In late August, I became aware of my mother’s impending death. Not only does this mean losing her, but also the homestead where I grew up, with its towering oak and hickory trees, that shaded us and have stood stately around our home for all the years I remember.
In late August, following the Bioregional Congress in western Canada, five of us from this area went to Meares Island, the last uncut rainforest in Canada. (I didn’t even know there were rainforests in Canada.) What an incredible place! The largest tree in Canada, 61 feet in circumference, is there; the wild life, and mudflats; the many varieties of plants, all are there, in an area basically untouched.
The most impressive place, for me, on the small part of the island we were able to encounter was a Spruce Grove. Some 30 Spruces, each 40 to 50 feet around and bigger, each over a thousand years old, standing there on a hillside. I slept under them one night on the soft fallen needles, looking up at the branches, and through them to the stars.
As I lay there under these massive trees, two very clear messages came to me. One was of deep sadness. The second sounded something like this, “There are thousands of trees, animals, plants all around Enright Avenue. They are part of your community, of the IMAGO community. They have a right to be part of your community and need to be preserved.”
In this season of reflection, this time of Earth, it has become very clear to me that we humans have made borders, and claim ownership of a part of the land; this tree and those grasses, and the animals and insects and soil that is on it. But the animals, the insects, the trees and seeds of plants, the waters and the air, don’t know these boundaries. They are a bioregion, a living community. And we on Enright Avenue need to see ourselves as part of this community, rather than owning it.
It seems that the only way to really preserve this land is for people who will care for the land to buy it; for us to set up a land trust which would need to “own” the land and preserve it.
Who “owns” this land:
Much of it by homeowners.
More than 20 acres is owned by speculators.
8 acres by a contractor.
7 acres by the Cincinnati School System.
And there are 4 acres with a small house for sale right now.
IMAGO is looking at developing an interdependent/cooperative neighborhood here on Enright Avenue. We cannot do so without preserving and involving the creatures and plants that occupy the 100+ acres of land around us. This is becoming a primary goal for this year, how to preserve our woods.
If you are interested in a small house with four acres of land, give me a call and I’ll give you more information.
And if you might like to be part of a group looking into ways of preserving the woods, please give me a call. I’d love to talk to you about it. I might be calling some of you to ask you about joining.
And each of you, we invite to come and walk the woods with us. At present we are making a path through the woods so that we, and others, can enjoy the beauty of this wonderful wooded area. I would love to share this treasure with you.
And as I work on the woods of Enright Avenue, I am hoping that my family will see the need to preserve the old homestead.
Time will tell for both.
rjamesschenk.org 