Interesting

I attended a permaculture workshop at TS Designs in Burlington yesterday, and the subject of untidiness was raised. I was not aware of it, precisely, when I named this blog, but apparently Bill Mollison, one of the founders of today's permaculture system (much of it is ancient wisdom, really), had problems with tidiness, too. A couple of quotes:

"Untidiness is a natural state, tidiness is maintained disorder"

"Order is found in things working beneficially together. It is not the forced condition of neatness, tidiness, and straightness, all of which are, in design or energy terms, disordered. True order may lie in apparent confusion . .
Thus the seemingly-wild and naturally-functioning garden of a New Guinea villager is beautifully ordered and in harmony, while the clipped lawns and pruned roses of the pseudo-aristocrat are nature in wild disarray.
Neatness, tidiness, uniformity, and straightness signify an energy-maintained disorder in natural systems."

So, perhaps I am on the right track. I so prefer a sprawl of jungle like plants, buzzing with beneficial insects, giving shelter and food to birds and wildlife and me, to a neatly manicured lawn. I am glad to know that I am not the only one who is crazy in this particular way.