Seeing Your Home.
The countryside of the Lakeland Region is one I am familiar with more from the confines of a vehicle than in any tangible way. I think this is a common experience for most people who live in the vast country of Canada. Our modern connection to the natural world is based on fleeting observation or how it can serve our recreational fervour or how natural resource extraction can be expedited. The current state of integration with our local ecosystems should breach the surface level consumer relationships and move toward an admiration and an ability to intimately see everchanging elements.
“The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.”
I make the separation between seeing and observing intentionally because I believe the difference is notable. To genuinely see a place is to know it well enough to ensure it remains healthy. Merely looking requires nothing more than the sensation of sight and does not connect the reliance we have on the land we call home. This wisdom is practiced well by many Indigenous People as well as competent farmers. I admire both demographics for their knowledge of the places they occupy and how to manage it well for the thriving of generations that follow.
The images below are from the numerous moments I've paused to observe my home region in hopes of one day truly seeing a small part of it.
