So beautiful. The repetition of "hedgerow." The use of lists to convey a place. The fact that I learned something new, "They impede the advance of platoons, but obscure visibility so the enemy cannot discern the strategy." This is why I keep reading your beautiful stories.
Thank you, Stacy! I like the way substack posts feel like a place to share whatever randomness I learn going down my most recent rabbit hole. I just learned that tidbit as well! As well as about the savage loggerhead shrike.
Thanks for this lovely post Mary and long may the farmland around you stay integral. Sadly here in Ireland even though there's an awareness of the essential role hedgerows play in supporting nature the machine grows bigger and keeps up the relentless advance. 🪶x
Catching up here . . . So much to love here, Mary Beth. What a treat to soak in your words like “lichens creep crustily.” And “Fields without hedgerows are like music without breath, without spaces between the notes.” And “a soupy womb of becoming.”
I didn’t know that Ani Difranco song, so thank you (what’s the name of it?). It reminds me of Joanie Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” —
“They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”
Im stunned by the connection between mustard seeds and war, and then your sleight of hand shift straight to mowing down hedgerows in the war of Big Ag. 💕
Thank you for the close read and thoughtful observations, Julie! The Ani song that the long quote is pulled from is called "subdivision", and the short quote (learning what not to play) is from "up up up up up up" I know what you mean about catching up! I'm very behind on my substack reading! Not a bad problem, lots to look forward to.
“Hedgerows are corridors, providing safe transit across open terrain, waystations dividing the expanse.”
The hill I live on is farmed by two different families, both intent on outdoing the other with bigger and better machines… when we arrived the whole hill, north and south facing, east and west are mostly forest, was sectioned into small meadows with thick hedgerow partitions… now there are none, both farmers have torn down their hedges to make farming more simple, to make way for their giant machines and the hill has/still is suffering. The land is slipping and much wildlife has disappeared… I try to explain to them the errors of their damaging almost macho ideas but they continue…
Thank you so much for this beautifully written missive of hope that soon the mistaken belief of bigger is better will catch on here in France… in farming, nature doesn’t need vast open spaces!
Beautifully expressed and important. I care deeply about native plants so I read a lot about plants and the habitats they create. One grower I follow tells us that thicket species were once common in meadows and prairies, like American wild plum, and their populations are now functionally extinct where they were once present in the landscape. He does excellent advocacy for planting these species. If I had acreage I would absolutely plant a lovely, messy wildlife haven thicket with native wild plum, wild cherry, hawthorn, elderberry, dogwood and nannyberry. 💚
What a lovely read, mixing the beauty of words with a thirst for knowledge. There are so many fragments I enjoyed; for some reason ‘a soupy womb’ stays with me. Thank you.
The phrase ‘wildlife corridor’ has gained traction if not always action. Hedgerows yes, but also other lines we have incised in this earth: drystone walls with their interstices, and here it is ditches through the moss that I gravitate towards, the more neglected the better as nature softens their lines. Old tracks, abandoned railway lines, verges and waysides if we resist the temptation to ‘manage’ them.
I've just discovered this lovely essay. Hedgerows are getting a lot more attention here in the UK again now, with new hedges planted and old ones being cared for again but we need far more of them given how vital they are for wildlife as you so beautifully highlight. There's huge potential for more hedgerows in urban areas too.
So beautiful. The repetition of "hedgerow." The use of lists to convey a place. The fact that I learned something new, "They impede the advance of platoons, but obscure visibility so the enemy cannot discern the strategy." This is why I keep reading your beautiful stories.
Thank you, Stacy! I like the way substack posts feel like a place to share whatever randomness I learn going down my most recent rabbit hole. I just learned that tidbit as well! As well as about the savage loggerhead shrike.
Yes! You start with an idea and just go where it takes you. 🥰
Thanks for this lovely post Mary and long may the farmland around you stay integral. Sadly here in Ireland even though there's an awareness of the essential role hedgerows play in supporting nature the machine grows bigger and keeps up the relentless advance. 🪶x
Catching up here . . . So much to love here, Mary Beth. What a treat to soak in your words like “lichens creep crustily.” And “Fields without hedgerows are like music without breath, without spaces between the notes.” And “a soupy womb of becoming.”
I didn’t know that Ani Difranco song, so thank you (what’s the name of it?). It reminds me of Joanie Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” —
“They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”
Im stunned by the connection between mustard seeds and war, and then your sleight of hand shift straight to mowing down hedgerows in the war of Big Ag. 💕
Thank you for the close read and thoughtful observations, Julie! The Ani song that the long quote is pulled from is called "subdivision", and the short quote (learning what not to play) is from "up up up up up up" I know what you mean about catching up! I'm very behind on my substack reading! Not a bad problem, lots to look forward to.
“Hedgerows are corridors, providing safe transit across open terrain, waystations dividing the expanse.”
The hill I live on is farmed by two different families, both intent on outdoing the other with bigger and better machines… when we arrived the whole hill, north and south facing, east and west are mostly forest, was sectioned into small meadows with thick hedgerow partitions… now there are none, both farmers have torn down their hedges to make farming more simple, to make way for their giant machines and the hill has/still is suffering. The land is slipping and much wildlife has disappeared… I try to explain to them the errors of their damaging almost macho ideas but they continue…
Thank you so much for this beautifully written missive of hope that soon the mistaken belief of bigger is better will catch on here in France… in farming, nature doesn’t need vast open spaces!
Utterly beautiful, thanks. Here's a wee glimmer. https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/opinion/an-ode-to-our-restraining-hedgerows/
Beautifully expressed and important. I care deeply about native plants so I read a lot about plants and the habitats they create. One grower I follow tells us that thicket species were once common in meadows and prairies, like American wild plum, and their populations are now functionally extinct where they were once present in the landscape. He does excellent advocacy for planting these species. If I had acreage I would absolutely plant a lovely, messy wildlife haven thicket with native wild plum, wild cherry, hawthorn, elderberry, dogwood and nannyberry. 💚
Also American hazelnut 😊
What a lovely read, mixing the beauty of words with a thirst for knowledge. There are so many fragments I enjoyed; for some reason ‘a soupy womb’ stays with me. Thank you.
The phrase ‘wildlife corridor’ has gained traction if not always action. Hedgerows yes, but also other lines we have incised in this earth: drystone walls with their interstices, and here it is ditches through the moss that I gravitate towards, the more neglected the better as nature softens their lines. Old tracks, abandoned railway lines, verges and waysides if we resist the temptation to ‘manage’ them.
I've just discovered this lovely essay. Hedgerows are getting a lot more attention here in the UK again now, with new hedges planted and old ones being cared for again but we need far more of them given how vital they are for wildlife as you so beautifully highlight. There's huge potential for more hedgerows in urban areas too.