Landscape Harmony

Maintenance Worker, 8 x 8", watercolor/pastel

 We had just arrived out at Shaker Village in advance of a weekend of music performed by musicians of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. My favorite aspect of this weekend is that it combines world class music performed in a tobacco barn, and in-between concerts, the wonderful surrounding landscape with all the creatures and stone walls and Shaker designed buildings. I was anxious to get a quick walk in before things began. And, having just thought pretty deeply about my home landscape (see last month's blog ) I was seeing all sorts of connections. I was stopped in my tracks when I came upon a the scene shown above.   

What first struck me was how it reminded me of a scene I saw some years ago. We were touring with Performance Today (another musical indulgence!) in Normandy, France. It was springtime and I could see that apple trees were blooming as we were ferried by bus to a chamber music festival in Deauville (which happens to be Lexington, Kentucky's Sister City). Underneath the blooming loveliness were cows! Grazing!  The apple trees are cultivated to create the celebrated cidre that the region is known for. The cows are cultivated for the Camembert cheese their milk makes possible. I just loved this image--cows for cheese grazing under blooming cider apple trees! Such a perfect, harmonious combo. The cows help keep the grass under control and provide fertilizer for the trees. Perhaps it is also okay if they thin out the blossoms a bit, so that the apples won't be crowded. What I don't know is what happens once little green apples appear, but in the springtime the sublime reigns. 

Camembert-producing cows under the cider-producing apples trees in Normandy,
~5x7", watercolor/pastel

As I alluded to at the beginning of this blog, I also was struck by the link between this scene and how the Bluegrass landscape was developed up until the time of the European settlers. Trees, bovines (in the form of bison) and grasses were involved. How enchanting to discover that I was meant to make this connection as I read on a sign at the edge of the instructional fields. Here, an even earlier landscape-shaping scenario preceding the the presence of copious bison was suggested. 

From the sign:

Learning on the path!

 

Prehistoric Savanna 

Prehistoric mammals helped shape and manage vast savanna ecosystems across North American.

Clearing and Fertilizing

"Edge" spaces between grasses and trees are valuable wildlife habitat that can be improved with prescribed grazing.

Bedding in Native Grasses

Cattle can thin and fertilize forests that are out of balance, improving diversity of woodland species from ground cover to canopy.

My little walk had reaffirmed both my delight in the cidre cows and my newfound knowledge around how the Inner Bluegrass was formed.

Shaker Village is part of the Inner Bluegrass region like Lexington, so it has a similar geologic history. I was thinking as I came upon my opening scene at Shaker Village: 'What are the chances of seeing a reenactment of the very story I just learned about?!' Well, the chances are pretty good because it is totally natural. Of course, what exists now is connected intimately and harmoniously with what has developed over millions of years. Harmony is a totally natural phenomenon, especially regarding landscape.  

The Bluegrass is known for grazing animals (the horse, of course) and the supporting pastureland. Not as common are apple orchards, though we do have those and I am able to eat local apples most of the year.  Recently, I was skeptical when David brought home a six-pack of a hard cider from a local brewery, West Sixth Brewery. Many American hard ciders are pretty sweet. But, when I cracked open a can I found it to be as rafraichissant as a dry Alsatian Riesling. 

West Sixth's House Cider, dry and so rafraichissant! In the background, our non-producing apple trees. 

The apples used for the House Cider are grown on the West Sixth Farm, about 35 miles from Lexington. The farm has trails for hiking and a couple go right by the orchard. I'm looking forward to walking that land and experiencing the harmony. And, there's a taproom on site--I can sip on a House Cider while looking out on the orchard that produced the cider! I wonder if any cows will be about...

I made a short video to round out my story. Enjoy!