Alisha Richardson- The Wild Garden

"In its purest forms, the wild garden is well-suited to people whose wants are modest, whose tools are simple, and who are thinly scattered across the face of the Mountain. Most of us do not fit that description. The wild garden takes us closer to Eden than we can wisely go." Eisenberg 318.

When I heard this passage during presentations, it hit home. The message is simple: altering the earth has consequences that we can't foresee.

I remember as a little girl running around my grandparents' land in Bluewell, WV. My grandmother loved to garden, and her yard was always bursting with fresh blooms and bright colors. One side of the property was a freshly manicured lawn, but the other half was mostly woods. Through the forest, the land dropped off steeply. At the bottom of the incline was the neighbor's property, Claude's Pond. The pond was man-made, but it provided the locals with a great fishing spot, and helped support the wildlife of the forest.

These alterations seem harmless at surface level, but it is impossible for us to know the extent of our choices' effects on nature. Whether changing landscapes in big or small ways or introducing foreign flora and fauna, a ripple effect is felt throughout the local ecosystem.