HILLSPEAKING
from The Anglican Digest 

LENT A.D. 2005

SEVERAL WEEKS ago I was filling one of the three birdbaths I maintain and John Burton, my neighbor and TAD’s managing editor, was filling one of the several bird feeders he maintains. He called to me, “I wonder if the birds appreciate this?”  My response was, “I think they do.”
 
  As I reflected on my reply I thought that, undoubtedly, the birds do not necessarily appreciate John Burton’s efforts or Walt Swindells’ efforts.  What they appreciate is, I think, that a bountiful God provides for their sustenance (remember the sparrows), using John and me as His agents.

  Here at Hillspeak we try to live at one with God’s nature.  Much of the three hundred acres, more or less, that comprises SPEAK’s holdings is in a pretty natural state.  There is plenty of cover for quails’ nests and rabbits’ burrows. There are plenty of trees for birds’ and squirrels’ nests.  There is cover and browse for deer.
 
  We mow a few acres: the lawns around the Twin Barns and the residences and guest quarters; the cemetery and around the well house; the immediate area, perhaps an acre, around the Foland and Hillspeak Memorials; the Lower Meadow below the buildings.  Part of the reason is esthetic but the principal reason is to minimize the possibility of wildfire. Otherwise we leave the land to native grasses and shrubs and wild flowers.  Last year, goldenrod and wild asters were very much in evidence.
 
  The Silver Cloud Trail, our walking paths, winds through this uncultivated area to give visitors and us a close look at the flora that is native to this part of the Ozarks.  In the interests of our visitors, and ourselves, we do treat the paths each year to hold down the ticks and red bugs and other insects and, not so incidentally, the snake population (they tend to avoid treated areas because such areas cut back on their food supply).
 
  To get back to John Burton’s question, however, I do not know that the birds and bees and butterflies and rabbits and squirrels and deer “appreciate” our efforts, but I strongly suspect that they find Hillspeak a hospitable place to be.  You might come visit some time to see for yourself.




©SPEAK, INC
805 CR 102 - EUREKA SPRINGS AR 72632-9705
PHONE: 479-253-9701    FAX: 479-253-1277       E-MAIL: speak@speakinc.org


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