ALOT OF MY ‘NEW LIFE’ IS SPENT RUMINATING, I admit, though sometimes while doing something else (mowing, driving, weeding, showering—you know how it works). Even if I were merely sitting still and pondering, I’d consider those stretches very productive, since they yield my inspiration. Where ideas come from is the subject of the latest giveaway of advance copy my upcoming book, “And I Shall Have Some Peace There.” Interested?
THE LECTURE that he’s been giving for a number of years is not-so-subtly called “Kill Your Lawn.” Ecological horticulturist Dan Jaffe Wilder knows that starting over and creating an entire native habitat instead of a lawn isn’t for everyone. But Dan just wants to grab our attention and get us to start to make some changes at least in the way we care for the turfgrass we do want in our landscapes. And maybe give up a little square footage of it to some other kind of more diverse planting, too, like the wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana, inset). Alternative, more eco-focused styles of lawn care, along with some lawn alternatives is what he and I talked about on the podcast. Dan is Director of Applied Ecology at Norcross Wildlife Foundation in Wales, Massachusetts, and its 8,000-acre sanctuary. He’s also co-author with Mark Richardson of the book “Native Plants for New England Gardens.”
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I understand completely, the runnings of the fertile mind. To me, the creative process begins with the inward thinking about the subject. Then it is the going over, and over of the subject. It is like talking to another person, giving them REPETITIVE instruction. It is kind of fragmented, but once it is put on paper (for me) it starts to congeal….. When I used to make paintings, there might be a bit of a NOTHING start, but then there is that moment a spark ignites, and you know you are making a winner.. .. I feel the way a person addresses the creative process, is not UNLIKE a person addressing an important issue of life, that arises. You go back and forth, over it, to HOPEFULY resolve it in your mind.