Our Place is Our Desire

“In Spanish, la querencia refers to a place on the ground where one feels secure, a place from which one’s strength of character is drawn. It comes from the verb querer, to desire, but this verb also carries the sense of accepting a challenge, as in a game.” Barry Lopez, The Rediscovery of North America.

“A sense of place must include, at the very least, knowledge of what is inviolate about a relationship between people and the place they occupy, and certainly, too, how the destruction of this relationship, or failure to attend to it, wounds people.”  Barry Lopez, The Rediscovery of North America.

I believe both people and animals profoundly identify with their places. We call it habitat, and not too long ago we developed a science called ecology, which translated from Greek means “the study of home.” We are deeply affected by the loss of our home and in some ethereal way, our place (our querencia) equally desires us and mourns at our departure. Twenty three years ago, I watched a garden become sad and remain so for over a year when its maker and tender, Mrs. Donna O’Neill died. The staff gardener remained on the job, so we’re not talking about neglect or disrepair here. We’re talking about absence, separation, loss, desire, love. 

We cannot start 2025 without a thought for those who lost their places in the terrible fires earlier this month. As the smoke clears and the ash settles, a dark pall is falling over the land that is as tangible as the rubble itself, and not because people lost their stuff. They lost their home, their community, their whole place, and their spacial identity, and for this, both the land and its people are weeping.

Most of us made it through the horrendous week, but thousands did not. In time they will find consolation, cheer, even joy… perhaps in the renewal of nature, a new garden, and the revival of their place. But for now, they are sad and we are sad with them.

In a garden, we create a place to be in, not on. A desire. Each month in this newsletter, I endeavor to provide both information and inspiration aimed at creating and caring for natural gardens, and it is here we discuss the importance of a full fledged engagement. Everyone benefits. I know I have experienced personal healing in nature and in natural gardens, and I pray the same for all who are enduring the loss of their querencia today.

Mike Evans, Tree of Life Nursery, January 2025