The last two years in a row we have been lucky to have deer choose our neighbor’s property as a kind of urban sanctuary within which to give birth to their fawns. The neighbor’s property is a large corner lot that has fallen in to a state of what I would call benevolent neglect. The property is owned by an elderly man who seems more unwilling than incapable to cut back the plants on the Northern edge of the property. The Southern end of the property and the side of the property adjacent to the street are all maintained while the North end continues to revert to a semi-wild state. The result is that it has slowly become a verdant little oasis in the middle of the block.
A deer bed in the unkempt grass in my neighbor’s yard, seen through the pea plants separating the property
As a lover of overgrown spaces my delight finds no end in peering through the tall hedge of Emigrant Peas that grows along the property line, taking in the dance of light across the tall grasses and the twisted, meandering shapes of the un-manicured trees. That the deer have taken to it as well, judging it suitable as a place to bear their young only adds to its mythical air. If I were to find the property suddenly “kempt” tomorrow I would feel a sting of sadness at its unruly beauty having been sculpted and pruned away.
I could legitimately see myself creating a whole body of work around just this small patch of unkept land and the beauty that it brings in to my life amidst the more mundane elements of daily life. I’ll keep you in the loop.
