Thank you for this, Rhyd. This got me to a wonderful cry this morning. I feel really similarly about the plot of land my husband and I are tending...it seems like it doesn't matter, like it won't affect anything, yet when I see huge, magical displays of fireflies that are supposed to be in decline where I live, and I see butterflies and wasps and all sorts of insects and birds, little frogs and big toads, turtles and hawks and all sorts of animals, it feels impossible to me that it "doesn't matter", or that it "can't affect anything." There's some part of me that just knows, absolutely knows, that it matters.
We don't rake leaves and we only cut the grass a few times a year, and apparently that is enough to entice all these fireflies to come back. We're converting more and more of the lawn to food- or medicine-bearing perennials (I have the same utilitarian ethic you do, for better or worse!), but it seems like all we really had to do to invite in big insect communities was let the flowers grow in the lawn...over the four years we've lived here, the grass has gone from nearly a monoculture to a gorgeous prairie-like landscape of flowers, dandelions and violets and bugleweed and ragwort and clovers and wood sorrel and more. We eat at least as much food from the lawn as we do from everything we've deliberately planted...I saw a hummingbird at least twenty times last year, for the first time since we arrived. It felt like the fireflies, like a promise of something truly beautiful and whole that my soul longs for. It made the craziness of modernity and war feel like part of a different reality.
This makes my heart glad …. I wonder if you ve heard of We are the ark which is advocating exactly what you are doing …. And I with my little garden too …. Just letting things be mostly
Today I visited the old lodge I lived in until recently and because no one is going anything atall with it and the piece of land I tended it is just returning to more and more wildness and the bees under the eaves are still there and although there were things I brought to the place no one beingthere allows it to be Even more vibrant with life so all is well
Even here at what can seem the end of all things, if you build it, they will come.
I've read* that the most empowering thing we can do is grow our own food. The acts of growing food and healing the land also give us some sense of control over our realities in ways that are unavailable anywhere else, and thus are great medicine for burn-out and despair.
I know this is a frustrating sentiment to read, but it really really helps to be owning a plot of land, as opposed to living in a rented flat.... in order to experience this other world that is possible
When I was living in my little cottage last year I got really into houseplants. It's a different kind of ecosystem & a different kind of gardening, but it's good to bring green life into the house
One of my permaculture teachers introduced me to the concept of "refugia", and while it has a technical meaning, I've loved it ever since for describing exactly the sort of haven it sounds like you've created. What a blessing!
And that's what you guys call burnout, is it? ;-)
Thank you for this, Rhyd. This got me to a wonderful cry this morning. I feel really similarly about the plot of land my husband and I are tending...it seems like it doesn't matter, like it won't affect anything, yet when I see huge, magical displays of fireflies that are supposed to be in decline where I live, and I see butterflies and wasps and all sorts of insects and birds, little frogs and big toads, turtles and hawks and all sorts of animals, it feels impossible to me that it "doesn't matter", or that it "can't affect anything." There's some part of me that just knows, absolutely knows, that it matters.
We don't rake leaves and we only cut the grass a few times a year, and apparently that is enough to entice all these fireflies to come back. We're converting more and more of the lawn to food- or medicine-bearing perennials (I have the same utilitarian ethic you do, for better or worse!), but it seems like all we really had to do to invite in big insect communities was let the flowers grow in the lawn...over the four years we've lived here, the grass has gone from nearly a monoculture to a gorgeous prairie-like landscape of flowers, dandelions and violets and bugleweed and ragwort and clovers and wood sorrel and more. We eat at least as much food from the lawn as we do from everything we've deliberately planted...I saw a hummingbird at least twenty times last year, for the first time since we arrived. It felt like the fireflies, like a promise of something truly beautiful and whole that my soul longs for. It made the craziness of modernity and war feel like part of a different reality.
I wish there were some pictures...
beautiful!
Beautiful.
G
This makes my heart glad …. I wonder if you ve heard of We are the ark which is advocating exactly what you are doing …. And I with my little garden too …. Just letting things be mostly
Today I visited the old lodge I lived in until recently and because no one is going anything atall with it and the piece of land I tended it is just returning to more and more wildness and the bees under the eaves are still there and although there were things I brought to the place no one beingthere allows it to be Even more vibrant with life so all is well
Even here at what can seem the end of all things, if you build it, they will come.
I've read* that the most empowering thing we can do is grow our own food. The acts of growing food and healing the land also give us some sense of control over our realities in ways that are unavailable anywhere else, and thus are great medicine for burn-out and despair.
(*credit to https://www.youtube.com/@flutingaround)
🪻🕊️
Envious of your two ravens. I fear for Huginn, that he come not back, yet more anxious am I for Muninn.
I know this is a frustrating sentiment to read, but it really really helps to be owning a plot of land, as opposed to living in a rented flat.... in order to experience this other world that is possible
When I was living in my little cottage last year I got really into houseplants. It's a different kind of ecosystem & a different kind of gardening, but it's good to bring green life into the house
I wrote about it here: https://open.substack.com/pub/rosiewhinray/p/of-hopeful-green-stuff-woven
I love houseplants. But it really isn't the same thing as having a patch of land, with a pond even!
Wonderful essay Rhyd, love your gardening and planting articles, they bring something amazing and heartfelt to me, best wishes
Beautiful and restorative
When the I got to the part where the frogs came, even though I knew they would, I cried. This is so, so good, thank you.
One of my permaculture teachers introduced me to the concept of "refugia", and while it has a technical meaning, I've loved it ever since for describing exactly the sort of haven it sounds like you've created. What a blessing!