A Tree ~ Louise Dickinson Rich

“A house you can rebuild; a bridge you can restring; a washed-out road you can fill in. But there is nothing you can do about a tree, but mourn.”

~ Louise Dickinson Rich

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Dickinson_Rich

Artwork from Nat Morley

https://www.natmorley.co.uk/portfolio.php

City Forests ~Robert Hart

"Obviously, few of us are in a position to restore the forests.. But tens of millions of us have gardens, or access to open spaces such as industrial wastelands, where trees can be planted. And if full advantage can be taken of the potentialities that are available even in heavily built up areas, new "city forests" can arise..."

~Robert Hart

More at 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hart_%28horticulturist%29

Artwork from Thomas Kincade

https://thomaskinkade.com/

Resting Easy ~Joel Salatin

“Food security is not in the supermarket. It's not in the government. It's not at the emergency services division. True food security is the historical normalcy of packing it in during the abundant times, building that in-house larder, and resting easy knowing that our little ones are not dependent on next week's farmers' market or the electronic cashiers at the supermarket.”

~ Joel Salatin

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Salatin

Artwork from Kristine Kainer  https://www.kristinekainer.com/

Two Roads ~ Rachel Carson

“We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been travelling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less travelled by — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the Earth.”

~ Rachel Carson

More at https://www.rachelcarson.org/

Artwork from Lucy Timbrell

http://lucytimbrell.blogspot.com/?m=0

Overwhelmed by the Gifts~ Norman Wirzba

"To work in a garden is to be surrounded by the mysteries of germination, growth, and decay, and it is to be overwhelmed by the gifts of raspberries, tomatoes, and onions that surprise us with their fragrance and taste. But it isn’t all pleasantries. To garden is also to be frustrated by the disease and death that are beyond one’s control and power. Where did this blight come from? Why won’t this seed germinate? A late frost again? The temptation is always to give up and walk away. But that isn’t really a viable option. If people are to eat, they must eventually return to the ground.......

Gardening is one of the most vital practices for teaching people the art of creaturely life. With this art people are asked to slow down and calibrate their desires to meet the needs and potential of the plants and animals under their care. Gardeners are invited to learn patience and to develop the sort of sympathy in which personal flourishing becomes tied to the flourishing of the many creatures that nurture them. A garden, we might say, is a living laboratory in which we have the chance to grow into nurturers, protectors, and celebrators of life........ To garden well – in the skilful modes of attention, patience, sensitivity, vigilance, and responsiveness – is to participate in the way G_d gardens the world."

~ Norman Wirzba

More at 
https://www.theworkofthepeople.com/person/norman-wirzba

Artwork from Cath Read http://www.cathread.co.uk/

Our Planet ~ E.F. Schumacher

“The real problems of our planet are not economic or technical, they are philosophical. The philosophy of unbridled materialism is being challenged by events.” 

~ E.F. Schumacher

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._F._Schumacher

Artwork from P J Crook 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._J._Crook

We Do Not Rule ~ Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

“I saw that animals were important. I saw that plants were even more important. I was also to learn that compared to many of the other species, we weren't important at all except for the damage we do. We do not rule the natural world, despite our conspicuous position in it. On the contrary, it is our lifeline, and we do well to try to understand its rules.” 

~Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Marshall_Thomas

Artwork from Niki Bowers
http://www.cambridgegallery.co.uk/nikibowers/

Sweetness~ E. B. White

“I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.” 

~ E. B. White

More from  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._B._White

Artwork from Dee Nickerson 

http://www.southwoldgallery.co.uk/artists/128/dee-nickerson

Which we Belong ~ Aldo Leopold

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” 

~ Aldo Leopold  

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldo_Leopold

Artwork from Walt Curlee 
http://www.waltcurleeart.com/walt-curlee-bio-page.html

Exciting Challenge ~ Jenny Spinks

"Simple and sustainable living is effective when we are connected to each other; when we work together in community, and when we are connected with the earth; when we are closer to our food sources. People in the world who live in this way experience a happiness and fulfilment that we are deprived of-that deep sense of belonging that comes with those connections and that encourages a faith in G_d, or the light, or the universal spirit. So living the simplicity testimony is not a series of personal sacrifices for the good of others. It is choosing a path that leads to our own inner wellbeing, and more joy in our lives. I believe that it does not help us to be hard on ourselves and act out of guilt. Instead we can see it as an exciting challenge to make it a priority to increase those connections in our lives and see how that improves our sense of inner wellbeing and, as a beautiful side effect, reduces the inequalities in human society helping to create a culture of peace."

~ Jenny Spinks

More at 
https://www.quakersaustralia.info/sites/aym-members/files/pages/files/2007%20Lecture.pdf

Artwork from Ellie Ling http://www.ellieling.co.uk/

Born of Dust ~ Daniel Stulac

"We are, quite literally, born of dust. But that does not mean we are only dust. Filled with the breath of G_d, we have a special vocation, too – to serve the garden in which G_d placed us, and to keep it well. As dust of the earth, we are created to be servants of the soil. We are creatures designed by G_d to have our hands dirty. We are intended for cultivation. We are here as the keepers, the pruners, the grafters, the midwives, and the husbands of G_d’s planet. We are of creation, and we are for creation."

~ Daniel Stulac

More at http://www.ecotheo.org/author/daniel-stulac/

The Sun Still Shines ~ Michael Pollan

“The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world. ” 

~ Michael Pollan

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Pollan

Artwork from Mig Wyeth 

https://www.greenpebble.co.uk/collections/mig-wyeth

At The Boundaries ~ Will Bonsall

“When you look at the boundaries of your garden, I assure you that you are seeing a mirage. There are no borders around your garden. Your garden is more like a pebble dropped in the water - what you perceive as a boundary is just the innermost ripple; countless other ripples spread out from there and bounce back from afar. This must be so, else how can we call a garden organic?.......For me - and, I believe, everyone else - that’s the challenge: to focus on the minute details while constantly remaining aware of the big picture. It's what motivates me to farm, indeed to live, as I do.”

~ Will Bonsall

More from  https://www.scatterseedproject.org/will-bonsall/

Artwork from Vincent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh

Disarm Greed ~ E. F. Schumacher

"How could we even begin to disarm greed and envy? Perhaps by being much less greedy and envious ourselves; perhaps by resisting the temptation of letting our luxuries become needs; and perhaps by even scrutinising our needs to see if they cannot be simplified and reduced."

~ E. F. Schumacher

More at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._F._Schumacher

Artwork from Penny Bhadresa http://www.pennybhadresa.co.uk/

The Smell of Manure ~ Doris Lessing

"The smell of manure, of sun on foliage, of evaporating water, rose to my head; two steps farther, and I could look down into the vegetable garden enclosed within its tall pale of reeds - rich chocolate earth studded emerald green, frothed with the white of cauliflowers, jewelled with the purple globes of eggplant and the scarlet wealth of tomatoes."

~  Doris Lessing

More at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Lessing

A Dwelling Place ~ Norfolk, Cambs & Hunts Quarterly Meeting

"As to our own planet which God has given us for a dwelling place, we must be mindful that it is given in stewardship. The power over nature that scientific knowledge has put into our hands, if used in lust or greed, fear or hatred, can bring us to utter destruction. If we choose life we may now feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and heal the sick on a world scale, thus creating new conditions for spiritual advancement so often till now prevented by want. Many of our resources – of oil, of coal and of uranium – are limited. If by condoning waste and luxury we overspend the allowance God has given us, our children’s children will be cheated of their inheritance. Limited too is the annual bounty of nature. The material foundation of our life is the tilling of the earth and the growing of food… We must conserve the goodness of the soil and not exploit it.

We must guard, too, the abundance and variety of untamed nature, and not forget the spiritual resources available to us in the continued existence of unoccupied lands. Modern civilisation perpetually threatens our awareness of the true nature of our being which in the presence of the wild we can more easily retain or at length recapture. Year by year silence and solitude are growing more needful, yet harder to obtain, and contacts, by this means, with the mind of the Creator more tenuous. To conserve nature is thus again a contribution to the fuller life of mankind."

Norfolk, Cambs & Hunts Quarterly Meeting, 1957

More at http://qfp.quaker.org.uk/passage/25-07/

Artwork from Mariann Johansen-Ellis  http://www.mariannjohansen-ellis.com/en/Home.html

Mending and Tending ~ Roger Scruton

"It is one of the joys of country life that you are immersed in a culture of mending and tending. There is something ungrateful in the habit of throwing things away. You also feel more at home when you support the world that supports you and tend to the needs of things that you need."

~ Roger Scruton

(PS Please don't assume that I agree with all Roger Scruton writes ~ I positively don't! HQ)

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Scruton

Artwork from Unknown Artist
https://www.etsy.com/listing/179929497/singer-linocut-with-hand-colouring?utm_source=OpenGraph&utm_medium=PageTools&utm_campaign=Share

A Piece of Land ~ John Seymour

The 'owner' of a piece of land has an enormous responsibility, whether the piece is large or small. The very word 'owner' is a misnomer when applied to land. The robin that hops about your garden, and the worms that he hunts, are, in their own terms, just as much 'owners' of the land they occupy as you are. 'Trustee' would be a better word. Anyone who comes into possession, in human terms, of a piece of land, should look upon himself or herself as the trustee of that piece of land - the 'husbandman' - responsible for increasing the sum of things living on that land, holding the land just as much for the benefit of the robin, the wren and the earthworm, even the bacteria in the soil, as for himself."

~ John Seymour

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Seymour_(author)

Artwork from Sally Seymour http://carninglipress.co.uk/biography-sally-seymour.php

Age of Progress ~ Eve Balfour

"When a new generation has arisen, taught to have a living faith in the Christian ideals, to value and conserve its soil, and to put service before comfort, then not only will our land have citizens worthy of it, but it will also be a land of happy contented people, for it is important to remember that happiness is a by-product. It is, moreover, a by-product of activity, not of ease. It cannot be found ready made. Nor can it be fashioned out of those things usually covered by the term ‘a higher standard of living’ – material comfort, more leisure, more money, more gadgets. Important as they are, these are static things. Happiness, which must not be confused with pleasure, results only from those activities which develop personality and character. It can be achieved in varying degrees through the physical exertion of work or play, through the mental exertion of acquiring knowledge, through the spiritual exertion of creative effort, through the exercise of skill, through service; perhaps most of all through service. If we seek happiness as an end in itself, it will elude us; if we make service our aim, happiness will flow automatically. This is as true for a nation as for an individual. We shall never succeed in building a ‘better and happier world’ until we recognize it. When we do, we shall discover that we are on the high road to building a Christian society, for happiness through service is a creative force of unlimited power for good. In its atmosphere ecology – the most needed of all the sciences – could flourish, and could in time help us to become truly aware that everything in heaven and earth is but part of a single whole. Then for the first time in many a century could we justifiably claim to be entering on an age of progress."

More at http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/balfour_sustag.html

Artwork from Jenny Tylden-Wright
http://www.customworks.co.uk/castle-melamine/jenny-tylden-wright

Composting Spirituality ~ Craig Barnett

"It is one of the strange aspects of our industrial civilisation that we tend to see scientific knowledge as opposed to spirituality (a point of view shared by religious fundamentalism and militant atheists alike). A society and culture that is capable of living within ecological limits, that encourages and enables the flourishing of humans and other species, will surely need to teach its children to understand scientific processes, but also to reflect with awe and imagination on their significance and ethical consequences.

When we collect kitchen scraps for compost we are teaching our children about a biological process of decomposition and nutrient cycling, but also participating in a 'spiritual practice'; renewing the fertility of the soil in the same process through which we will one day be recycled into the flow of nutrients to become part of the atmosphere, the seas, and the living world."

~  Craig Barnett

More at
http://transitionquaker.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/spirituality-of-compost.html

Artwork from Cari Vander Yacht
https://carivanderyacht.com/