...out there is a different world, older and greater and deeper by far than ours, a world which surrounds and sustains the little world of [humans] as sea and sky surround and sustain a ship. The shock of the real. For a little while we are again able to see, as the child sees, a world of marvels...and our journey here on earth, able to see and touch and hear in the midst of tangible and mysterious things-in-themselves, is the most strange and daring of all adventures.
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| A student at one of our participating schools enjoys the wonder of this tree. |
It seems to me that people who deliberately foster their connection to the land also inherently foster their own awareness of the same wonder about which Abbey writes. I imagine that two hundred years ago, when 50 percent of this nation's population were farmers, many more people here were in-the-know.
However, as we moved away from a culture of food production and our farming population shrank from fifty to one percent, everything--including our earliest childhood experiences--changed. Though ReTreeUS hopes to help bring nature back to children, I find that our foraging and harvesting memories now often come from grocery store aisles, not rows of growing greens.
And I'm sure that's why my mom had such a funny story to share with me recently, about a day out with her husband and one suspicious police officer in Nashville, TN.
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| The garden my mom and her husband planted where there used to be a lawn. |
My mom and her husband, who grow beautiful food gardens in virtually every corner of what used to be their lawn, ventured down to a nearby park to pick mulberries one day last summer. As they feasted on these delicious fruits, which break and drip down your fingers at the slightest touch, a police car slowed and drew to a stop right next to them. The cop inside stared for a moment before he rolled down his window and demanded, "What are you doing?"
My mom, who is known for her childlike enthusiasm and passion for earth's wonders, spun around and extended her handful of berries to the officer. "We're picking mulberries," she exclaimed with a smile, "Would you like to try some?"
"No!" said the cop, who was glaring at her and already stepping on the gas.
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| Mulberries |
Oh, well, some might say. It seems we have reached a certain pinnacle of ignorance about where our food comes from.
Yes, I believe we have reached that pinnacle, but I also believe there is hope. Not only is there hope, but also an undeniable trend back in the other direction--toward farming as a lifestyle, teaching children about nature, and remembering who we are as a part of this planet.
Almost every 20-something I meet is involved somehow in a land-based hobby or profession like environmental education, activism, nature-inspired art, or farming. Many of them are in constant communication with the earth, thus staying up to date on all of its many miracles. Of course, that could be a result of the lifestyle I lead...but I don't think so.
Many 50 and 60-somethings have noticed the same thing about my generation. And maybe it was their generation that taught ours to appreciate the land.
I spoke with an old friend recently on a trip to Nashville, where my mom lives. The friend is about my age and was raised by parents of that back-to-the-land mindset, like myself. He and I were excited to hear what the other is doing these days. We are both eagerly pursuing the land like a romance, and we are reaping many rewards. I am, of course, quite focused on planting trees and assisting home gardeners, and he is deeply involved in the garden he and his girlfriend have planted. The two spend many hours working and playing in their garden, as well as foraging for food in the forest nearby.
We talked about some of the rewards of our adventures: edible mushrooms, herbs, and berries we'd found in the woods, and he told me about fig and persimmon trees he hopes to graft onto one day. He also has some ornamental plum trees and asked about grafting fruiting branches (called "scion") onto that "rootstock," or existing tree.
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| Photo from another blog of a proud child and her reward--a mushroom like those my friend and I discussed. He finds it in the woods near his TN home and says, for anyone else foraging there, it's the unmistakable orange streak at eye level as you venture through the forest. ********Please note that mushroom foraging is only fun and gratifying when the utmost caution is used. Do your research and be sure your find is an edible mushroom before you proceed.************* |
This is certainly a noble effort.
While ornamental plants and trees have their place in the greater ecosystem, often times a fruiting tree is a much more natural and positive addition to the forest. Besides, it's efforts like these that help lead us back to the land and into the world outside the city. It certainly is "a world of marvels."
Below are some links and tips for my friends and others interested in similarly fun and fruitful pursuits:
- On general grafting: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/dg0532.html
- On grafting in Maine: http://umaine.edu/fruit/growing-fruit-trees-in-maine/rootstocks-and-dwarf-fruit-trees/
- Though there are differing opinions on how well grafted persimmons grow, here is a how-to link: http://www.ehow.com/how_6692973_graft-persimmon-trees.html
- As for fig trees, I'm reading now that most of them are propagated by rooting and planting cuttings from the tree, rather than grafting per se. If you do want to try grafting figs, however, the T-graft works best. Use any type of fig rootstock (such as the fig tree in my friend's yard).
I was thinking about these conversations on my way back from Tennessee, reading Desert Solitaire and adding to my thoughts more interesting stories from the people I met.
I wouldn't have spoken with one woman, who was sitting next to me on the plane, if I hadn't overheard her say something about her 6 year-old daughter. This sparked a lively conversation between the two of us, since I am an environmental educator using art and music in my lessons, and she is an artist using nature as her primary inspiration. (See more of her tree and plant-inspired work at http://www.etsy.com/shop/tigerlillyshop.)
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| Handmade maple seed necklace by Baltimore artist Allison Fomich. You can find her work at the Tigerlillyshop on Etsy.com. |
The artist, Allison Fomich, plants trees in her urban Baltimore neighborhood, and we at ReTreeUS will plant over 1,000 trees next spring. We shared in the wonder of meeting someone with whom we had so much in common, and relished the hope we feel as we watch the pendulum swing back to a world of marvels.
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