Without a connection to nature, to natural forces, I'd feel I wasn't living in this world.
Since I was young, however, I've witnessed a disrespect for nature that shocks me. So, in gardening, I make some attempt to rectify that, to rectify what I see as the damage done in this world, by human beings. I want my garden to offer space to creatures pushed out by our development.
I'm thrilled then to have found this Tawny Frogmouth ( Podargus strigoides ) sticking around, at his station in our apple tree, for a number of weeks now. Related to owls, frogmouths are largely insectivorous. I was sort of hoping they'd be after mice too, for they, the mice, have been making their presence felt here!
Not to matter. You somehow know the world's a better place when wild creatures feel quite OK living beside you, so discreetly, so unperturbed.
I love your reasons for gardening, Faisal.
ReplyDeleteI agree with them. I also think that gardening is the bringing together of various kinds of beauty; which together, create another 'thing' of beauty, to please our hearts!
PS
I think it is very exciting to have a tawny frogmouth in the garden.
Hello Kirk,
Deletemy primary motive for gardening is to create beauty. But when I say that, I mean that beauty has content; beauty isn't surface, to me...it's a representation of a deeper reality. Life, itself, is beautiful. Any creation, any work of worth, has a harmony and openness at its core. I feel too that our notions of beauty need to be expanded.
Yes, any wild nature coming back to human occupation is a reason to celebrate.
You are right there, Faisal.
DeleteOften the notion of beauty is based on convention. This cannot often be helped as our very character traits, culture and personal history mold those conventions.
I think that to strip back, to divorce ourselves from such things, is a difficult task.
Seeing beauty - deep beauty - in all creation often depends on the amount of time we are willing to put in to 'gazing' upon it in wonder...
At least, that's what I think...
There's certainly a contemplative element to the awareness and fostering of beauty, Kirk.
DeleteIn a way, I often don't know what I'm going to be doing with materials until I'm doing it. Then something kicks in, some personal aesthetic, to guide me. And it's amazing how that 'guidance' I get is like a renewable resource. It's a wonderful thing to be involved in creative work - exhausting too sometimes! - for me, it gives me a role.
Lovely sentiments.
ReplyDeleteLife needs to be more lovely, doesn't it, Matthew? We have left history behind us, as we race into the future. But it's the present, how we are right now, that really matters.
DeleteOh what a wonderful creature. I've had to go back and look at it several times. He is a master of camouflage isn't he? I love all the critters in my gardens, and spend far too much time looking for something begging to participate in a photo shoot. I hope you are having a good week. I am trying to catch up with everyone now that school is coming to a close. Bonnie
ReplyDeleteBonnie, don't worry too much if the critters you want to find are hiding. I can't tell you how many times something I've seen has vanished before I've been able to grab the camera to record it. It's sort of nice that way, that life flows on without human intervention. It humbles me.
DeleteYou, my friend, I hope you get some good time to yourself, now school's ending.
That is a smashing photo, Mr F. Is it real or a stuffed one you bought and stapled into position? D
ReplyDeleteThat's the question Mr D. It wasn't me who stapled him. He has, in fact, opened his red eye occasionally if I'm getting just a tad close for comfort and stared me down, making me feel mouse-like.
DeleteThat's when I scurry back to my nest with my camera.
No wonder you were thrilled! Such a good feeling to have wild creatures visiting our gardens. I'm even grateful to see the odd snake. (We have the most beautiful green snakes that sun themselves on a windowsill)
ReplyDeleteRobyn - yes, even the spooky and bizarre, they need to be given space. You probably have all sorts of very wild life at your door-step. Here I have snakes and spiders that could kill me, and I'm in a semi-suburban area. I prefer it that way, than to know everything's been eradicated.
ReplyDelete