Ungardening – life on the edge – part 2

Jan 20th, 2023

Ungardening – life on the edge – part 2

The edges in nature are rich, and facilitate interactions. It is apparent that the borders, compound walls, barbed-wire fences of modern living are sterile, box-in people, and wildlife, and reduce richness. Yet, most places try to become smart cities, and an important aspect of that is to linearize any water channels, and reduce lakes to simple geometric shapes, with concrete shores, and no vegetation, make it of uniform depth, so that in a few years, it is reduced to stagnant, sewage holding tanks, with zero biological activity. Rivers and streams are replaced with lift irrigation, and concrete channels.

Small tiled houses, with plenty of trees, near water channels are claimed to be encroachments, and the people living in such places, are evicted, and moved into soulless high-rises. The sense of community, and the natural richness is replaced with sterility. The authorities doing the eviction are caught in a tough place, not fully convinced they are doing the right thing, moving people who are happy where they are. Similarly as part of some global agenda, people who live in harmony with nature in forests, are evicted and moved to cities or small towns.

Nature as it flourishes, creates more spaces, more niches, more edges, more transition zones where life can flourish. Technology, in many cases provide a false diversity as in the multi-colored cereals in boxes in big stores. And some non-technologist will find a way to force people to adopt the technology, restricting their life. The more “sophisticated” the car, the more infrastructure it needs, and it can be driven only on proper roads.

The solution would be to leave people to decide what technology they want to adopt, or discard, instead of being forced. But modern eunuchs want to force some global agenda on unfortunate people, giving more control to the elites, simultaneously reducing the richness and resilience of a place.

There are people who like sterile places, brightly lit, hectic with activity. And there are people who like natural patterns, and the richness, of undisturbed places.

To have natural richness, one should tolerate insects, animals, and birds. They should like weeds, and places that have dense shrubs, and vines, where the earth is fully covered. They should also let wood and dry twigs from trees to rot at it’s own pace. They should let the unevenness of earth to provide more edges for life.

Not everyone tolerates nature, the base of all existence. So if someone likes nature and wants to be left alone, they should be left alone.

A green bee on a wild cucumber flower.

A tiny butterfly

A green spider camouflaged, waiting for an unwary insect to visit the flower.

White sulfur butterfly, its wings eaten by a bird, or lizard

Ants busy building an underground nest, they too make the soil more suitable for plants.

A spider, and its dew-laced web.

Water in a low lying area after reasonably heavy rains.

A caterpillar (of a moth?) on a Tinospora Cordifolia vine (guduchi, giloy).

Another butterfly.

A fly on a Tinospora Cordifolia plant leaf. Herbicide use has reduced weeds, poisoned the land, and eliminated most insects. The ordinary fly has become rare. Its flight and acrobatics are a marvel.

Another caterpiller (of a moth?)

While one part of the vegetation springs to life, another part dies, becomes food for fungi.

Another insect, once very common, now dying out. A grasshopper with a green pattern on its back.

A jewel beetle.

A spider waiting for a snack.

Another dew-laced spider web.

Mushrooms doing their job, part of the cycles of life.

A dried and hardened mushroom on a dead tree. Some insect has laid golden hued eggs.

An insignificant harvest of peanuts/groundnuts. Got about a cup. No care was given, the only effort was in harvesting.

A medium sized butterfly, could only get a photo from the front.

Another ant mound in red soil.

Got a kilo or two of eggplants. The plants are still growing, and flowering. They are on a hugelkultur bed. Should continue to produce for a couple more months.

A solitary bee on a eggplant flower.

Some leave a small portion of their farm or garden undisturbed, so that nature takes over. There is a lightness of being, in nature. An escape from the dreary heaviness of modern, packaged living.