one of the least publicly discussed human instinct is evaluating the environment in it's suitability for home. for millions of years we had to hone-in our intuition as to where a good place to settle would be and when we should keep going. just like the constituents of loveability in other people, we might pursue certain individuals with deep passion, without having the clue as to how to recapitulate desirable tendencies in ourselves. our homes represent both our atunement to our instincts and our sense of agency in catering to them. making space in making a space in nature I ask two questions: where am I naturally attracted to? how do I preserve that space rather than be tempted to build something there? can we make our human settlement enhance rather than diminish life around us? I suppose we have to share; share our compost, our shelter, our water, at least our grey water, and maybe break up some fights between densely copasing trees. we live 120 feet above a large man-made spring fed pond. at one point it was a large lush area and now its highly contained source of water with very minimal edge effect to support life. my pumping water up here and irrigating are we disturbing nature or are we restoring it closer to its original state? I don't know. I feel that we need to share the water more. even for purely selfish reasons. but then again, could the perception of lush health ecology ever be purely selfish? I suppose, at least in the case of the love of golf courses. between architectural anthropocentrism to nature worshiping
making a space for humans in the forest we don't want to stand out or blend in. we aren't contrasting with bright colors nor are we using camo-nets. we don't accept all the trees and terrain as they are nor do we flatten the hilltop to create exactly what we want. like the complex dynamics of two trees growing next to one another we want to take the time to grow along nature maintaining a mutually constituent relationship. an oak tree has no plan or blueprint for development; but it has certain needs, limitations, and an oaky kind of way in which it does things. (genetics). granted, nothing we would ever build could be as beautiful or artistic as an oak tree; but in a similar vein, we don't have a plan for developing the space. every thing that we do affects the appearance of the space and therefore the next step.
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Leonore
2/11/2018 06:59:04 pm
This is a lot of good writing, could not read it all but got a good dose of honest self reflection. wow. Such honestry is breathtking. thank you. I am 70, living in cohousing, dreaming to live in a community with your values and ideals, alas, you dont seem to need a grandmother, young as she is, but aging, like you, never the less. who wants such additional responsibility? you never know what grooves her brain has settled into, yes? So from the distance: ship ahoi and have a blissful journey!
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Wynne Wilking
7/13/2020 03:04:39 pm
I especially loved the pictures of the impersonal stainless kitchen contrasting with the earthship kitchen & greatroom designs. And living near a beautifla place instead of plunking down in the middle of it and ruining it. Like minds. I'm looking into communities now with the intent of finding one to move to and join.
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