Long time, no writing. This weekend would also have been an urban one, but now this body is stuck to the bed because of a disease that has slowed down a part of this society. From an ecological point of view that´s probably just brilliant, - for a while we make less and feel more...
We spent the day in the heat on the lawn, - the winterdusty rabbit and I. Many tiny plants got new lebensraum in pots and jars. Later they´ll be placed in the garden. This is the first time in my life that I have a few hundred m2 to shape as I wish, - a territory where I get to do all decisions. (Suddenly a character appeared in my mind. It was some environmental artist that made new hills and reshaped the landscape in the wild, as he was convinced of that he should correct Gods mistakes. Interesting fellow...)
Last summer, before i moved to this mansion of mine, I worked with my material "needs" and dreams on a shore in the north of Iceland. Playing home as a little girl resulted in visions of what the nest of happiness would look like sometime in the future. The wooden house would have been located by the sea. Its mansard roof kept the rain out, at the same time as the huge windows framed a landscape of Sea. On your way to the terrace you could have walked through a greenhouse filled with grapevines, exotic fruittrees and herbes - the same scenery you would have seen through the round kitchen window. Lots of fireplaces, floors of oak, light and space, warmth and stability. Embracing beds, a big bathtub, working spaces...
I drew the bottom floor of this dream on a plate of concrete in a place that is about to change. In Húsavík, Iceland, there is a plan for building a stronger prosperity. The hope for the future is an aluminium smelter, and it will rise in an area that is by many considered very valuable as it is. Many welcome the smelter. Others don´t. In the spring my teacher said something about that it is difficult to exclude oneself from what the humans do to nature today. Therefore I included myself. The 103 puffin feet I had in my apartment made the ground for the work, they had to carry the concrete. Well, someone always has to. The images attached are from the place where the work was left.
Under the aluminium smelter a number of nests will be sacrificed to make nests for others. The area is beautiful, but that is of course a vague and subjective human concept...
Today I have great respect for the nomads in this world. Without the walls and windows one probably lives in peace with how fleeting life is. My need to arrange the calendula officinalis and coriandrum sativum is surely a way to create a feeling of safety and order in the wild. The mansard roof and oak floors fit in the same category. The satisfaction and happiness on that path is maybe quite different from what the nomad experiences...
Well, one more thing. In this thrill of categorising I´ll tell you what my gardening book salutes me with every spring. It lists above what we fulfil ourselves...
"A handfull of good garden soil contains:
100 insects (insekter, hyönteistä)
110 segmented worms (ledmaskar, nivelmatoa)
250 springtails (hoppstjärtar, hyppyhäntäistä)
25000 nematodes (trådmaskar, lankamatoa)
7500000 protozoa (urdjur, alkueläintä)
12500000 algae (alger, levää)
100000000 sponges (svampar, sientä)
125000000 bacteria (bakterier, bakteeria)"
(Gisela Keil, 1996)
Photos by Jyrki and s.t.
