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Land Trust

Legacy of Land

by fred on July 14, 2010

Shot from last August: Grand daughter Abby jumping the hay rows

My cup runneth over. While it’s not uncommon that I take on almost more than I can make space for, this time I’ve bitten off enough to push me beyond the rim of the cup.

The grand daughters are here. I’m traveling again next week. And deadlines are popping up like mushrooms after a nice rain (which we still have NOT had, only a teasing sprinkle yesterday afternoon.)

So here’s one I’m thinking about, and if you have ideas, send them on SOON!

The NRV Land Trust asked me to write a piece from a child’s perspective on land conservation, and include two pictures. (My day includes having the camera and two small girls outside a lot!)

So I’m working on this approach: A young boy of maybe 13 is staying with his grampa on the land his father grew up on. He’s appreciating the richness of the rural setting (versus his suburban back yard and house-upon-house norm.) He’s learning his way around the woods and fields, able to call a few things by name that his playmates back home do not know or care to know. He’s feeling the freedom of wide open spaces, learning the smells of country mornings, and getting some hint of legacy and appreciating the continuity that comes from the fact that the remaining 100 acres from the larger family farm will be there intact when he grows up and maybe has his own grandchildren come to visit.

I don’t know if this is going to meet the needs and expectations of the Land Trust (and also possibly a parkway-related organization) but I’m enjoying writing out of my usual first-person point of view. Deadline is 3 August and I’ve promised a draft a week prior. Shakin’ it here, boss.

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The Gift of Good Land

by fred on July 6, 2009

Gentle Earth: Grayson Grazing

Gentle Earth: Grayson Grazing

None of the 100 directions my brain is going this morning seem suitable for a 300 word blog post. And so I resort to the thousand words a picture can conjure–in this case, one from last October’s Land Trust photo-sessions in Grayson County.

This shot was a peripheral–not intended for the piece we hoped to produce on the donation of land along the New River. But it grabbed my eye, more for the shadow than for the light, the way the umbra of a copse of trees spilled down across the meadow, like moon shadows on the snow. (Click for larger image and possible desktop picture!)

I had not worked on this image last fall, so discovering its untapped potential in July brought both the AHA! of discovery and the AH! of deep satisfaction–two strongly emotive reasons to keep one’s eyes open, to learn to see the compositions around us every hour, and to carry the camera, ready!

Title for this post is the title of one of the first books I ever read by Wendell Berry, who therein said among so many other things that grabbed my attention:

“I want to deal directly at last with my own long held belief that Christianity, as usually presented by its organizations, in not earthly enough . . . I want to see if there is not at least implicit in the Judeo-Christian heritage a doctrine such as that the Buddhists call ‘right livelihood’ or ‘right occupation.’

Being there on that gentle Grayson County pastureside with a camera, a good story of good Earth to be told and a beautiful October afternoon seemed very like “right occupation.” Still does.

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