introduction & daydreams

Much thanks to werebrock for inviting me to blog here. I have this other blog but Noble Savagery might be a more appropriate forum for some of my interests. I've never been to Ohio and I have no idea who these Noble Savages really are but I feel a strong affinity! Me & my people are marooned out on the Barrens of Flatistan, Springfield, Illinois. Is it really that bad? We'll See.

As to "Rewilding, Urban Exploring, and the Other Adventures," we're definitely rewilding our yard, with a gazillion mulberry trees sprouting up, not to mention burdock, plantain, dandelion, lamb's quarter, volunteer squash in the compost, jimsonweed in the cheap dirt we had trucked in. Not that we actually eat all of that. But it's all building up organic matter in the soil & bringing up deep trace nutrients to the surface. All y'all probably already know that though. Anyone wanting to know what to do with their yard & garden, permaculture style, should read Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway. Trust me, I'm an anarchist and I rarely say "should"!

We love to wander aimlessly, and get to know our city's alleys. That's where the cool stuff waits in dumpsters, the alley fairies hide od things to find, and of course the mint and berries and other good stuff grows. We brew our own sweet wine from local fruits. This year's raspberry wine from our yard berries was divine. I'm glad I set aside a couple reserve bottles 'cause it didn't last long. I guess we like to celebrate.

As good as things can get (and the tornado of March 12 taught us some lessons), we are still trapped in the belly of the Beast. We dropout-types of course want to consume less and work less, thereby pulling the levers that operate the Leviathan less. But there's no readymade alternative; the intentional communities we visited just didn't quite work out for us. In the meantime, there's the imagination.

A vagabond colony on the Barrens is almost invisible in Springtime. Earthen houses & treehouses are shaded by vigorous new growth of tree leaves, ivy trellised along sunny walls, & berry patches on roofs. A large mound topped with smaller mounds, just a little bit like a hobbit house.

There are barriers–herb mounds, sinuous flower rows, tree lines, trellises–but no boundaries. What could be a patchwork of clearly demarcated lots & crops is blurred, swirled, ever shifting with the seasons, and contoured in concert with the land & sky, not in opposition.

A lot of rampant weeds are actually cherished by the vagabonds for their ease of growth & high nutritional & medicinal value.

It’s funny how, the more one questions one’s sanity, arguably the more one is in touch with reality.

In difference is divinity.

salaam,

hakim baker