A black and white photo of an agricultural landscape in central california. Oak trees on hills in the background are horizontally separated from the rows of blueberry plants below by the layer of netting that is covering the crop to protect it from birds.
A closeup color photograph of blueberry plants in soft evening light with the blue sky above, which is greyed out by the netting that covers the plants, which is not in focus. A seam of netting runs across the top of the photograph, further making this barrier clear.
A black and white photograph of a dirt farm road stretching into the distance with a barn on the right hand side and rows of blueberry plants on the left with regular poles going into the distance that are supporting netting over the blueberry plants. Rolling California hills are in the background.
A closeup color photograph of English walnut leaves framing the upper third of the shot with the out of focus orchard row filling the rest of the shot with a relatively bare floor. The leaves are bathed in striking yellow evening light, which clearly lights up their veins.
A color photograph of dry soil with weeds germinating after it was recently tilled. The small plants are lit in bright evening light.
A color photograph of a grafted tree. The trunk fills the shot and the horizontal border divides the shot in half where the upper English walnut tree was joined and healed with the lower black walnut tree. Bright orange-yellow lichens grow over this border.
A color photograph of a black walnut tree trunk, dappled in shade, with orange-yellow lichens growing on the bark. Rounder English walnut leaves hang from above while pointier black walnut leaves grow from a sucker on the base of the tree and fill the shot below.
humanized: cultivation
what exactly is it that we are cultivating?
whose body is it and whose choice?
I too have been erased, conjoined,
separated, merged unwillingly
in this culture.
I too, am still green,
and I too still cry.
I do not want to be
bleeding at the roots.
I am thankful
for this life.
I do not understand how
but I am grateful –
the earth is still giving
of life, of wildness,
of healing.
Heal us, and bring us back unto you –
you, our first partner,
you, our first friend,
you, our dear mother.
only you can hold it all.
only you can slake our thirst.
and so I ask,
what exactly is it that we are cultivating?
whose body is it and whose choice?
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bonnie veblen 