Dùthchas: Sustainability according to the Cesar Waxwings

 In this installment of Dùthchas: Learning from the Land, I am sharing Robin Wall Kimmerer's sustainability lessons she gleaned from the birds, Cedar Waxwings, who live by the following 12 Serviceberry land rules:

1.Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you can take care of them.

2.Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for a life.

3.Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer.

4.Never take the first one. Never take the last.

5.Take only what you need.

6.Take only that which is given.

7.Never take more than half. Leave some for others.

8.Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.

9.Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken.

10.Share.

11.Give thanks for what you have been given.

12.Give a gift in reciprocity for what you have taken.

In short, 'sustain the ones who sustain you and the Earth will last forever.'

Perhaps, in this season, we can think of these during our '12 days of Christmas', and reflect on these Indigenous lessons from the land.

[image: Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2024]

Dùthchas: Developing a Hen's Grit

 

For this instalment of Dùthchas: Learning from the Land, I want to tell you a bit about our very social croft hens. Hens are lovely to keep as they come to greet you each day, will blether away to you as you work in the yard, and they contribute as a group, providing you with fresh eggs each day. They work as a family too.

The eggshells the hens produce are hard or soft because of their environment. A hen who is in a yard with gravel and shell grit may have very hard eggshells, difficult to break even. While a hen who doesn't have access to calcium or D3 or hard bits of grit, have soft shells that predators may eat, or that break before the egg can develop or hatch. If the environment is too hard, too traumatic, the chick cannot hatch, cannot break out of their shell into the world and they die inside the shell. Likewise, if it is too soft, the chick does not develop at all because they cannot survive exposure to predators when they come.

As humans, we have a shell that develops as a result of our environments too. We need a bit of 'grit in our yard', in our diet, to learn how to cope with problems. Every life, every road, has rocky bits. We are bound to encounter failures and trauma along our life's pathways. If we are never exposed to small setbacks or issues we need to confront and solve, we don't develop the resilient shell we need to survive and thrive. On the other hand, if all we know is hardness, trouble and tragedy, the weight and layers of our shells paralyse us, cement us to where we are, and we cannot truly live and expand our world either.

As hens know: we all need a bit of grit in life. It enables our shells to flourish.