Beautifully thought out and said, Jeanne. What a gift that you landed where you are, and that you understand that ownership is not what that real estate transaction is about. Stewardship conveys the reciprocal relationships we have with the places that hold our hearts, whether or not we "own" them. Stewardship is what I learned form the First Peoples I was fortunate enough to get to know when I was younger, and that's what's impelled me to ecological restoration projects in various places, some I've owned, some not. We are called to reciprocal relationship with this earth; it's in our cells as the heart-connection I call terraphilia. And that connection is what is nourishing you and nourishing your land too. Bless you!
Thank you, my terraphilic sister! And thank you for mentioning First Nations peoples, who knew about this stuff long before we did. They knew (and know) how to love land.
At the risk of generalizing, I think the reciprocal relationship that Robin Wall Kimmerer writes about really is characteristic of the best of the many cultures of First Nations, and it's something they learned over thousands of years on this continent. We are still so young here, and we came burdened by the European system of land ownership. We have much to learn, and I very much appreciate all you teach.
This is so true! It's such a privilege to live where we live. The best way I can say thank you is to make sure our beautiful plants and animals have refuge and come to no harm while on the property we own. Seeing what emerges from the ground or passes through (TURTLES!!!!) is an incredible joy.
Yes, Renna ... JOY! You said it well. And your way of saying thank you is beauiful -- caring for whatever forms of life are passing through your place. Cool that you have turtles!
I give thanks that this slice of ecological heaven was gifted into your stewarding hands. I also loved your powerful point that we don't have to "own" land to engage with Mama Earth. She is everywhere we look. We can do so much for her wherever we find ourselves. She is us and we are her.
Oh, Stephanie, you say that so well: "She is everywhere ... She is us and we are her." YES yes yes! Those words will ring in my head for a long time to come.
In a month, my wife and I are moving out of our 100-year-old house. We’ve always considered ourselves temporary stewards entrusted with its care for only a short period of its long existence. So we can relate. (Nice to see Anne too!)
Oh, Amy, that sounds bittersweet! I didn't realize your sweet house is that old. Wow! I'm glad you and Susana are now part of that house's history. I know you took great care of it. And ... I need to hear where you're headed next. Will message you.
I really like your point on stewardship, Jeanne. I like to think of myself as a steward of Britannia Conservation Area conservation area near my home here in Ottawa. I hike there nearly every weekend year-round. I have come to know the park well, yet I learn something new on each hike. I do my best to hike with 'leave no trace' mentality. Thanks for sharing - that image of the field with rolling green mountains is beautiful.
Thank you for sharing your place, Neil! I feel like I know it a bit, from your posts and photos. You take us on walks with you in Britannia and we can enjoy it vicariously.
Your home sounds divine. I steward an old, old farm in Tattnall County, South Georgia. I felt as if I'd been coming my entire life to live here. It's a lovely old place.
I steward the Gulf of Eilat. It is a place so dear to my heart, my favourite place on the whole planet. It is also where I was born. I lived near it for years, I still care for it in writing, in activism and, especially, in energetic healing, which I send it every single day.
Imbar, welcome to Rx Nature! I am so happy you're here, and thank you for sharing about your special place on Earth. Your care for the Gulf of Eilat is so inspiring. (I had to look it up on a map. Learned something new!)
Beautiful; photos, words and message. When we shift our way from ownership to stewardship, the land opens herself in a deeper way. It is as if a veil opens and we can see, feel, and connect far beyond "owning". Caring for the land, no matter where you are, opens this way wherever you may go.
I do my best to keep this conduit alive no matter where I am. But, the land of the ranch in Montana where I grew up is the land that taught me these things and the land that gifts me the deepest of all connections.
Ah, Jenny, your lifelong connection to the ranch in Montana is so sweet. I imagine you carry that connection with you always, and everywhere. Also, I love how you describe a veil opening as we deepen our connection with and care for land. That's it, exactly!
Jeanne, I love your story! We have been stewarding our piece of land for almost 40 years! I can't believe it has been that long. We purchased our 12 acres and built a house shortly after my father, mother, and I started Moore & Moore Garden in Nashville, Tennessee. We were way out in the boonies then, but not anymore. For almost all these years, I have been getting to know every inch of our property, and she still has much to teach me. For most of that time, I have been adding native plants to my garden at Saddleridge Sanctuary. My garden has offered solace and beauty all these years, and my plants and I have aged together. My dry hilltop has not always been the best place to grow plants, and the summers are drier and hotter, requiring more watering than I want to, but I continue because I just can't (not water) a dry plant.
In 2018, I started a quest to find another piece of land to escape to a place that would be quieter, more beautiful, and cooler in the summer. I looked for such a place for a solid year daily, and my persistence paid off. We purchased land and built a getaway on the Cumberland Plateau about 2 hours from Nashville. Our timing was perfect because we finished our house just before the COVID-19 outbreak, and it offered the family an escape and relative safety from the virus. Our new place has a creek, many Canadian Hemlocks, terrestrial orchids, and other wildflowers. Hiking trails are within minutes of our place, and I spend lots of time photographing and botanizing and, yes…starting another native plant garden. I don't have as much room to add plants, but the growing conditions are much better here, and there is so much natural beauty to enjoy.
Paul, thank you for sharing that story of a lifelong ethos of land stewardship -- first at one place, then at another. Just beautiful! I'm so happy you found somewhere you could continue your love affair with the land. The new place sounds perfect for you!
Oh Jeanne & everyone who has commented here, it does my heart so, so, good to know others who love their places not for their real estate value but for their intrinsic beauty & reciprocity. My place is our family farm that was never meant to be mine but somehow the universe knew I needed it to take care of so it could take care of me. I was told by many “good ‘ol boys” that I’d never be able to keep the taxes up or told by cousins that I needed to sell it to get away from the ghosts of the past but 20 years later, I’m still here and now my son & his family are here too including my two grandsons. This place holds us together through difficult and trying times. I pray this is where I will take my last breath when the time comes and that my soul abounds here forever.
Becki, Becki .... this absolutely brought tears to my eyes! That you were told "it wouldn't work" for various reasons, and yet you persevered because "the universe knew I needed it to take care of so it could take care of me." SO beautiful! And that your place is now sheltering and loving your son and his family, so it will go on and on and on. I can't even say how much I love all that. Thank you for sharing the story of your heart place! 💚
Stewardship is a practice close to my heart, turning restoration of place into soul solace. I turned to native plant gardening many years ago in my professional life as an antidote to lamenting declining wild places, although I appreciate those, too!
We've nurtured the creation of three native-plant oriented landscapes over the decades, first in Clemson (20 yrs), then in Asheville (18 years), and now in Eastern Quebec (7 yrs). In our first landscape in Southeast Georgia, we inherited a rich ornamental landscape which we expanded to edibles, while supporting the establishment of a native plant botanical garden at our university (which has continued to thrive, I think!)
We continue to take care of our North Carolina and Quebec landscapes, adding more natives, removing unwanted intruders, and growing edibles to enjoy, while gardening for nature and wildlife. It's an ongoing process; spring is a time that reminds us of our stewardship as we take in the flowering of spring native wildflowers, native magnolias and rhododendrons, etc.
Thanks for reminding me to be thankful of the places in the world that we steward!
And it's also reminding me that our place in Quebec is a historic place, too, a parish schoolhouse turned home, filled with Quebecois pine antiques, vintage pottery, and a wonderful old wood stove. We're equally stewards of that special house, too, having "inherited" the furniture from its previous steward, an antique dealer.
Lisa, I think the care and love you and Tim practice for the Earth is returned to you in the form of these special places where you find yourself. Such a beautiful example of reciprocity! Thank you for all that you steward and enrich with wise gardening/cultivation practices.
Oh my Jeanne! I could write so much here but you know how we love our little 6 acre plot and the 139 acres that we signed over to Naturaland Trust. And just because it’s in their name, doesn’t mean we don’t still feel obligated to protect it to care for it. We spent most of today working on the side of oil Camp Creek, where the bulldozers crossed during our recent fire, putting in grass seed and straw blankets to help it recover. And tonight when I was checking on the pink lady slippers and the Trillium on the mountain I flushed a pair of American Woodcock. What a bonus for this day.! I guess you know what beautiful thing I’m gonna write about tonight in my beautiful thing journal. Thanks for such a wonderful rendering of what stewardship is.
Betsy, that's such a perfect encapsulation of your loving, intimate relationship with your place. You and David do such a wonderful job taking care of it, all of it. Thank you for that! And I hope Green Mountain recovers eventually from the aftermath of the fire. 💚
Beautifully thought out and said, Jeanne. What a gift that you landed where you are, and that you understand that ownership is not what that real estate transaction is about. Stewardship conveys the reciprocal relationships we have with the places that hold our hearts, whether or not we "own" them. Stewardship is what I learned form the First Peoples I was fortunate enough to get to know when I was younger, and that's what's impelled me to ecological restoration projects in various places, some I've owned, some not. We are called to reciprocal relationship with this earth; it's in our cells as the heart-connection I call terraphilia. And that connection is what is nourishing you and nourishing your land too. Bless you!
Thank you, my terraphilic sister! And thank you for mentioning First Nations peoples, who knew about this stuff long before we did. They knew (and know) how to love land.
At the risk of generalizing, I think the reciprocal relationship that Robin Wall Kimmerer writes about really is characteristic of the best of the many cultures of First Nations, and it's something they learned over thousands of years on this continent. We are still so young here, and we came burdened by the European system of land ownership. We have much to learn, and I very much appreciate all you teach.
This is so true! It's such a privilege to live where we live. The best way I can say thank you is to make sure our beautiful plants and animals have refuge and come to no harm while on the property we own. Seeing what emerges from the ground or passes through (TURTLES!!!!) is an incredible joy.
Yes, Renna ... JOY! You said it well. And your way of saying thank you is beauiful -- caring for whatever forms of life are passing through your place. Cool that you have turtles!
I give thanks that this slice of ecological heaven was gifted into your stewarding hands. I also loved your powerful point that we don't have to "own" land to engage with Mama Earth. She is everywhere we look. We can do so much for her wherever we find ourselves. She is us and we are her.
Oh, Stephanie, you say that so well: "She is everywhere ... She is us and we are her." YES yes yes! Those words will ring in my head for a long time to come.
When you mentioned Audubon, that was my first thought— you are fulfilling that vision.
Your photographs are gorgeous. It’s as if we live down the street or just over the ridge from each other 🌱🌿💚
We do! 💚 And we need to meet up in person one fine day!
In a month, my wife and I are moving out of our 100-year-old house. We’ve always considered ourselves temporary stewards entrusted with its care for only a short period of its long existence. So we can relate. (Nice to see Anne too!)
Oh, Amy, that sounds bittersweet! I didn't realize your sweet house is that old. Wow! I'm glad you and Susana are now part of that house's history. I know you took great care of it. And ... I need to hear where you're headed next. Will message you.
I really like your point on stewardship, Jeanne. I like to think of myself as a steward of Britannia Conservation Area conservation area near my home here in Ottawa. I hike there nearly every weekend year-round. I have come to know the park well, yet I learn something new on each hike. I do my best to hike with 'leave no trace' mentality. Thanks for sharing - that image of the field with rolling green mountains is beautiful.
Thank you for sharing your place, Neil! I feel like I know it a bit, from your posts and photos. You take us on walks with you in Britannia and we can enjoy it vicariously.
Your home sounds divine. I steward an old, old farm in Tattnall County, South Georgia. I felt as if I'd been coming my entire life to live here. It's a lovely old place.
One of my life goals is to visit Red Earth Farm.
That's an easy goal!
This was a lovely read. I have found that being a steward of the land has helped me tend the garden & open acres of my mind.
Oooh, the garden and open acres of your mind is such a deep and loving concept! Thank you for sharing that. So thought-provoking!
I steward the Gulf of Eilat. It is a place so dear to my heart, my favourite place on the whole planet. It is also where I was born. I lived near it for years, I still care for it in writing, in activism and, especially, in energetic healing, which I send it every single day.
Imbar, welcome to Rx Nature! I am so happy you're here, and thank you for sharing about your special place on Earth. Your care for the Gulf of Eilat is so inspiring. (I had to look it up on a map. Learned something new!)
Love this. Caring for it in writing & energy is so important.
Thank you for sharing this treatise on stewardship, Jeanne. I’ve always tried to uphold it as a personal value and a way of life.
I’m so glad you do, Kim! The world needs more of you.
Beautiful; photos, words and message. When we shift our way from ownership to stewardship, the land opens herself in a deeper way. It is as if a veil opens and we can see, feel, and connect far beyond "owning". Caring for the land, no matter where you are, opens this way wherever you may go.
I do my best to keep this conduit alive no matter where I am. But, the land of the ranch in Montana where I grew up is the land that taught me these things and the land that gifts me the deepest of all connections.
💚
Ah, Jenny, your lifelong connection to the ranch in Montana is so sweet. I imagine you carry that connection with you always, and everywhere. Also, I love how you describe a veil opening as we deepen our connection with and care for land. That's it, exactly!
Thank you☺️
New delights! A great way to put it.
Thanks for waiting while I stop, over and over, to photograph them!
🤣
Jeanne, I love your story! We have been stewarding our piece of land for almost 40 years! I can't believe it has been that long. We purchased our 12 acres and built a house shortly after my father, mother, and I started Moore & Moore Garden in Nashville, Tennessee. We were way out in the boonies then, but not anymore. For almost all these years, I have been getting to know every inch of our property, and she still has much to teach me. For most of that time, I have been adding native plants to my garden at Saddleridge Sanctuary. My garden has offered solace and beauty all these years, and my plants and I have aged together. My dry hilltop has not always been the best place to grow plants, and the summers are drier and hotter, requiring more watering than I want to, but I continue because I just can't (not water) a dry plant.
In 2018, I started a quest to find another piece of land to escape to a place that would be quieter, more beautiful, and cooler in the summer. I looked for such a place for a solid year daily, and my persistence paid off. We purchased land and built a getaway on the Cumberland Plateau about 2 hours from Nashville. Our timing was perfect because we finished our house just before the COVID-19 outbreak, and it offered the family an escape and relative safety from the virus. Our new place has a creek, many Canadian Hemlocks, terrestrial orchids, and other wildflowers. Hiking trails are within minutes of our place, and I spend lots of time photographing and botanizing and, yes…starting another native plant garden. I don't have as much room to add plants, but the growing conditions are much better here, and there is so much natural beauty to enjoy.
Paul, thank you for sharing that story of a lifelong ethos of land stewardship -- first at one place, then at another. Just beautiful! I'm so happy you found somewhere you could continue your love affair with the land. The new place sounds perfect for you!
You are most welcome! Please come and visit sometime.
Oh Jeanne & everyone who has commented here, it does my heart so, so, good to know others who love their places not for their real estate value but for their intrinsic beauty & reciprocity. My place is our family farm that was never meant to be mine but somehow the universe knew I needed it to take care of so it could take care of me. I was told by many “good ‘ol boys” that I’d never be able to keep the taxes up or told by cousins that I needed to sell it to get away from the ghosts of the past but 20 years later, I’m still here and now my son & his family are here too including my two grandsons. This place holds us together through difficult and trying times. I pray this is where I will take my last breath when the time comes and that my soul abounds here forever.
Becki, Becki .... this absolutely brought tears to my eyes! That you were told "it wouldn't work" for various reasons, and yet you persevered because "the universe knew I needed it to take care of so it could take care of me." SO beautiful! And that your place is now sheltering and loving your son and his family, so it will go on and on and on. I can't even say how much I love all that. Thank you for sharing the story of your heart place! 💚
Stewardship is a practice close to my heart, turning restoration of place into soul solace. I turned to native plant gardening many years ago in my professional life as an antidote to lamenting declining wild places, although I appreciate those, too!
We've nurtured the creation of three native-plant oriented landscapes over the decades, first in Clemson (20 yrs), then in Asheville (18 years), and now in Eastern Quebec (7 yrs). In our first landscape in Southeast Georgia, we inherited a rich ornamental landscape which we expanded to edibles, while supporting the establishment of a native plant botanical garden at our university (which has continued to thrive, I think!)
We continue to take care of our North Carolina and Quebec landscapes, adding more natives, removing unwanted intruders, and growing edibles to enjoy, while gardening for nature and wildlife. It's an ongoing process; spring is a time that reminds us of our stewardship as we take in the flowering of spring native wildflowers, native magnolias and rhododendrons, etc.
Thanks for reminding me to be thankful of the places in the world that we steward!
And it's also reminding me that our place in Quebec is a historic place, too, a parish schoolhouse turned home, filled with Quebecois pine antiques, vintage pottery, and a wonderful old wood stove. We're equally stewards of that special house, too, having "inherited" the furniture from its previous steward, an antique dealer.
Lisa, I think the care and love you and Tim practice for the Earth is returned to you in the form of these special places where you find yourself. Such a beautiful example of reciprocity! Thank you for all that you steward and enrich with wise gardening/cultivation practices.
Oh my Jeanne! I could write so much here but you know how we love our little 6 acre plot and the 139 acres that we signed over to Naturaland Trust. And just because it’s in their name, doesn’t mean we don’t still feel obligated to protect it to care for it. We spent most of today working on the side of oil Camp Creek, where the bulldozers crossed during our recent fire, putting in grass seed and straw blankets to help it recover. And tonight when I was checking on the pink lady slippers and the Trillium on the mountain I flushed a pair of American Woodcock. What a bonus for this day.! I guess you know what beautiful thing I’m gonna write about tonight in my beautiful thing journal. Thanks for such a wonderful rendering of what stewardship is.
Betsy, that's such a perfect encapsulation of your loving, intimate relationship with your place. You and David do such a wonderful job taking care of it, all of it. Thank you for that! And I hope Green Mountain recovers eventually from the aftermath of the fire. 💚