first of all i will begin with the understanding that no one or thing is perfect and that is the beauty of evolution - so with practice may this be the crab cage i caught the first time i went fishing.
an introduction seems necessary, a way to test the waters before the plunge.
i am an ohioan, and i knew little of what that meant when i first explored the woods next to my home or played hide and seek with my brother and cousins on the farm. i hope to never know completely what it means, but it has shaped me- thank you landscape, climate, and people of northeastern ohio.
i'm from outside of town, my father a descendant of stubborn, frugal, swiss farmers, my mother the daughter of stubborn, frugal, industrial germans.
the land is precious the first and most important message i gained. every summer we'd pack the vw camper and set off to see just how precious the land is. before i was 10 i'd seen and camped in many beautiful landscapes. i'd seen and walked around buffalo at 5 years of age, we'd slid through snow on mount hood, and rinsed our morning faces in the cool melting waters. every year school meant telling all the others how cool my summer was, and what all i did.
landscape changes who we are. it develops us and it defines us.
land is limited and diminishing by natural and human induced causes. perhaps then one day my town will give back land, it will green it's perimeter and pull in to its limits all the people, it will clean the air and water and let wilderness return.
