Re-Wilding

It's always good to be back in the proverbial saddle again. Back wandering fields, back scratching Mara and Maggie's noses and necks, back filling buckets for Cleo and Womble, back wondering and wandering.

We spent some time wandering the paddocks yesterday as Emma, during her bout with Covid, couldn't get the strength up to do so. The grass is long, bent by weather and wind, and the incessant raining here has left little time or room for any sort of field maintenance beyond collecting the errant golf balls that have wandered over from the fairways. We seem to have little by way of ragwort this year which is a blessing and, what little we do have, is easily removed by the application of pressure and hands.

Amongst all of expanse of green, we're able to appreciate just how wonderful it is to have the space to allow nature to run its course. Outside of the little interstitial moments where we have to take out invasive (and deadly) weeds, nature truly runs her course here.

We're beginning the process of combining the two separate "herds" together. As you'll remember, Mara was first introduced to Cleo and Maggie and that resulted in a set of hijinx that led to the segregation of Cleo back to Womble and Maggie alone with Mara. We believe that Maggie should be fully weaned at this point (part of the reason she was with Cleo to begin with) so, while we anticipate some initial trouble on reintroduction between Mara and Womble, we're of the belief that things should go "well." Something to be said for blind faith...

In the midst of all this horse business and paddock strolling, I'd also love to point out that our life isn't consumed by hoofed friends. This little amphibian was minding its own business when I happened upon it in the field. The sheer amount of glee in Emma's voice (and perhaps mine...) upon seeing and holding it, cannot be fully put into words. If there was anything that could reasonably "spark joy" (to use a Kondo-ism), it's this. The ridiculously beautiful smile you see at the onset of this post should tell all the tale you need.

Within the ecosystem we've created here, a frog is an important bellwether of progress. It shows that we've left well-enough alone and that the steps we've taken to allow nature her room to run has indeed worked as planned. From the trails pressed into the long grass by foxes, badgers, and martens, we can see that there's a thriving family of animals living within our space. From the roughed out patches of soil where badgers have scuffed the earth looking for grubs and other small animals to the gentle keening of the birds overhead, we're watching nature unfold herself into the small arms we've provided.?It's poetry of the most beautiful sort.

The biggest lesson in everything we're doing here is found within the blades of grass, amongst the tiny buds and flowers layered within the strata of earth and sky. It's found in the dimpled back of a frog, no more than 5-6cm in length, caught by gentle hands, and allowed the perspective of a giant human.

The lesson is simple:?the less we try to force nature to a certain ideology, the more likely it is to find its own way.

Sometimes, leaving our spaces alone is the best way to end up where we need to be. For all our insistence on management, on guardrails, on whatever obsessive tendencies towards the minutiae we may exhibit, it's in the letting go that we often seen the most growth.

My dear souls,?where are you tightly clutching on to life??Where have you let your need for control supercede your need for life? Where, in the course of your life, could you perhaps let go and re-wild the corners of your heart??These are questions that only you can answer but, if you will, there's perhaps a lot to be found, a lot more life to be lived. Something to think about as you wander.

May it ever be so.

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