This is so beautifully written that I became smitten with this piece of ruined land . It’s easy to see that it has fallen into the right stewardship. It will repay you with the beauty that blossoms from the tended earth.
Thank you for sharing your intimate relationship with it, Chris.
Reading this for a third time. We have the great good fortune to have purchased a home on four acres 50 years ago. Still here. Kids and jobs took our attention away from the change of seasons and the change of biodiversity. Trying to make up for that in the last 20 years. Being satisfied with the slow pace of our restorative efforts is hard to maintain. Thanks for the inspiration!
How did you know I like novels best? Thanks for the comments and especially for your reflections on your own place. I'm so interested in the layers you've got going on; they resonate. I was just chatting yesterday with a creekside property owner who is dealing with invasive knotweed that is clearly coming from state-owned land just upstream, and the state is telling her she has to pay to have hers removed even though they haven't managed theirs... Bamboo is so gnarly, we're lucky here that it hasn't become widespread. I can only imagine the relentless cutting back you're doing.
"Swim buffer" -- I like that. Forest practices here require a creek / wetland buffer for salmon habitat. Those buffers end up being the heart of most forests.
And agreed about the economics of rural areas, there has to be a better way. Property values keep going up here (we're semi-rural and many commuters buy places here and work elsewhere, and our county as a whole has plenty of people and tax revenue) and the cost of property taxes alone forces some longtime families and land stewards to sell and move, as well as folks who aren't trying to work in top-wage jobs. (And then who do they sell to? Land flippers?) Development in and of itself doesn't have to be terrible; it's all about how it's done — just like logging. Are things scraped clean and sold into the commodity market, or woven into the fabric of our place?
Slapdash thoughts at the moment... Thanks for your stories!
This is wonderful, and so applicable here across the water on Whidbey Island. I'll be sharing widely. Thank you.
Thanks John. Sometimes I wish we were an island like Whidbey... (we're 3/4s of the way there). Thanks for sharing the piece.
This is so beautifully written that I became smitten with this piece of ruined land . It’s easy to see that it has fallen into the right stewardship. It will repay you with the beauty that blossoms from the tended earth.
Thank you for sharing your intimate relationship with it, Chris.
Thanks Eloise. Much more to come from The Bald.
This was beautiful to read and so full of surprises. I too, would love to come help sometime!
I love this Chris. Leading with the complexity gives it so much heart and intrigue. I’d love to come help out sometime 💛
Fabulous piece Chris. I really enjoyed it. I was headed out to do a little brush cutting/firewood work already. Now I'm really fired up!
Stack that wood!
What a delightful read.
Bravo.
For the work you're doing and for the telling of it.
Reading this for a third time. We have the great good fortune to have purchased a home on four acres 50 years ago. Still here. Kids and jobs took our attention away from the change of seasons and the change of biodiversity. Trying to make up for that in the last 20 years. Being satisfied with the slow pace of our restorative efforts is hard to maintain. Thanks for the inspiration!
How did you know I like novels best? Thanks for the comments and especially for your reflections on your own place. I'm so interested in the layers you've got going on; they resonate. I was just chatting yesterday with a creekside property owner who is dealing with invasive knotweed that is clearly coming from state-owned land just upstream, and the state is telling her she has to pay to have hers removed even though they haven't managed theirs... Bamboo is so gnarly, we're lucky here that it hasn't become widespread. I can only imagine the relentless cutting back you're doing.
"Swim buffer" -- I like that. Forest practices here require a creek / wetland buffer for salmon habitat. Those buffers end up being the heart of most forests.
And agreed about the economics of rural areas, there has to be a better way. Property values keep going up here (we're semi-rural and many commuters buy places here and work elsewhere, and our county as a whole has plenty of people and tax revenue) and the cost of property taxes alone forces some longtime families and land stewards to sell and move, as well as folks who aren't trying to work in top-wage jobs. (And then who do they sell to? Land flippers?) Development in and of itself doesn't have to be terrible; it's all about how it's done — just like logging. Are things scraped clean and sold into the commodity market, or woven into the fabric of our place?
Slapdash thoughts at the moment... Thanks for your stories!