Aldo Leopold told of two farmers planting tamarack trees, which farmers in Wisconsin had been trying to exterminate for a century. The contrarian farmers, who sound suspiciously like Leopold and his wife, Estella, wanted to establish the tamaracks to recreate a native ecosystem, including sphagnum moss, pitcher plants and other wildflowers.
These two farmers had learned from experience that the wholly tamed farm offers not only a slender livelihood but a constricted life. They had caught the idea that there is pleasure to be had in raising wild crops as well as tame ones. They propose to devote a little spot of marsh to growing native wildflowers. Perhaps they wish for their land what we all wish for our children — not only a chance to make a living, but also a chance to express and develop a rich and varied assortment of inherent capabilities, both wild and tame.
That last sentence haunts me. I know what it is to “put my mind to work,” to tame my imagination and to hold down a job and apply my mind to it. But I also know what it is to let my imagination wander, to explore those “inherent capabilities” that are more wild than tame.
I like the comparison between untamed land and untamed imagination. I don’t know if that’s an explanation for why I love to walk through wild areas, but I suspect it’s as close as I can get.
• Source and notes: This is from a speech “Natural History, the Forgotten Science” and it can be found in Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Ecology and Conservation; New York: Library of America, 2013, pp. 411-15. It’s in Library of America’s “Story of the Week” collection here:
https://loa-shared.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/static/pdf/Leopold_Natural_History.pdf
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