An Invitation To Wildness
Hello again Readers. It's Mark, having another crack at blogging! Strange word!
The title of this blog comes from a Happen films production and my inspiration comes from Mary Reynolds wonderful book 'We are the ARK' and as always my wife, Deb. Other than becoming Wild I also invite you to read Mary's books and watch Happen Films on YouTube.
I really wish this invitation was being read and accepted by the masses but for now whoever reads our blog will have to do. Perhaps each of you can pass it on and a positive pyramid system could come into place, because we need an increase in WILDNESS to support a permanent culture. Permaculture has three overarching ethics - Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share. You will find them all at play in an ARK. ![Uploading IMG_1066.jpeg...]
The wildness I am talking about here is mostly about growing native plants and food sources but in general a little bit of wildness could also be welcome as long as we don't interfere with others.
Mary Reynolds, the founder of We are the ARK (Acts of Restorative Kindness) talks about returning our gardens to true nature through ARKing. The movement asks people (where possible and suitable) to give at least half of the land you steward to nature, native plants and animals, and half to growing your own food. Now at first reading this seems like a significant ask but the reality is you can do as much as you are able, but do something. Is it time for humans to step up and become more aware of and do something about the issues our economic systems have created? Definitely! Nearly half of the world's forests are gone and we persist with poisoning a lot of our food for our population to consume. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me!
The invitation is to simply increase biodiversity on the land under your care by planting native plants, growing edible and medicinal plants organically and welcoming native creatures. This includes every insect and animal that will come if you simply plant things. Our relationship with nature has to change. This takes time and I am still learning (mostly from my good wife) that this is bloody important and it will fill you with joy and amazement. Plant with the future in mind (yours and future guardians of your patch) and you won't go wrong!
An ARK is a restored native ecosystem through rewinding. Over time your patch of land will become a pantry and a joy for you and a habitat for our pollinators and native wild creatures of all kinds. It is an Act of Restorative Kindness to the earth from your own patch of land. No matter how big or small. Once again we cannot await government or big business intervention, this has to be a grassroots movement, from the bottom up, from people who care, creating a patchwork of ARKS (hopefully ever growing) worldwide.
We can't take on the whole world but we can make change where we live and it will make a difference as person by person, patch by patch, we build ARKS to share what we have. It is important to remember that native creatures want and need native plants to flourish. I have made this mistake before and that's ok, as long as we can learn from our mistakes. There are many thousands of ARKS throughout the world and I would suggest they have all made mistakes along the way to creating their ARK.
The Ecology behind the ARK movement can go much deeper, (into the food industry, forest industry and garden industry) than what I am providing here, but for me an ARK is simply looking at our land in terms of guardianship and not ownership That flips the script. Yes, we are lucky to own our patch of land but this brings with it a responsibility to change and form a connection with the circle of life.
Mary Reynolds calls it 'The Great Remembering', that we are here as guardians for a short time and should leave our patch in good shape for future generations so that every ensuing generation has an increased awareness of what a healthy looking landscape looks like. Not the other way around, which has been occurring for many generations. The strength of your ecosystem depends on the diversity of species within it, so be WILD and your ARK will repay your energy and kindness with a magical world as nature intended it!
Too philosophical? Maybe, but it is fact, so love and steward your land appropriately if you can. This may inspire change around you (family, friends and neighbours) all creating ARKS - An Act of Restorative Kindness to our earth - and as Mary Reynolds would remind you, this is about all things rooted and unrooted!
Let's discuss it further at our Growing Together Circle on the third Sunday of the month from 3pm - 5pm. Happy ARKING everyone!
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