Spring my friend

Ella knows...

My dearest Galosh,

Spring is finally here. the cuckoo has sung, marking the end of the nettle season on which we've been gorging for the past few weeks. the lilac is about to bloom, marking the right moment to plant Well, potatoes.

for "potatoes are to be planted at the bloom of the lilac flower" now how does the lilac and how does the cuckoo know when it is time?

And how does it adapt to everything changing in the world, you will ask?

I'm sitting in the sun and listening. Good listening always start small.

the grass has exploded into a lush jungle of green beauty there are Clover, yarrow, red nettles, a tiny blue flower a bigger white one and that yellow bloom that looks like a dandelion but isn't actually one.

butterflies are white and yellow and white again a cloud of tiny flies dances with the magic of the breeze. Ella is listening too, laying in the grass. She knows.

A tiny bird comes and sits on a deck chair close by. From there she feeds on the lusciousness around her with evident joy. I ask her for permission to move. permission granted.

Now the only element of discord in this whole beautiful moment is the new telephone cable post. That was installed in front of the house last week to replace the old wooden posts along the road with the difference that this one is metal.

Now, you will think of me traditionalist retrograde conservative...

The post is laminated with a printed plastic sheet imitating wood and I can take my eyes off of it.

I could go on a rant about the decision process that led to communal budget being spent on such a sacrilege or I could wonder about biophilic design vs fake biophilic design, the difference between a real view of a sunset and a poster in the lobby of a sunset.

But I will do none of these.

Instead I will hold the beauty of what is, metal post included.

For all of this place has a spirit and if you listen close enough you can feel it. You can hear it. It'll tell you where you are and might even tell you what to do.

I hold on to the process of listening, of getting away from the linear, focused, efficient thoughts of today's world and zoom out to a complex, systemic, inefficient maybe yet more resilient way of seeing the world. One might even call this shift a spiritual process (a taboo word that I hope you will indulge me).

It is a recalibration of the way we see ourselves, ourselves with others and ourselves in nature. It's a shift from being an all conquering, "other" to nature towards being part of a very complex and mysterious system. And finally, is the process of shifting from doing less bad towards regenerating the places that we interact with.

Alex came out asking if I want lemonade. The bird flew away. Time for lunch.

Love,

Jo

PS. As I was writing these words, I got back from the re:build summit about holding a talk next weekend. This is an online event about all things Regenerative. I'll be talking about using deep listening in the design process of Place-making, like an eco-village or homestead, by using the Listen to Your Land approach. You can get tickets with a discount if you use the code JOPETRONI23.

http://www.re-build.co/