I was born on the Canadian prairies. As a stubble-jumper in the land of the living skies, you come to appreciate: listening to the wind roll through vast wheat fields, watching clouds of white pelicans reappear with the changing seasons, and sledding down sand-dunes on warm summer evenings.
My formative years were during the most severe drought since the great depression. I was accustomed to the lawn in the backyard being pale yellow and crispy to the touch. On occasion there would be wind storms that would lift farmers’ valuable soil into the air, stealing it away as it turned the sky black.Relocating to the Great Lakes Region was a shock to the senses. I was introduced to: the sound of Carolinian Forests awakening in the spring, watching ocean-liners move across vast horizon of fresh water and eating local ripe peaches on warm summer evenings.
My new home introduced me to a whole new pallet of vibrant green. People from all over the world come to my backyard to see the overwhelming abundance of water cascaded over Niagara Falls.
As I surveyed my new surroundings, I made observations about how people related to the landscape and how it, in turn, shaped our outlook and values. My continued curiosity led me to explore our relationship with landscape from the perspective of a Horticulturalist, an Urban Planner and an Artist.
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| Image from Pictabay.com |
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| My view across Lake Ontario |
