Baby, That Ain't Me

I am trying to hold a half acre of twelve at bay.  It is a job, an all-out struggle.  Nature is relentless, a literal growing force that never takes a break, exuberant in summer, pushing out everywhere and stockpiling roots underground all winter.  I have tried to learn how to work with it, to let it help me, but it is not a great partner.  It likes to go it alone.  And every time I plant something as an offering of inclusion, she sends a deer or rabbit over to eat it.  You would think that my wanting to have dominion over ½ acre and leaving her 11½ would be more than generous on my part, but deep down I know that she will never be happy until she takes it all back and lets it be totally overgrown, wild and free,  as her natural state of being.       

On top of our mountain, Mount Brown, where 
she is totally free to be herself.