Keeping active seems to be the key to battling depression for me. I started running last December and "ran" a snowshoe race series. I'm signed up for three trail races this summer, but I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I dunno, all I know is that I feel better now that I'm doing something physical.
I hear you about The Iliad. Which translation are you reading? I've got the Robert Fagles translation, which is a little less archaic than some. I think I need to dive into something mindless for a bit before I go back to my list of "Books I really ought to read", which includes Slaughterhouse Five and 1984.
Glad you're enjoying the outdoors volunteer stuff. All conservation/forestry departments would be screwed if it weren't for dedicated volunteers like yourself. We're usually the first areas that lose funding when budgets are tight and we frequently are asked to do more with less both financially as well as crew-wise.
Your remark about watching things evolve from frozen wastelands to dense undergrowth is pretty similar to what our Americorps/Maine Conservation Corps person said, too. She started in February, and was surprised to discover that there was a second parking lot, it was buried under three feet of snow until late March.
