Nature from a Small Window

Featured

Site Study 1

As I proceeded through the aged wooden gate, the sight of the luscious greenery and the soft scent of fruits and flowers welcomed me. On my left, I saw numerous foreign plants with fruits that only a fraction of the world may ever know about. On my right were bushes of flowers from Vietnam and other tropical countries showing off their bright pink, orange, red, blue, and violet hues, all for the world to see. Hidden between all the oddities lie plants that most people find recognizable as well. The fruits from the vegetation provide an aesthetic splash of color here and there, which breaks the monotony of all the foliage. After walking down the path a little further, the enclosure opens up to a spacious lawn where you can see the lines as the mower cut the grass, leaving behind a pattern you would see on a golf course. Surrounding the perimeter of the lawn are flowers of all varieties: tulips, roses, lilacs, Asteraceae, and many more from Southeast Asia. These flowers provide a protective barrier that separates the busy modern world from the tranquility of nature. Furthermore, on the opposite side to the gate leading into the backyard lies a garden overflowing with nature’s bounty. Fruits and vegetables from numerous regions of the world, squash, beans, tomatoes, peppers, dragonfruit, oranges, and more plants from other regions of the world are found sitting together in harmony. The cycle of nature is never broken by the hands of man. Instead, they have been able to thrive thanks to the attentive effort of man, and in return, they provide for mankind.

However, I didn’t always think that way. I learned that lesson through my dad. My dad and I invested ten years of labor into our backyard. During this time we slowly terraformed the area, making sure not to damage any part of nature, but to transform it into our masterpiece with what nature already provided for us. Trees were planted to provide a cool, refreshing barrier, flowers were raised to add splotches of color to break up the foliage, and plants were grown to provide nourishment for everyone to share. Then rocks were overturned to create footpaths, and the rain was collected to make sure life could be sustained.

When we first started, my dad and I worked diligently, but I never understood why we couldn’t maybe chop down a tree, or burn down some weeds. But as I watched my dad work, I realized that his purpose was to help both nature and my family. It was then that I started noticing the small details and gifts that nature presented for me. Eventually, I started strolling in and out of my backyard several times a day. I may have done this randomly or with some intent between each trip I took. However, every time I came to my backyard, it was an escape from reality. Nature possesses a special healing power that relaxes the mind and soul, and my backyard was and still is the quickest escape to nature for myself. All the little details that we can pick up on when we are by ourselves with nature helps us to appreciate the serenity yet simplicity of nature. The light whistling of the wind, the colors of the forest as the season changed, the different sounds that each animal makes, all of these factors combine to create a symphony that is always playing but only heard when one wants to listen and tune in. So just stop, take a break, tune in, and let nature heal the wounds of society.

Site Study 3

Place of Archive: Grandma’s Farm in Vietnam

Photos:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OPdGBGcZMgC1wGA5nQpbkpoCXQ6LBOkxesI3VNIhrSA/edit?usp=sharing

Interview:

Why do you garden and put a lot of effort into making our backyard look nice?

“I do it because it makes our house look nicer. It feels more refreshing when there is greenery, and I want for people to feel welcomed into a nice house.”

Do you do gardening since it reminds you of Vietnam?

“No, I don’t do gardening so I can remember Vietnam; I do gardening so I don’t miss Vietnam. Gardening gives me a sense of my home in Vietnam, except in a home that is completely different.”

What do you remember about farming as a little child?

“I had to do a lot of things. I had to take care of my siblings and do most of the house chores while my parents were out working in the fields. Eventually I was old enough to work in the fields, too, so I did everything about everything, such as watering the plants, plowing the ground, and harvesting the crops.”

What is the difference between gardening in our backyard and farming at your mom’s fields?

“In our backyard it feels like a hobby, not a necessity. As a child, farming was a way of living and providing for everything I needed. It provided everything for me and my family, so there was the pressure of doing it for survival rather than fun. However, while there is pressure, there isn’t much mental stress. Life feels simpler and more peaceful when I’m outside and gardening or farming.”

In my research I wanted to find a clearer understanding of why my dad focuses a lot of his energy into our backyard. In order to learn more about this, I interviewed him and asked him to help me find pictures of his mother’s farm and pictures of our own garden to discover how his past ties into his passion for being with nature.

The first link leads to a document of photos from my grandmother’s farm and photos of plants that my dad and I grow in our backyard today. Having the photo helps me visualize where my dad grew up and what he did on the farm as a child. Within the pictures are my grandmother and her friend at my grandmother’s farm and my grandfather tending for the crops at the farm. These pictures may just look like scenes out of an ordinary rural life documentary, but this was how life was back then for my dad and grandparents. My dad was one out of eleven children, and every day they would wake up early, make a small breakfast for everyone, and carry on with their day. My grandparents would go to work on the farm, and the children would go to school for only about four hours. When they were finished, they came back to the farm and helped their parents until the afternoon. The work was very exhausting as well since being out in the sun for ten hours a day was not an easy feat. However, farming and being on the fields did not stress them out; it helped my dad’s family relax and grow closer to one another regardless of what else may be going on in their lives.

Everything about the farm seems normal but there is some significant history as well. Around the time my dad was three years old, the Vietnam War was kicking into full gear. Little did my grandparents know that their farm and the fields they worked on were soon about to turn into a battlefield. The only thing to do was to run. They packed only the bare essentials and carried it with them in knapsack bags. They fled to a relative’s home far enough from all the gunfire and chaos. Within a few weeks the battles had completely died down and the fighting was taken elsewhere. My grandparents were afraid that the land would be smoldering and unusable for farming but luckily, they were wrong. The battle had not destroyed the land, and it was still fit for sustaining agriculture. Being able to come back home, my dad’s family was relieved. While the crops were damaged and some were stolen by troops for food during the battle, it could always be replaced. In the end, it was just a relief to come back home and replant their crops. Everything felt like it went back to normal.

Further down in the document are pictures of crops that we grow in my backyard today. These crops can be found in my grandmother’s farm today as well, and that was where we got the seeds to germinate and grow. It shows how our garden can be seen as a very scaled down version of the farm my dad lived on. Having the native crops from Vietnam helps connect our home to our heritage site, and the plants represent our culture as Vietnamese immigrants. However, one can also see that there are common plants to the United States such as tomatoes and kale. These plants describe how we have changed and adapted to fit into America as well now. My family has become part of the American mixing pot, which includes a multitude of different cultures, ideas, and beliefs.

When I was interviewing my dad, I was speaking in Vietnamese, so I did my best to translate back into English. I know I could be missing some points I wasn’t able to completely translate into English but I understood a few of the major ideas he wanted to impart to me about why he gardens. My dad’s first point is that it makes things look nicer and more serene. He thinks of the garden as a work of art since it can be simple yet complex at the same time. He said he gardens because “it makes our house look nicer.” The literal meaning is very short and simple, but in the way he said it to me, my dad was trying to explain that nature is always fluctuating and changing. He conveyed the idea of being simple and complex to how our minds visualize or interpret things because how we perceive an artwork can be different each time we look at the same artwork. My dad’s next point was that nature is relaxing. Life can be very stressful, with all the things we have to worry about such as bills, taxes, food, insurance, and budgeting. We are always stressed out or worrying about something. But as a child, my dad found that he could always let go of all his worries when he was surrounded by nature. When he was farming, it was simple work and he didn’t have to think much about it. This allowed him to let go of all his other stresses which leads to why he continues to garden. He wanted to share that relaxation and simplicity. His last point was nature is welcoming. This ties into the idea that nature is relaxing but during the interview, he mentioned, “I do gardening so I don’t miss Vietnam.” While that may sound like a strange statement, what he means is gardening makes him feel comfortable in this new country. He feels welcomed as he comes back to see a sight similar to his original home. This feeling of comfort is provided by the relaxation one gets from seeing a familiar sight. It is similar to having a warm cup of hot cocoa after a long winter day.

After researching about my dad’s past to discover more about why he gardens today, his reasonings for gardening strengthens our understanding of nature. My dad and I have very similar reasons to why we enjoy nature. When I compared what my dad told me from the interview to my own thoughts and ideas from my previous site studies, there is an uncanny resemblance. It is as they say, “like father like son.” However, figuring out why my dad gardens, it provides a second opinion that strengthens the claim that nature is calming. It is not just the second opinion that supports the claim because two opinions are not as reliable as maybe a thousand. Having my dad describe his life experiences and how nature has affected him throughout his life allows us to see the effects of nature on a more personal level. Using a more personal approach has a deeper impact compared to just listing statements because the reader can sympathize with the ideas more. It helps them to visualize the effects of nature in their mind better when it feels more personal. Another point that my dad made which strengthens the theme of simplicity from Transcendentalism is that nature is both simple and complex. But how can that be? Nature is simple because it relaxes the mind but complex because it can cause a rapid burst of new ideas when the mind is clear and calm. Before, my dad conveyed the idea of simple but complex to an artwork. He described how an artwork may be simple but the way one person perceives it may be different than the way everyone else perceives it. However, I’m going to alter the idea a little. You can start with a simple idea for an artwork but when your mind is clear and relaxed, you receive bursts of inspiration and ideas which makes your artwork all the more intricate yet beautiful. Nature allows us to move past the worries of everyday life, and nature helps move us forward, too. Looking into our own lives and the lives of others, we see the effects of nature acting upon all of us. We see that nature is a source of comfort that people forget to interact with because of how fast paced our world is now.

Site Study 2

A backyard is a blessing. It is an escape from society and is the closest connection to nature a man has. Let the backyard be a sanctuary of peace, let a man be alone within his sanctuary. Through towering pine trees, rays of light leave the ground glistening as the light reflects off of tiny droplets of dew. When the Sun reaches its zenith, all the forms of life in the forest are strengthened with coursing energy. This energy causes the creatures of the woods to harmonize, creating a soothing melody surrounding the backyard. To one standing within the backyard, the mind finds solitude just by being present. But if one were to want a more hands-on connection to nature, a backyard can always have a garden. A garden shows the work and energy a man and nature have put together. A garden isn’t about distorting what was already there and having machine and metal break the foundation which nature has already built. It is not cement and concrete, not plastic and metal, and not chemicals and fertilizers. A garden is when man and nature cooperate to achieve a common goal. Doing so, a man understands the needs of nature, and nature, in return, provides the most it can for the man’s needs. The backyard is a sanctuary for the man. There, the man can rest his mind yet let all his wildest ideas loose at the same time. A backyard is a place of bonding for both man and nature. Here, both work together towards a common goal which can be reflected by the state of the land.

I chose to analyze and rewrite a section from Chapter 1 of “Nature” by Ralph Waldo Emerson but in what I consider a more simplified version that was modified to fit the ideas that come from my backyard. I started with my structure that introduces the main ideas and feelings that I accumulate while I am within my backyard. Following my introduction, I started to tie in my own rhetorical devices and rhetorical devices that Emerson used as well to develop upon the main ideas in the introduction. For example, using vivid details such as how the trees are “towering” and the ground is “glistening” due to the reflection of the dew. The use of imagery allows the reader to see how one may find peace and comfort through the serenity of the backyard. However, imagery was not one of the main rhetorical devices I saw being used by Emerson. It was just an additional detail that would help the reader create a visual image to help them calm their minds and feel as if they were in the backyard themselves. One of the devices I did find Emerson using was personification. I got this idea from the line, “Nature never wears a mean appearance.” Nature can not physically wear a physical object as a body of clothing, but in the context of the sentence, nature does not provide a feeling of animosity. Nature provides a calming and welcoming front for all. Reapplying the meaning into my text, I described how the buzz and commotion of the forest can “harmonize” and create a melody that clears a person’s soul. Overall, the use of personification in Emerson’s writing helps set up ideas that are tied in with supporting evidence later on. I applied the same principles by using the personification to help support the main claim in the introduction by poetically describing the actions of nature with a hidden meaning. This is because relating the actions of organisms or objects to humans allows for a clearer understanding of what may be happening since we are familiar with the idea of human actions, as we do it every day. My last and most major use of rhetorical device was parallel structure. Emerson uses a lot of parallel structure to highlight the main message he tries to portray. The use of parallel structure creates a pattern to help the reader understand and remember the main ideas more clearly since it creates a pattern or rhythm. The first time I used this was when I wrote about how man and nature work together to maintain a garden and that there has to be an equal balance of interaction between both. One side should not overpower the other. Lastly, I used the parallel structure to summarize the main points I made in the introduction but more memorably and rhythmically since it helps to leave the lesson within the reader’s mind for longer. Overall, Emerson uses many rhetorical devices that, when carefully read, connects and strengthens his claim that nature is necessary and will help one gain wisdom and calm.