Farming for Nature Word on the Week 19th September 2020.
Write something cheerful she said as we contemplated the Dublin lockdown which had separated the family into two halves. And with the Covid infection rate fast increasing in the capital it would seem that we have got the better of this deal!
There are worse places to be in lockdown as we discovered when we were restricted to Co Kildare for a couple of weeks in August. What make it more interesting is that we are wilding a portion of the farm. We can anticipate an increase in flora and fauna as growth occurs.
We have had a number of schemes on the farm over the years and the improvements are becoming evident. The streams and river have been fenced from the land they flow through and the water is cleaner. The river banks have grown trees, mainly Alder, and other plants have taken root in the safe environment.
The other spur to wilding has been the dramatic decline in wildlife largely as a result of modern farming methods. These have not always been kind to the land with the introduction of heavy machinery that require large open spaces and the removal of hedges to operate efficiently.
The warmer and sometimes wetter climate has created challenges for both the farmer and nature. The fight back against this decline has had some success with some bird species which were threatened with extinction in Ireland.
Farming for Nature has an annual competition at which the public are invited to vote for the farm making the best attempt at wilding. Those entering their farms are judged by the public on the basis of an exhibit video which the farmer explains on the internet. Anyone can take part as this is an effort to raise the awareness of the need for conservation.
If Adam had entered this competition, he would have won hands down. He knew his stock – he had named them! The well-watered garden of Eden had every plant and tree. The Lord made a boundary separating the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was not a physical boundary but a moral one which out first parents transgressed bringing sin and death to the world.
Christ has restored what Adam lost and ushers in the Gospel age where the children of Adam may become by God’s grace the children of Christ (1 Corinthians Chapter 15 verses 21 to 28).