Listening to the Land

Iceland is a place of tremendous natural beauty. A country where people have learned to make a living off of what nature provides them. The entire country uses geothermal heat for their homes and hot water; they fish in the vast local fisheries, and where there is halfway decent soil they grow a few staple crops. People still believe in ancient folklore, they diverted an entire highway so that it would not interfere with fairies and trolls, and they are proud of their heritage and try to hold onto it as much as possible in today’s modern world.

Visiting Iceland you hear folktales of why this mountain looks like a troll laying down, or why the waterfall rages at certain times of the year. You hear about the traditional methods that were used to fish in the ocean for hundreds of years before the modernization of the industry. You can see, smell, touch and experience what it would have been like to farm the sea at any number of recreated fishing villages (see photos). There was a reason for why the fish houses were built with slats in the walls (allow air to pass through and dry fish). Throughout Iceland I felt like there was indeed some sort of magic at work, there was a mystical or historical explanation for anything and everything. David Abram in his book The Spell of the Sensuous describes a similar experience while he is conducting research in Indonesia and Nepal. He becomes intimately aware of and in touch with his surroundings, there is a reason for everything. Setting out bowls of rice to keep spirits away from the house, is in his mind giving the ants something to eat and keeps them outside versus infesting the home. People can become very closely attached to their local land and learn the way that it lives and breathes.

Another place where I felt    a connection to nature that was at once spiritual and historical was when our class went to D Acres Farm. At D Acres Farm in New Hampshire the founder of the farm, Josh, has an intimate connection to and knowledge of the land and listens to the way it wants to be used. He knows the way the water flows and how long certain plants have been there. He uses the land to his benefit to improve the farm as a whole. There is a reason for everything at D Acres. Much in the same way there is a reason for putting rice outside the home or the way a fish house is constructed in Iceland, Josh has built a farm that minimizes inputs while maximizing output. Catching rainwater off buildings and runoff from the parking lot to create ponds that can be used for any number of reasons is one way he uses the land to his benefit. Using pigs to transform what is essentially sand into rich fertile soil reduces dependence on chemical fertilizer and having to truck in soil from far away. Every project that Josh and his team undertake at the farm is well thought out and has multiple benefits for the greater good of the farm.

Knowing the land has no limits. There is always something more to learn and discover or rediscover, some new way to use nature to benefit nature. We can look to the past for inspiration on how to change today. Be it air drying fish in Iceland or transforming soil with pigs in New Hampshire there is a reason for everything, we just need to be willing listen and learn.