Resilience

June 2020 at the Trimbelle

Last month I wrote about a community that worked together to clean up a small stream in the driftless area of Wisconsin. I came to this place while exploring streams between the bluffs that lead to the Mississippi River valley and I have returned for the peace, the beauty. and the story of cooperation and resilience….

July 2020 In early July I arrived at the Trimbelle easement to find a large swath the buffer zone plants bent as if water had washed over it… when I walked to the stream it was running high but clear and there were a couple of mud patches on the other shore…further downstream on my drive later I saw damage, trees in the stream, and banks eroded but the restored stream ran swift and clear… There had been 9 inches of rain in a short amount of time. a few days before my visit. The cornfield just beyond the buffer zone kept its soil and the diverse mix of plants stood back up as the summer progressed, the shores continued to be full of plants, birds, insects, and living soil. The very definition of a resilient system…

I began gathering plants from the site and arranging them to make boiled eco prints. The prints showed not just plants but beautiful flowing water lines which I enhanced using pastels and pencils. For me these pieces are a reminder of the beauty to be found in natural systems

Ice flowers now dance at the waters edge and I keep my eye and heart open to the beauty that is nature and community working together

and find some 2020 solace …

Please check out the new images on the Focus page

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