~
I stood at the window of a busy urban medical center the other day after a round of tests, waiting to see a specialist. The facility had landscaped the grounds with a pond and walking path, likely so that staff and patients could enjoy the well-researched benefits of nature. The pond was, like so many, mowed right to the edge and treated with chemicals to eliminate weeds/algae. A grounds crew was weed whacking around the few nearby plantings. (What’s whacked, in my experience, is more likely to belong than the non-native plants considered beautiful.)
I watched a family of Canada geese wandering the edge, pecking at the minimal nourishment of turf grass. I noticed an unusual gull flying in. It had a much wider wingspan and different coloration than those typically seen around Lake Erie. (Looking it up later, I see it might have been a Glaucous gull.) It swooped low around the pond a few times, flapped over two trees near the building, then flew off across the busy highway toward further commerce-clogged miles.
That pond, put there for a serene view of “nature” is of little more value than a parking lot to that bird and those geese. No native plants at the edge full of seeds and blooms. No duckweed or fish in the water. Likely few if any insects. No real nourishment, just a pond for show, largely devoid of nature’s context.
Everything in us is designed to flourish. Yet we’re pressured to be some version of that pond in our culture—accepted within tight margins, meant to perform as expected, confined by limited variables. I want to embrace the messy complexity that doesn’t neatly fit into a barren pond or a narrow theology, isn’t defined by political rigidity or status or possessions. I want my waters awake with invisible and visible lives. I want my edges lush with everything blooming and going to seed and dying –trusting what needs to flourish will come back to life. I want community, cross-pollination, diversity, beauty. Sometimes, in today’s world, I wonder if we are all the tightly mowed lawn as well as the gull seeking more.
What ways have you found to let the wild living waters of your being and your world flourish?
Laura Grace Weldon 
Your pond looks like my childhood pond. We had it excavated to drain a boggy patch, left an island in the middle, let nature take it. Ducks and moorhens appreciated the island safety from foxes, all kinds of native species fringed the edge, fish and frogs took their chances with herons and hawks. It was swimmable, just, but we tended not to, to give the wildlife their own space.
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Sounds heavenly. I like the island in the middle idea. Ours used to be the house’s water source, well before we bought the house, and there was a little float in the middle left from that system– just big enough for turtles to sun themselves. It is long gone now but I still hanker for such an island.
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For years we passed a farm pond where some enterprising person had installed a brightly painted (fiberglass?) Loch Ness sort of creature. My kids made a point of looking for it each time we went by. Always cheered me to know there were fellow weirdos out here. When the house was sold the new owners clearly did not have an appreciation for the sheer exuberance to be found in a pond monster. I hope that monster has quietly moved to another pond.
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Hoping for favorable outcomes of your tests, Laura.
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Thanks Jennifer.
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We live by a woods and as the large trees fall they are left there for all the creatures to enjoy. It always thrills me to see the shelves of fungus that grow out the sides of the fallen timber and the sometimes tiny mushrooms on the stump! Still looking for elves. Haha
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Sounds like a wonderful haven for creatures, Kathy. The elves are probably just wary. Maybe leave them teeny tiny sandwiches?
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The pond on your property looks so inviting. My partner Mick and I have gone against the grain of our suburban neighborhood from the moment we moved in, turned over a big section of our lawn, and planted native Minnesota plants like coneflowers, goldenrod, milkweed. That was in 1997. Our new neighbor across the street came over to see what we were doing; she had a very groomed yard. Since then, we’ve added a wild garden that takes up half our backyard, full of other native plants that throw their seeds into what’s left of our lawn with abandon. The number of birds and bees and butterflies we have hanging around has increased, which makes us very happy. Less than half of what was once grass remains around our house. We have made a little sanctuary that restores ourselves as much as it does the pollinators. And that neighbor across the street that I mentioned comes over a few times every summer to stroll around our gardens and take it all in.
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You’re a changemaker, my friend. That neighbor of yours may be thinking, even below her awareness, of doing the same. And just imagine all the passersby who are heartened (or confused) by all that’s flourishing in your yard. Thank goodness your lawn isn’t ruled by HOA by-laws!
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We would never pass muster with an HOA – unless it was an environmental one! 😊
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We leave parts of our garden as wild as we can – within reason!
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