...as a lifestyle is catching on. More and more, folks are getting it...less, really is more. Mass consumerism as a lifestyle is almost by definition doomed to failure. Now, I'm not saying we don't consume or its not part of our existence...its how and what we consume. We seem to have a hard time understanding decay...a part of consumption. A balanced land will use decay...necessary for fertilizing and sanitation. Recycling isn't just a trendy word for driftless living...neither, is sustainable, or permaculture. Water can run uphill...
I think to understand this, one must understand the driftless area as an equation...balance. Some researchers are now saying the Kickapoo river and its valley is one of the oldest rivers and places on the planet. An ancient place we know the story of how the glaciers missed the area but only the heart of the driftless, the kickapoo valley, missed each lobe of the last three. Biodiversity is said to be the largest anywhere. Its just that much of it is small...like flowers, snails, fungus, or, decay. Permaculture, for a larger scale...Understanding the driftless is a matter of scale.
It wasn't always so...for over 100 years the land was abused. Mass consumed...its natural balance was upset by man. Hillsides eroded and valleys filled in. 100 year floods
came every 10 years. 100 years is a short time in the frame of the oldest place on the planet. Its just to what effect man has become part of the equation. Thus...a driftless life. And, understanding it...Each year I watch the leaves grow and turn and fall. Winter snow causes decay and decay nurtures life. A simple process that can balance itself given enough time...that largest biodiversity on the planet takes time. Like a falling rock...it didn't happen in an instant. It started falling long ago...
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