“I grew up thinking of nature as a collection of species, each one self-reliant and independent, the way a good farmer was supposed to be. It’s an illusion we cling to. But nature is nothing like that, of course.

“It knits and unravels and reknits. At times, it looks to me as though organisms conspire, as when a weaker vine climbs a stronger one to get to the clapboards sooner. The one thing no species can ever be is self-reliant. Being entangled is the condition of life itself.”

- excerpted from These Cool Mornings, by Verlyn Klinkenborg

Berries
© Janet Kopito

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