Links that may or may not be related to gardens, food, travel, nature, or heterotopias and liminal spaces but probably are. Sources in parentheses.
long essay: The Eider Keepers: An age-old tradition in Norway illuminates the bonds between wild ducks, wild places, and the people who care for both (Devon Fredericksen & Pål Hermansen/Hakai magazine). About a 20-min read: In the Vega Archipelago of Norway, bird keepers have practiced a mutualistic relationship with the local eider ducks for over four hundred years, building them houses with pre-made eider nests from seaweed, guarding them until the hatchlings fledge, and then collecting the eiderdown they leave behind in the nests. “Eiderdown is some of the softest down on the planet and is so lightweight it doesn’t register even when a watermelon-sized ball of it drops into a cupped palm. (The Latin species name for the common eider, mollissima, comes from mollissimus, which translates to “the softest.”)”
photo essay: High-Functioning Natives For Your Spring Garden (Brent McHale/Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens). Including Aquilegia canadensis (red columbine), Aronia melanocarpa (black chokeberry), Dicentra eximia (fern leaf bleeding heart), Thalictrum pubescens (meadow rue), Mertensia virginica (Virginia bluebells).
essay: Why Is This Interesting? The FIP Edition: On vibes, curation, and radio (Colin Nagy). I love listening to this French radio station online. “It feels eclectic yet coherent, as if you’re listening to mixtapes from an older brother or sister with insanely good taste.” It’s been around since 1971!
meditation: Berthe Morisot’s Last Letter (Summer Brennan/Joyland). A short meditation on … art, oranges, Julie Manet Rouart, grief, joy?
photo essay: Creating Abundance: Lessons from Great Dixter (Karen Chapman/le jardinet). Great Dixter is in Rye, East Sussex, Britain. Beautiful photos and inspiration for planting in layers and with a multiplicity of colour, texture, etc., to create boundaries, to add “punctuation points” (something tall among a mass of shorter plants, e.g.,), and in an array of arranged containers.
