My front yard wetland

March 10, 2011 — Brownsburg, Delaware Indians, environment, Hendricks County, history, Indiana, March 1, venus-moon conjunction, wetland

I got a picture of the  March 1 Venus-Moon conjunction with the swamp that had developed in our yard.

We got some pretty big rains that week and our yard becomes a two acre wetland when it rains hard.  It only lasts for a few days before it drains but what once was and is standard old central Indiana lawn becomes something closer to its natural form.

And, it is not long before the geese, ducks and birds show up.

I live in Hendricks County, Indiana, about three miles west of  Indianapolis city limits.  If my 4th grade Indiana history class serves me right, the county was basically a huge wetland and unbroken wilderness–and home to Delaware Indians– up until the settlers showed up in the 1820s  and started  cutting down trees and draining the place. The landscape has been forever altered. What is  now not subdivision are now well-drained fields, soon to be planted with genetically engineered corn and soy beans.  The fertility of the topsoil is such that one might be hard press to grow anything in those fields without the wizardry of industrial agriculture.

I saw something yesterday that gave me hope.  Small-scale organic farming can feed the world.

I’m not feeling too optimistic about our global problems these days but maybe we can restore what has been lost, resurrect was destroyed

History still may be on the side of us dreamers. Wetlands can be restored, with plenty of food and good meaningful jobs to go around.

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