Keep it Local without Being Provincial.
When we sit still and watch what unfolds in our own backyard and along the
street on which we live, we learn true presence. Change the way you interact
with your neighbors before you try to change what is happening in Somalia.
Appreciate the prey and the predators. Attend town and city meetings.
Exchange money with small businesses & freelancers more than with online
shops. Keep the flow moving in your own neighborhood. Get outdoors and walk.
Every day.
Be Resourceful and Leave Few Tracks. When
we restore parts of this land or when we alter the barn or house, we try to
do as our farmer ancestors did: First, make do with what you have. Sometimes
the simplest solution is right in front of us. We had to cut down trees
growing too close to the house & barn. So we used the trunks for parking
spot designations and the chips for trails. We're nurturing the wild parts
of the land just enough for it to revitalize and support more species. We
are changing the land and the landscape but in ways, we hope, that the land
and its multiple inhabitants can flourish with minimal upkeep.
Diversity, not Uniformity. Habitats thrive
with multiple species interacting, exchanging nutrients & energy, feeding
off of one another - with no single species dominating. So, we welcome
coyote and bobcat and fox as well as deer and rabbit and voles. In WEN Barn,
we welcome all neighbors - the guy whose only exercise has been chain
sawing tree trunks, the woman still skeptical of anything that smacks of
'spiritual,' the gun-collector, and all the rest of you, the rest of us.
Woe to the neighborhoods in which everyone looks alike.
Keep it Simple. Keep it Complex. Keeping
systems simple allows for greater complexity of life, thinking, and
imagination.