ripple effect

So, this is how we are embedded in our place.

Speaking personally, my current place is the southern Mojave Desert where it stretches from the eastern face of the San Gabriel Mountains eastward to Lucerne Valley. The geo-region, the southern Mojave Desert, part of the North American desert biome.

Part of Mojave River Watershed.

I felt last week in Sedona as if I’d moved from one yard to another, so many facets of the natural world were connected in spite of that great barrier the Colorado River and the many mountain ranges in between. Nature is relentless and very persistent. Always on the move.

Manzanita in the San Gabriels.

Manzanita in Sedona.

RSF manzanita

Ripples of belonging move from the most personal, inner places, and externally (if you forgive the dichotomy) from the area surrounding our home, outward.

Discovery. Sisters.

In holistic farm pedagogy, nature is viewed as mentor; nature has intrinsic value, rather than being humanity’s own endless resource pool or humanity’s sewer.

Here at RSF, I hope to understand ourselves as human persons within an environment that includes other nonhuman persons. Such interdependency between the human organism and its environment may involve a paradigm shift for those who are envisioning a more sustainable future. In some settings, particularly urbanized zones, even growing our own food is a potentially revolutionary act. Gardening and growing food is not only inherently pedagogical, it is potentially transformative on many levels.

Beechey ground squirrel by Erin Ward.

Young exurban gardener.