Category Archives: Nature
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The devil’s bargain: on gardening and violence
I spent last weekend at the ranch planning a new garden—or, rather, watching our dear friend Glee Ingram, an Austin landscape designer; Steve Diver, a horticulturist with Sustainable Growth Texas; and Robert Selement, Madroño’s redoubtable manager, plan a new garden … Continue reading
Posted in Nature
Tagged armadillos, Bible, bison, chickens, feral hogs, gardening, Madroño Ranch, predators, violence
2 Comments
The White Queen on the edge of chaos
To our surprise, Martin and I are going to be part of the Summer Literary Festival put on by Gemini Ink, a San Antonio writers’ center dedicated to building community through literature and related arts. Rosemary Catacalos, the executive director, … Continue reading
Posted in Nature
Tagged Albert Einstein, biomimicry, Gemini Ink, Lewis Carroll, Paul Davies, San Antonio
7 Comments
Sorry, Dad: wilderness and government regulation
Harmonic convergences have ordained that I’m not done pondering wilderness yet. For my recent post on “Mapping the geography of hope: our place in the wilderness,” I once again used a quotation without having read its source. My latest hit-and-run … Continue reading
Posted in Nature
Tagged agribusiness, Aldo Leopold, John Muir, Permian Basin, regulation, Sherwood Anderson, Stewart Udall, Wallace Stegner, wilderness
3 Comments
Mapping the geography of hope: our place in the wilderness
Last week, during a visit to San Francisco that also took us to the nearby Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Martin and I spent a day exploring the Point Reyes National Seashore with his childhood friends Brad and Hans. Before setting … Continue reading
Massachusetts, part III: take a walk on the wild side
A Very Long Time Ago, my mother brought home a Peter Max-style poster with this quotation from Henry David Thoreau: “In wilderness is the preservation of the world.” Each time we moved, its reappearance was an indication that I was … Continue reading
Posted in Nature
Tagged camels, David Quammen, Henry David Thoreau, Madroño Ranch, Massachusetts, nineteenth century, predators, walking, wildness
1 Comment
James Cameron, Alexis de Tocqueville, and the nature of nature
In a recent op-ed column in the New York Times, Ross Douthat examines the underlying values of James Cameron’s movie Avatar and links it to a tide of pantheism coursing through Hollywood in particular and America in general. As a … Continue reading
Posted in Nature
Tagged Alexis de Tocqueville, Avatar, God, James Cameron, Maximus the Confessor, Natalie Angier, nature, Nicene Creed, pantheism, Ross Douthat, vegetarianism
3 Comments
“Everywhere there’s lots of piggies…”
I sometimes find myself feeling a little defensive about the Texas Hill Country. Martin, a San Francisco native, and I drove across the country via Texas after we graduated from college in Massachusetts. Somewhere around Bastrop, I said, “Well, we’re … Continue reading
Posted in Nature
Tagged dogs, feral hogs, Isa Catto Shaw, Madroño Ranch, predators, rototiller, sausage, Texas Hill Country
7 Comments
A mother’s legacy
The first sparks for the idea of Madroño Ranch: A Center for Writing and the Environment were kindled about a year ago in conversations with my mother, Jessica Hobby Catto. She has listened carefully and thoughtfully to my sometimes wildly … Continue reading