In the Shade of the Cottonwood Tree I was born and raised in the desert. Like most desert plants and animals, I love rain. I live for rain. I live because of rain. Rain heals me, as it heals and seals the cracked surfaces of sunbaked arroyos and limestone canyon walls. It peels back the membranes of seedpods, freeing them […]
Culture
No More Eternity in an Hour: Gardening, Time and the Climate Crisis
The dandelion’s rival grows tall, an iceberg in the border; its taproot matches the height of its spike of purple flower, each petal a new way to tell time. The group of lupins emerges every year in April – straggly, starry-leaved, and then in late May, the spike bursts forth, twisting like a wolf’s tail from the thicket. I stand […]
Winter Waning
Despite a warming climate, “there is still beauty even in this changing season.”
The Valley of Uncertainty
An indigenous people dislocated by conservation and development in Southwest China.
Urban Farm-Fed Cities: Lessons from Cuba’s Organopónicos
An intimate portrait of urban farms in Cuba explores the implications for sustainable agriculture and food access for urban communities.