The Greening

The Fertile Crescent

Aldo appeals to the “clodhopper” in all of us, cheering us towards strange and beautiful acts of creation

“Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how. To plant a pine, for example, one need be neither god nor poet; one need only own a good shovel. By virtue of this curious loophole in the rules, any clodhopper may say: Let there be a tree—and there will be one. If his back be strong and his shovel sharp, there may eventually be ten thousand. And in the seventh year he may lean upon his shovel, and look upon his trees, and find them good.”

- Aldo Leopold

There must be something in the water ‘round here

It was not just his summer home. Planted in a valley just south of our last glacier’s sculpted retreat and just north of the Wisconsin River, Frank Lloyd Wright made it more than his home – he made it his living laboratory. There he tinkered constantly, drawing and building and fertilizing his garden of ideas. There he played with elements of earth and water and geometry and point-of-view. There, and for the second half of his life and then some, Wright planted and nurtured what he called the Taliesin. There (right there), in Spring Green, Wisconsin.

Northeast of Spring Green – about half a day away by horse and buggy, or a couple hours by brisk pedaling on a Trek bicycle, or forty minutes by Harley Fatboy – off Highway 12 in Sauk County, rises another creation of a human with grand ideas - Dr. Evermor’s Forevertron. The Forevertron is the world’s largest sculpture, and it is made completely of scrap metals and dismembered industrial gadgetry. It rises outward and upward until iron meets sky. Surrounding it for acres and acres is Dr. Evermor’s sculpture park, populated by exotic flora and fauna too cool and unique for adjectives and wordplay, and all formed exclusively from the resurrection of tired metals and the flying of sparks and sweat.

Due south of the Forevertron - a quick car trip away, just barely long enough to finish a large Culver’s cookie dough and peanut butter concrete - not far from Mazomanie, sprawls Dan and Judy’s 25-year-in-the-making botanical wonderment they create in their “spare” time. Designed as if Claude Monet himself had a hand in it, this garden reaches out in color and shape and texture, flirting with creek beds and small waterfalls and carefully tended down to the petal. Yet unlike Monet’s painted canvases, this piece sprawls out in three dimensions and flickers in the periphery with the motion of butterflies and bees at work.

And across the road from the private botanical garden lies yet another creation that bellows with tales (and tails) of its own. There (right there), is the Kindred Spirits cat sanctuary.

Walk with a Kindred Spirit

Cecilia is the founder of Kindred Spirits Animal Network, an animal rescue organization in Wisconsin, and the creator of the cat sanctuary. Walking through the grounds with Cecilia is like being treated to a live, narrated Disney animal story. No, actually it’s better, because her animals are real and her stories are true. And her enthusiasm is free.

Here, take a walk with Cecilia for a moment…

Inside by the door to the outdoor sanctuary, you’re likely to meet up with Katrina, Wanda, and Tess, three exotic long-haired cats who survived Hurricane Katrina but were left ownerless and stranded in that lost water world. A long, strange trip it was from New Orleans to Wisconsin, but they seem none the worse for wear.

Basking in the sun on the deck you’re likely to find Oliver, who as a young cat was on the wrong end of a shotgun blast to the head. But Oliver survived, rescued by a good human. Oliver outlived his human and, now 16 years old and still with buckshot still lodged in the left of his face, will likely curl around your leg and head-butt your ankle in a simple act of renewed trust.

Perhaps Emily will be breezing about, the slightest little waif of a hairball you’ll ever see, as endearing as she is pitiful with her undersized body and oversized coif. Emily was a feral rescue in a frostbitten winter parking lot. And then along might stride Ears, a deaf lad with one ear crumpled up, or perhaps Miss Kitty, who is likely to follow you around the large yard all day long, never tiring of the chance at a scratch or a rub.

Big Guy is the alpha cat of the outdoor sanctuary (don’t let him inside or he’s likely to scare Sweetheart, a veritable “princess and the pea” Persian fluff-ball who is easily spooked). Big Guy mulls around outside, shooting the breeze with the likes of Vito, Max, and Tango. Big Guy is no thug though, unless you're a mole or a mouse.

Who will make you giggle? That’s easy - Sasha. Sasha is like the mother hen of the yard, yet she’s less hen and more black bear given her rotund shape and bountiful mass. Sasha has been known to nurse many a kitten who is not hers, and she’s always rolling about the yard, four legs swimming in the air as her belly jiggles below.

And then there’s Bob, a rescued feral cat who had a stroke and became the tamest of tame and the friendliest of friends. He can’t see, hear, or feel anything on the right side of his body, so he circles around the outdoor shed in counterclockwise paths. Bob seems happy as can be, as if his left side is the side of his soul that sees the glass as always half full.

On your tour with Cecilia, you’re likely to hear the true story of “Mission Hawkeye” - a dramatic rescue heist years ago. The story goes that Hawkeye had been placed in a foster home with her six kittens until they were old enough to be returned to an animal shelter for adoption. Yet within days at the shelter, Hawkeye lost three of her kittens to sickness, got a bit upset, and went kennel crazy. Animal control labeled her a potential bite case and scheduled her for termination. However, somebody tipped off the foster family, who (shhh, don’t try this at home) snuck her out stealthily and saved her from the needle. Now she lives happily at the sanctuary – she never became a biter, just a very happy cat who closes her eyes and purrs as you brush the scruff of her neck.

Meow, a six-toed polydactyl calico, was almost given the “biter” death sentence herself, but she too was saved and now lives quite peacefully with her 24 toes and 30 sanctuary “siblings” like Butterfinger, Puff, Leopold, Agatha, and all the others.

On the west side of the sanctuary, you don't have to strain to hear drilling and hammering, sounds of progress and ceation, as Cecilia’s husband puts in weekend toil to renovate a two-story workshop. It is to be an indoor “cat loft” to better serve the cats during the harsh winter months of Wisconsin. In the loft will be a separate room for on-site veterinarian visits (neutering/spaying surgeries), an infirmary holding area for sick cats to rest and get well, and a large indoor area with a porthole down to the outside sanctuary.

Kindred Spirits is not all cats, as Brandy and Candy will announce in a proud barking chorus as you approach the property. These two jovial mutts greet you with sniffs and licks, no matter where you came from or what burdens you carry in with you. Such is the nature of a kindred spirit, I imagine. "Come in peace, and you're welcome here," they proclaim. It's how they got there, after all.

Oh yeah, let me not forget Miss Mouse. Miss Mouse, as you might guess, is a mouse. Cecilia saved her right out of the jaws of Big Guy and placed her in a mouse cage, where she now runs around her mouse wheel safely entertaining her predacious onlookers. Miss Mouse has lived over four years in that cage now, far beyond the life expectancy of a field mouse.

You see, there really must be something in the water ‘round here.

The Fertile Crescent

Who would guess that such an unassuming crescent of south central Wisconsin could host such spirited creativity? These folks never ask or expect to be given the renown of a Claude Monet (or a Frank Lloyd Wright). It seems to me that they just do what their hearts tell them to. Nothing more, and certainly nothing less.

As Dr. Evermor himself said (of the impact of his unlikely sculpture park on its visitors): “I know it stimulates their imagination, their own spirit. It gets them thinking about something....It gives them the confidence to think they can go out and do something themselves. That's what I'm interested in, people working with their head, heart and hands."

May we all do such works of faith and creativity. This is, after all, what makes us each part of The Greening.

- bn

NOTES:

Kindred Spirits Animal Network is a not-for-profit animal adoption and rescue organization. Please visit http://www.kindredspiritswis.org/ and consider making a donation or sponsoring a “special needs” cat.

Visit the Taliesin in Spring Green, WI or learn more at: http://www.taliesinpreservation.org/

Learn more about Dr. Evermor’s work at: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/offthemap/html/travelogue_artist_2.htm?true or Google "Dr. Evermor".

The Fertile Crescent (of South Central Wisconsin)
Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin (entrance)	Taliesin (side)
Part of Dr. Evermor's Forevertron	The face of one of Evermor's fauna
More Evermor	More Evermor
A collage of Dan and Judy's private garden (that they love to share with the public)
One of the saved Hurricane Katrina cats	Oliver, 16 years and going strong, buckshot and all.
Big Guy and Miss Kitty	Meet Emily and her coif. Emily weighs all of about 3 pounds.
This is Ears.	The queen of the yard: lady Sasha doing her less-than-demure jiggle dance.
Hawkeye	Sweetheart
Meow's six toes	And introducing the mouse pulled from Big Guy's jaws of death and now setting records for the lifespan of a field mouse...Miss Mouse!

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