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Land of the Landless

by Cara Lopez Lee | November 15, 2009 at 2:02 PM

Cara Lopez Lee

Girls Lead Too

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MyStory2009

Living in a city, sometimes “land” sounds like something other, something not us. Our house sits on a humble square of land, 4690 square feet near downtown Denver. My husband and I don’t own it. The bank does. The idea of owning land intrigues me. How can anyone own the earth?

Still, we do have a relationship with our land. We try to be good stewards. We’ve removed the ivy, because it kept crawling across our neighbor’s walk. My husband just now said, “I’m going outside to shovel our land.” He’s removing snow so passersby won’t slip and fall. I grow flowers, and the blast of color cheers us in spring.

I thought gardening would be nurturing, but I’m waging a small war. I decide what lives and dies in my garden, and my decisions are not as egalitarian as I like to think they are when it comes to people: I care for violets, but destroy ragweed; I rescue baskets of gold, by killing the bugs that eat them. Stewardship, it seems, is a double-edged sword.

I often hike in the nearby Rocky Mountains, and the red rocks, evergreens, and alpine flowers remind me that land is not something other. It feeds my soul. Some people who love nature move to the country. When enough of them move there, it becomes the suburbs. Because I love nature, I live in the city. I don’t want to add another house to the vanishing bits of land that nobody owns.

Comments

Cara, your story took me back to the Rockies where I camped and hiked just this last summer. It was so beautiful to wake up to glorious sunrises amidst the natural splendor of the Rockies. You are right. We live this dual existence with the land, nurturing it and destroying it at the same time. It is indeed a double-edged sword. Thank you sharing your thoughts with us.

Thanks, Janice. So glad you enjoyed the Rockies. Someday in the next few years, while my knees still work, I plan to turn the tables and come visit your mountains in New Zealand. Here's hoping the post-Lord-of-the-Rings frenzy has died down. Another double-edged sword, I'm guessing?

As a tried and true city girl, I appreciate your words about living in the city so as to enjoy the nature of undeveloped land. (I'm also not sure I could live without a movie theater, art gallery, or for that matter, Trader Joes. I'm not sure I'd be strong enough for true country life.) The city also makes me thankful for city and state parks, such as Griffith Park here in L.A. The best part of the park is to wander freely, without "no trespassing" signs, though signs do direct me where to walk so as not to damage new growth. I like meeting and greeting strangers, saying hello to regulars, sharing the same land. I often crave true wilderness, to be alone in nature, because you're right, it feeds the soul.

Thanks for sharing your experience here and reminding me to connect with and protect the wilderness around us.

Rebecca

Thanks for your comment, Rebecca. I grew up in LA, had early dreams of becoming an actress or filmmaker, and didn't leave the high-energy Southland until I was 23. I still retain the high-energy attitude, which throws some people off in the laid-back Bovine Metropolis of Denver. You can take the girl out of LA but...

It's ironic, California has more park land than any other state in the Lower 48, yet I had to leave my home state to discover what the outdoors were all about. Your lucky you've discovered a pocket of peace in the city to keep your life balanced.

You and have more in common than meets the eye: I still return to LA several times a year, I'm a movie fanatic, and I wish we had a Trader Joe's nearby but settle for Whole Foods. I see from your profile that you've worked in the film industry, and I spent about 15 years in that industry's country cousin: TV. I did 10 years in TV news and 5 years in TV production for shows on HGTV, Food Network and Discovery Health. I also see that you've done documentary work in Ethiopia, the next exotic destination that I plan to visit in 2 to 3 years. I hope you don't mind if I send some questions your way when I get ready to go? Meanwhile I'd love to know more about your documentary work. I'll keep an eye on your postings.

Take care,
Cara

I love your post! It reminded me of an article I read about Detroit recently (http://www.guernicamag.com/spotlight/1182/food_among_the_ruins). There are so many vacant lots in the city now that unoccupied land there comprises an area about the size of San Francisco. The author envisions turning those lots into farmland to combat Detroit's growing food security problem--there are no full grocery stores within the city, leaving most residents to shop for food at convenience stores and gas stations. According to the article, "there is such a dire shortage of protein in the city that Glemie Dean Beasley, a seventy-year-old retired truck driver, is able to augment his Social Security by selling raccoon carcasses (twelve dollars a piece, serves a family of four) from animals he has treed and shot at undisclosed hunting grounds around the city." It sounds so crazy, I can't believe it's true. What a weird interplay between city and land.

Michelle

Michelle,

I started to read the article about Detroit with great sadness, and then with great hope and excitement. Imagine if all of us worked together to make our cities fresh-food sufficient. I'm so glad you've touched on something I wanted to bring up in my story, but didn't because I wanted to keep it short: I'm considering turning my little square of backyard lawn into a vegetable garden in the next year or two. It makes good sense for the environment and our health. Locally grown foods are better for us, partly because they're fresher and therefore more full of nutrients, and they add less to our carbon footprint, because they don't have to be trucked or shipped thousands of miles. What could be more local than my own backyard?

If I'm concerned about global warming, oil supplies, air pollution and my health, then I must begin to take personal responsibility. If not me, then who? The idea of growing vegetables does scare me, because it would mean learning a new skill, when I barely have time to do laundry. But I kill fewer flowers each year, so I'm hopeful I might be able to figure it out with just a small time investment. Maybe I could just start with one row of cabbage or corn and then add from there, so it's not so intimidating. Wish me luck in making this happen by 2011, and let's hope the idea inspires others.

I'm definitely passing on that link you sent. Truly inspiring.

Thank you,
Cara

I have also planned a garden for next year, but judging from my abilities to keep herbs alive indoors, it may be pretty pathetic. I still want to try! Good luck to you also.

Michelle

Thank you Cara for your submission. You asked a very thought provoking question "How can anyone own the earth?" and it got me thinking. Seriously! how can anyone own the earth? Land is the reason why we have so much strife in the world, and the reason why a particular class of pearsons think they have the right to inhibit an area and others do not. Lnd is the reason why the Hutus and Tutsis slaughtered themselves, Land is the reason for the ongoing genocide in Sudan, land is the reason for the unrest in the Niger Delta region in Nigeria............i can go on and on.

We should all think about this; How can anyone own the earth?

Peace!
Fatima

Thanks Fatima,

I'm humbled by your reaction to my question, "How can anyone own the earth?" I haven't experienced anything remotely like the people you refer to, though I did have such people in mind when I asked the question. I feel fortunate that I haven't seen genocide up close and personal, or the wars that happen when two groups lay claim to the same land, holy site, or property.

I often wonder if any of us can claim innocence in these matters. I live in a small house that I may never fully own before my husband and I move on. Once upon a time, Native Americans wandered across this land, and perhaps more than one tribe considered the territory theirs - maybe they even fought each other over it. Early settlers and the U.S. government drove such people away long before I was born. If I reap the benefits of those times, even if I wasn't here then, do I share some of the guilt? If I share the blood of Native Americans in some small amount - as I do - and the blood of early white settlers in some small amount - as I do - then I carry the genetic inheritance of both the conquerers and the conquered, the invaders and the dispossessed, together inside me. This doesn't make me unique. It simply makes me a human like many others.

I don't have the answers. But I think it's important to consider the questions.

Take care,
Cara