Let's Reframe: By Degrees

Pausing at the Landfill

3/27/2020

 
Picture
Lebanon Landfill, March 2020 Photo by ERSwett
When
I visited the
Lebanon Solid Waste
and Recycling Facility (also
known as The Landfill) last week,
this is what I saw: Fresh snow and a
sparkling blue sky. The air
smelled clean and the
earth seemed to 
breath.
Picture
Lebanon Landfill Composting, March 2020 Photo By ERSwett
The steam
had just settled
on the freshly turned
compost piles and tracks from
the machines that accomplished
that task seemed like
snakes ​in the
​snow.
Picture
Outside Looking In, March 2020 Photo by ERSwett
For almost 
a year, I've been
documenting the Landfill
and have not been surprised by
the tons of waste dumped onto the
ground, creating a mountain
where there had once
been a valley.
Picture
Dump Truck Unloading Garbage, March 2020 Photo by ERSwett
I have
been in awe,
however, at the raw
beauty of this rugged piece
of earth in our midst and the artful
way the crew at the landfill
sculpts our garbage
every day.

Picture
Sculpting The Earth, February 2020 Photo by ERSwett
I love
how landfills
contain the waste
from our lives, no matter
who we are or where we come
from. Beneath the skillful manipulation
of soil and wood chips mixed with our garbage,
lies all of us, mixed and mingled together.
The universality of this reality
humbles and invites
pause.

Picture
Organic Soup Container, March 2020 Photo by ERSwett
This
discarded
organic tomato 
soup carton could be
mine. And how strange to
see one of the organic produce
bags from the Co-op stuck in the mud.
As a photographer, I love the yellow against the
dark earth and the way the sun makes the plastic shine.
As a naturalist, I am saddened. Will one of
​the crows or other birds that
visits this open land
be poisoned by
​the plastic?
Picture
Organic Produce Bag, March 2020 Photo by ERSwett
A few
minutes later,
when the sun went
behind a cloud, it was not
the play of light, but the play of 
textures and tones that caught my eye,
and the way the color of the ground shifted
from raw black soil to brown shredded bark to a
layer of plastic and then on to the snow-covered hillside.
And here was this massive vehicle whose sole
job is to smash it all up, but which,
in the process, creates these
elegant circles in
the soil.
Picture
Tracks by Lady Bug -- The Landfill Trash Compactor, March 2020 Photo by ERSwett
To manage
our waste, the landfill
crew harnesses a complex mix
of engineering, 
biology, chemistry and art.
​It's all about containment - How to safely entomb
our garbage so that it stays where we put it,
does not leach toxic runoff or 
become
a landslide, or explode from
​noxious gases.
Picture
Crow at The Landfill, March 2020 Photo by ERSwett
When at
The Landfill this
past week I thought about
our current struggles with the Covid-19
pandemic. Just as our waste is mixed and mingled

so too are we all in this complex crisis together. Our challenge
though, is that a
s a society, we don't have the tools
we need or the necessary systems in
place to manage a crisis of
this magnitude.
Picture
Abstraction with Dried Mud, 2019 Photo by ERSwett
For me,
it's not hard to
manage what I know or 
to plan for things I understand. Like
in this discarded tax preparation worksheet
from 1992, I can do whatever calculations I must.
But when confronted with variables I do
not understand that are beyond
my control, I become
a bit befuddled.
Picture
20th Century Accounting, March 2020 Photo by ERSwett
While
at The Landfill
last week, though, the
manager indicated that they
were receiving 35% less waste than
just two weeks before. He suggested that it's
like everyone & everything is taking a deep breath and
a giant pause.
Maybe, I thought, that is what the earth and each
one of us needs right now...as long as we care for
​each other along the way...because
we are most definitely in
this together...
Picture
We're In This Together, Winter 2020 Photo By ERSwett
...pausing
at the landfill
or at home, or wherever
we may be right
​now.

Settling Into a New Routine

3/19/2020

 
Picture
The Dartmouth Green -- Empty Photo by ERSwett
Welcome to
the first day of Spring.
We woke to a light dusting of
snow and are a bit disappointed by yet
another cloudy day. But it is, after all, March in
New Hampshire and we are experiencing 
a global pandemic. So the fact that
​The Green is empty and
stores are closed
is real.
Picture
J. Crew Closure, March 2020, Hanover, NH Photo by ERSwett
So too
​is compost.
The narcissus may
be done, but they are still
making lemon curd at Umpleby's
and we are still eating bananas. In the
midst of disappointed teenagers
at home, I return, as always,
to the colors, shapes &
textures of my
​compost
​pile.
Picture
Yellow Narcissus & Lemons, 2020 Photo by ERSwett
My gratitude
for this pile is deep.
Year after year it transforms
waste into nourishment for gardens
while at the same time inviting me to be
patient, get my hands dirty, and
remember that sometimes
life is really messy.
Picture
Coffee Filters, 2020 Photo by ERSwett
As if by
magic, though,
creativity emerges over
and over again out of the apparent
mess. It should be no surprise to you, then,
that I have more photographs of coffee filters. Who
knows how long the supply will last, but they
are such a simple way for me to connect
with my sister, Sarah Swett, who
keeps making things out of
​these funny pieces
of paper.
Picture
Finding Joy with Coffee Filters, March 2020 Photo by ERSwett
And in
the process,
I pay closer attention
to what was once just another
part of the waste I collected each week
from Umpleby's Bakery & Cafe
in Hanover, NH. Coffee
filters, it turns out
are beautiful.
Picture
Pile of Filters Photo by ERSwett
For me,
It's so much
more than textures
& subtle muted
tones.
Picture
Coffee Filters Smiling Photo by ERSwett
It's all
about how
these filters seemed
to talk to me earlier today,
and made me laugh as I folded
them & prepared to mail
them to my sister
in Idaho.

Picture
It all
seemed 
so funny, how
I packaged them up,
but am waiting two weeks
to send them, for fear I might have
The Virus and might unknowingly mail it to
my sister whose husband has cancer and definitely
can't get this thing. So once again my compost
and all its associated projects invite
patience and humor. This
really is all quite
messy...
Picture
Coffee Filters Folded and Ready to Ship Photo by ERSwett
...and
beautiful,
because even
though we may be
thousands of miles apart,
we are together, exploring these
funny pieces of paper and
wondering what will
emerge from it
all.
Picture
Our Daily Grapefruit Photo by ERSwett
So after
I finish this blog
post, I will go upstairs to
cut our daily grapefruit - one for
each member of the family every day for
as long as supplies last. During times of stress and
uncertainty, I like routines. I like this habit of culling & cleaning
coffee filters to send to my sister. I like making something healthy for our family
on a regular basis. And I like making sure ​we laugh about the fact it's a
Thursday & my kids are eating breakfast at 2 pm just when
I'm having my mid afternoon snack.
It's all
part of a new routine and I'm
OK with all of that...
Picture
Kids at Home March 2020 Photo by ERSwett
...because 
it is March and
even though it seems dark
and gray and lonely to be stuck at
home, I know that the bulbs will emerge
from the frozen earth & spring will
come, because that's nature's
routine, and I'm good
with that.
Picture
Today's view in my studio. Photo by ERSwett

PS
It is still
Women's History
Month...so let's support 
each other as much as we can
from afar. For inspiration of all kinds,
check out my friend Jennifer Jewell's Podcast
Cultivating Place - - The January episodes were all
about the therapeutic and spiritual capacities
of our gardens - in all their forms.
We
need that now, more
​than ever. 
    Picture
    Lyn Swett Miller
    ​
    reframing the narrative, one day, one image at a time
    Picture
    compost re-imagined
     Let's ReFrame: By Degrees
    A place where photographer Lyn Swett Miller considers wonder, joy and transformation in a complex world.

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