Elevation-The Magic of Moss

 

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. 


Gathering Moss

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. 

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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