When I first started working with this land, I planted hundreds of trees around the edges of fields and the river banks, and the neighbours hayed most of the fields. One really wet year we stopped haying and I soon realized I did not need to be planting trees. The land exploded into a complex and ever changing ecosystem which reveals much about soil quality, drainage, resilience and patience.

I laughingly refer to it as a farmer’s nightmare because years of someone’s effort to turn this into productive agricultural land have been rerouted drastically into my personal study of succession; my wild studio where I can ponder time, beauty and pathmaking while learning how to move through the world. I am very grateful for this.