drawing from her experiences with nature and the changing weather. She recounts a moment in Iceland where a cab driver expressed his preference for surprises over forecasts, which resonated with her as she navigated a snowstorm back home. This led her to ponder the familiar things in life that often go unnoticed, like the Blue Jay, a bird she had overlooked despite its everyday presence. Through her journey in bird photography, she learned that what we perceive as familiar can often be deceiving, revealing deeper layers of beauty and complexity when we take the time to truly observe. Get full access to Samantha Bean at flutterbymeadows.substack.com/subscribe

    7 min

  6. JAN 14

    Episode 13 | The Engagement Calendar

    Episode 13: The Engagement Calendar — And How to Build a Relationship with Nature This Year What are you already in the middle of? This week, I spent a day away from my birds and realized something: the relationships that matter aren't the ones we're trying to build from scratch in January—they're the ones we've already been living and forgot to notice. In this episode, I talk about: Why missing one day with my backyard birds felt like breaking a promise I didn't know I'd made The difference between "planting natives to save pollinators" and creating conditions for life to return when it's ready How belonging is harder to sell than saving—but why it's what actually sustains us Why wildlife gardening isn't about decorating a space, but entering a relationship The worn path to my feeder and what it taught me about staying with something long enough to become part of the pattern If you're tired of New Year's pressure to add more, do more, be more—this episode is about recognizing what you're already part of and choosing to stay with it. What's the tiny ritual that starts your day? What rhythm, when you broke it, made you feel a little lost? Those are the things worth returning to in 2026. Not because they're new. Because they're true. Related links: Episode 12: Goal-Setting Theater vs. Nature's Quiet Rehearsal Read the full newsletter on Substack Follow along on Instagram: @flutterbymeadows Get full access to Samantha Bean at flutterbymeadows.substack.com/subscribe

    13 min

  7. JAN 7

    Episode 12 | Goal-Setting Theater vs. Nature’s Quiet Rehearsal

    Episode 12 | Goal-Setting Theater vs. Nature’s Quiet Rehearsal: January doesn’t ask for reinvention. It asks for patience. Maybe what January is really asking is not what you’ll become, but what you notice while you’re becoming it. January often arrives with a false starting line — resolutions, reinvention, and pressure to begin again. But nature keeps a different rhythm.  This episode is not about: - resolutions - productivity - self-improvementIt is about learning to read the season you’re in.  In Episode 12, I reflect on moonlight and unfinished darkness, winter birds pairing up, and an unplanned New Year’s Day walk on a windswept New Jersey beach. No goals. No lifers. Just noticing. Because maybe January isn’t for becoming someone new—it’s for paying attention to what’s already unfolding. Get full access to Samantha Bean at flutterbymeadows.substack.com/subscribe

    7 min

  8. 12/24/2025 · BONUS

    Episode 11½ | The Post Problem

    This is a bonus episode — a seasonal aside that begins with a fallen mailbox and ends somewhere else entirely. It’s not about ecology in the traditional sense, but about systems, interdependence, and how removing one small, seemingly insignificant piece can cause everything around it to wobble. And a quiet thank-you to our mail carriers, who show up day after day — in wind, rain, heat, and cold — keeping so many small systems moving along, often unnoticed. I hope you and yours are having a joyous and celebratory holiday season, filled with peace and reflection. See you in 2026, everyone — and thank you, as always, for listening. As if the mailbox saga wasn’t enough, we also drove over a present in the garage too (that’s a whole other story…). Consider this your reminder that perfection is not required this time of year. Get full access to Samantha Bean at flutterbymeadows.substack.com/subscribe

    6 min
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About

The Flutter By Effect is a podcast about practicing attention in a distracted world. Through quiet observations of nature, everyday moments, and the small lives that often go unnoticed—birds, insects, changing seasons, and even the pull of our screens—this podcast invites you to slow down and notice what’s already around you. Some episodes begin in the garden. Others begin with a thought, a walk, or a moment of stillness. All are rooted in curiosity, reflection, and the belief that the extraordinary often reveals itself when we pause long enough to look. The Flutter By Effect is not about teaching or fixing—it's an invitation to notice, wonder, and reconnect with the world just outside your door (and within yourself). flutterbymeadows.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Samantha Bean | Flutter By Meadows
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Samantha
  • Show Website
    The Flutter By Effect