Libraries

Read this recently and felt it needed sharing here ….

“In recent years libraries have come under overwhelming financial strain………….. These institutions and their staff deserve recognition, support and financing, as the day that we allow free and public centres of learning to degrade or disappear is a step down a dangerous road.”

Rob Cowen, Journalist and nature writer.

Solstice Blessings

"The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers,
but for the wide world's joy."

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887)

Gardens – A Quotation

‘A poor man will eat better, that has a garden of his own, than a rich man that has none.’

John London, Encyclopaedia of Gardening published in 1822

Informed?

Quote for the day – it seems apt for the strange times we live in:

“If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed.
If you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.”
Mark Twain

Bani Adam

I have only recently discovered the Persian poet Saadi Shirazi, having come across the quotation I am sharing today and which seems so apt for modern times. Saadi lived from 1210 to around 1291 or 92 and is acknowledged for his wisdom. Like Shakespeare, he is often quoted without knowing where the quotation comes from! He is best known for his two major works; Bustan (The Orchard) which is in verse and Gulistan (The Rose Garden) which is a mixture of prose and short poems. The following quote is from Bani Adam which is part of the Gulistan.

“Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.”

(Saadi)

There have been many translation of this quotation. The above is by A. Hart Edwards

Lone Magpie

Magpie (Photo by Adrian Pingstone via Wikipedia)

A lone magpie visited my bird feeding station this morning. It brought to mind the traditional rhyme about magpies:

One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl and
Four for a boy.
Five for silver,
Six for gold and
Seven for a secret
that’s never told.

 

 

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This has been recorded as a most beautifully haunting song by The Unthanks on their ‘Mount the Air’ album.
Sorry, I can’t share the video here but check it out on YouTube.
Search ‘The Unthanks – Magpie’.

Gardening Quote

“Gardening requires a lot of water —
most of it in the form of perspiration.”

Lou Erickson, critic and poet

Another Quote

“We have come to see ourselves as lords and masters of the Earth,
entitled to plunder her at will. The sickness evident in the soil,
in the water, in the air and in all forms of life are symptoms
that reflect the violence present in our hearts. We have forgotten
that we ourselves are dust of the Earth; that we breathe her air
and receive life from her waters.”

Pope Francis, 2015

More Quotations

“The cowman who clears his range of wolves has not learned
to think like a mountain.
Hence we have dustbowls and rivers washing the future into the sea.”

Horace, Epistles I, 20 BC

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“Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field
till no space is left and you live alone in the land.”

Issiah 5:8

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These quotations are also from the chapter headings to “Wilding” by Isabella Tree (see previous post)

Quotations

“Upon this handful of soil our survival depends. Husband it and it will grow our food, our fuel and our shelter, and surround us with beauty. Abuse it and the soil will collapse and die, taking humanity with it.”

Atharva Veda, Sanskrit scripture, c. 1200 BC

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“The Nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt
President of the United Sates, Letter to all State Governors
on a Uniform Soil Conservation Law, 1937

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These quotes are taken from “Wilding, the return of nature to a British farm” by Isabella Tree (2018.  ISBNNo:  978-1509805105). This is a truly inspirational book that should be read by everyone who has a care for nature. It tells it like it is and demonstrates how the degradation of nature can be reversed cheaply and simply to the benefit of all.