I was asked today, "Who is the most important person I ever met?" I answered: "That mountain."
Paying attention to life here at all scales, I obviously can see these big mountians but it is the little moss that grows on them that fascinates too.
Mosses, to be sure, are scientifically impressive beyond measure — the amphibians of vegetation, they were among the first plants to emerge from the ocean and conquer the land.But beyond their scientific notoriety, mosses possess a kind of lyrical splendor that Fair Isle unravels with enchanting elegance — splendor that has to do with what these tiny organisms teach us about the art of seeing.
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| Gathering Moss |
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| Mosses number some 22,000 species and they inhabit nearly every ecosystem on earth and grow in places as diverse as the branch of an oak and the back of a beetle. |
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I look at all this vastness and return to all this smallness, the magic of moss-an extraordinary celebration of smallness and the grandeur of life,. This humble moss is surprisingly magical , covering the whole island. It is the signiture of all things here- The sheep eat it, we walk on it and the mountians are clothed in it. Walking on this soft sponginess is like walking on a bouncy conveyer belt... Nature itself is one vast miracle and each of us in our personal life repeats that miracle. Human nature? Perhaps. |
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