K.Linda Kivi and Eileen Delehanty Pearkes. The Inner Green: Exploring Home in the Columbia Mountains. ISBN 0-9685302-2-2 Maa Press, Nelson, 2005.
The search for place, seeking the sense of belonging along with the security of real home, is a very human constant. When found, and shared with all other creatures - big and small - in that ecosystem, then protecting and nurturing that home can easily become the most significant emotional issue beyond love for family that a person can draw strength from. Estonians, for centuries denied the outright stewardship of their land, know full well the impact of homeplace. The positive energy that emanates from land well cared for and appreciated completes the circle.
K.Linda Kivi and Eileen Delehanty Pearkes in the Selkirk Mountains, part of the Columbia Mountains watershed.
Naturalists K. Linda Kivi and Eileen Delehanty Pearkes convey their love for their Paradise Found, their homeplace in the Columbia Mountains through this splendid collection of stories, so aptly titled The Inner Green. They write with feeling and emotion, of the connection between the human heart and the landscape. The authors note how "a connection to place can draw each and every one of us to the inner green, a heart-vision of the living, natural world."
To see The Inner Green as a naturalist's notebook, or a journal of personal discovery is but a starting point. The reader is privileged to accompany the authors on their explorations and excursions through the Interior Temperate Rainforest ecosystem of the Columbia Mountains, and in the process shares their passion and appreciation for what wildlife biologist Joan Snyder has called one of the loveliest places on Earth.
I can attest to Snyder's claim. In 1987, a memorable summer of experiencing and connecting with some of the most beautiful and pristine landscape that British Columbia and the Yukon can offer, my travels took me to the Columbia Mountains watershed. There, one of my oldest friends, among the most genuine and unaffected people I know, had discovered his own Shangri-La. A mere week then was all that I had to take in the beauty and splendor of the region, and to this day I wonder why the return to the Big Smoke seemed necessary.
Thanks to The Inner Green I have returned - one story, one discovery at a time. In a curious twist of where life leads us, these days our family's home in Don Mills is but a stroll of some minutes from where K. Linda grew up, before setting off on her own search for home. She found it in the Columbia Mountain region, and is now a 15-year resident, living on a land co-op in the Kootenay River valley.
For a book that is about the natural history of the region there is a surprising amount of Estonian content. For those familiar with Kivi's 1995 work If Home is a Place, this should not be all that startling. One fine example is found in the story that focuses on the geology of the area titled "The Weight of a Name". The author does not take rock lightly, and she shares the fascination that geology holds for her.
Kivi carries with her the cultural legacy of loving her ancestral land, all the while suffering the dislocation and trauma of the refugee experience. Consider only the story "Singing One's Heart Out" where she explores similarity with the warbling of the winter wren, and how Estonians are guarded, internalize their feelings until when given the chance they sang themselves free. K. Linda's "estonianness" is a constant of her life, which often translates here into the love and respect she feels for her homeplace. One senses that her passionate environmental ethics are due in no little part thanks to her cultural legacy. It is telling that her publishing company was named Maa Press (visit www.maapress.ca).
Natural history encompasses much more than initially meets the eye. From exploring the significance of snow in the watershed to protecting the forests from overzealous loggers, the authors keep providing valuable insights. Tale after tale enraptures, beckons and enthralls. Cedar bugs, squirrels and salmon, snakes, caribou and cougar educate the humans. Most impressive is the beauty of the writing, the economy of phrase, and the attention to detail without losing distinctive personal voice. The wonderful sketches that the authors have included with their stories provide the finishing touch.
The authors suggest that if they have one hope for the book it is that the reader will put it down. Set it aside on the reading table, and venture outside, into a landscape no matter how civilized or half-wild, to enter a place that sparks curiosity, allows one to find the inner green. I did just that, savouring one story at a time, then venturing into the tamed forests of Don Mills while musing about the beauty of emake Maa.
The Inner Green resonated within my soul in a way that surprised this jaded prisoner of the urban blightscape. It is a book I'll return to time and again, just as I know that I'll be hiking in the Columbia Mountains some day soon, listening for the silver-threaded trill of the winter wren.
(K. Linda Kivi will be at Tartu College January 19th at 7 PM to talk about The Inner Green, copies will be available for purchase then as well as from the [B]estore after that date. Out-of-town interest should be directed tomaapress@netidea.com)[/B]