disturbed landscapes

Footprints

Image | | antilandscaper

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Step lightly
To do as little harm
As we step forward
In a world teeming with life
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Time and the forces of nature
May erase some of our former steps
But there are more than 7 billion of us

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Ever stepping forward
Ever the desire
Ever the need for more
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Our footprints become heavier
As we mar the ground beneath our feet
Ever harming more living things
Those that are not us
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The steps of the past are still there
If we look behind

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It is to our next steps
To our children, and to theirs’
To learn
To teach

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To step lightly
And do as little harm
In a world teeming with life
For it shouldn’t be only about us
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To Unlearn

Image | | antilandscaper

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A life time of learning
Still trying to form an opinion

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A finite grasping at infinity

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In awe of those
Who know it all
Before they have matured

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Yet time has come
For me
To unlearn

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So maybe one day
With a heart and mind of a child
I will see the wonders of everyday

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Descent

Image | | antilandscaper

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The descent of a bygone era
When men and women walked thru the gates
Of toil and wages
For love of family and the children
Who played out in the streets

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A time gone
Of making of things
Now done in other places on the globe
Only the ghosts of the thousands
Who’s lifes were spent here
To wander on the floors

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Now vacant
Abandoned like so many mills towns and factory cities
Its’ heart and character of many down-towns
Replaced on the outskirts
On new and widen roads
Stores and businesses without a sense of place

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The descent of a times past
Whether good or bad
I can not judge
I’ll leave that for the future

Landscape Thursday: View Scape

Image | | antilandscaper

Before - Taken 9/10/06

Many times when we think to landscape, we’re working with plants and trees that are of a certain size and not much thought is given to what they will grow to be. The maple trees that were planted in this court yard were small , maybe 10 ft. tall without much width.

But give them 10 years or more of growth, they start to become what a tree will be, large with a big spread and only will grow larger. Many of the other plants in the court yard started to decline for what once was a sunny location, now was pretty much shaded most of the time.

New homes were built on the hill (where this picture was taken from) and this was their view scape of the Great Bay, where the Lamprey river flows in.
There was much discussion about the problem and finally the trees were removed. New trees were installed, ones that would never get as big as the ones that were removed (could be no higher than the height of the roof) and the other plants that had survive had a better chance to thrive.

So the moral is when we are planting trees and some large shrubs is consider what they are going grow into rather than what size they are as you plant it. For in the long run are you going to lose a pleasant view as you look out your window?

After - Taken 9/15/06

Weekly Photo Challenge: On The Move – Invasives

Image | | antilandscaper

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On the move
As seeds take root
Adapted to a new environment
Displacing the natives
As their niches disappear
In a every changing landscape

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One that we have played a hand in
In our wanting to control nature
To what we think it should be
Riches in the earth
Taken for our own needs

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A new landscape emerges
One like everywhere else
On the move
As seeds take root

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Monument

Image | | antilandscaper

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You stand as a monument
No plaque attached
No Dedications
Only a few still remember
Some day
All that knew this gentle man
Who laid your roots in the ground
Will be gone
Your surroundings may change
Yet we might hope
That you will live on
To remember

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This scarlet oak was planted by a truly gentle man named Ray who live to almost 95. He was a remarkable plants-man, Landscaper and designer. I worked for him for many years and the oak was planted before I was even born. He built the house (top) and opened a nursery that was in business until he passed away, open for 60 years. After he was gone, the land was sold and the new owners wanted it turn it into medical practices park. Many of the trees are gone now, but I am happy they left this scarlet oak and I hope it is there for many generations to come.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Perspective

| antilandscaper

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This winter I have taken two airplane trips to visit kids and as I looked out the window of the plane I was in awe of the beauty of the landscape with all of it changes and at the same time sadden by by our footprint in all of it’s environments.
As one stands on the ground you can’t always see the true impact we have had on natural wonders of a living earth, it takes that different perspective even though even flying is adding to the changes that are occurring.

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From my perspective that is the problem – that of human dominance and our ability to take it all for our own needs; like a run away train without much thought of the future for us and all living things

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My photos don’t do it judice, so I might recommend a book “Designs on the Land: Exploring America from the Air” for it is fascinating photos of America’s landscape

Designs on the Land Exploring America from the Air by Alex S. MacLean, Jean-Marc Besse, James Corner and Gilles A. Tiberghien
“Designs on the Land: Exploring America from the Air”
by Alex S. MacLean (Author) , Jean-Marc Besse (Author) , James Corner (Author) , Gilles A. Tiberghien (Author) , Alex MacLean (Author)

Photo Weekly Challenge : Juxtaposition

| antilandscaper

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On the first of the year we traveled from Winter in New England (the day before everyone got snowed in) to Sunny Phoenix Arizona to visit family

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To come to a place where the average rainfall is 7 to 8″ a year, yet while in the urban areas it was hard to know we were in a desert, it in some ways it could have been home in NH in early summer just replace the maples and oaks with palm trees (which are not native to there)

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Knowing that water is issue in the southwest as in other parts of this country, it was hard to understand seeing green golf courses, green lawns that gave it all that theme park feel to it.

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Don’t get me wrong, we had a wonderful time, certainly enjoyed being with family and the weather wasn’t to hard to take.

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And now being home with freezing temps, part of me misses it or at least being with family. Yet I do have all those pictures I took to maybe help think being warm and remember seeing the native landscape of a desert just outside of town

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