30/06/2023

Some thoughts on ownership, territory and trespassing

A giant toad crawls from underneath the metal sculpture in the garden. I’ve seen him before but didn’t know until now where his house was. A young blackbird sits on top of the squirrel feeder while the father and mother bird take turns diving into the peanut butter and putting the best bits (the maggots I assume) in their offspring’s beak. In the meantime the squirrel hangs upside down the little silo with seeds on the other side of the garden, trying to squeeze some sunflower seeds out of it. I didn’t sow sunflowers this year and even if I would have, they wouldn’t have flowered. The last time I tried, the mice destroyed them just when I thought I would actually manage to grow something in this forest soil. There are more mice this year than ever and they are bolder than other years, maybe because there are so many of them. They destroy the insulation under the floor and dig holes everywhere but at the same time I love watching them run around, just like I get excited when now and then, in winter, I catch a glimpse of the pine marten (martes martes). They are party animals, wreaking havoc on the attic and keeping me awake at night but if you live on the edge of a forest, you have to be willing to share your space with the other creatures living there. 

I own half of this little wooden house I’m writing this in, slowly preparing for my long walk, but I am not sure what "owning" means exactly. It means I can be there whenever I want (as long as the other owner doesn’t want to be there), but I can’t live here officially. It means I can let friends stay, but I can’t rent it out. It is part of a park with specific rules and although I call the garden mine, it isn’t really and not just because I share it with the trees and the plants and the multitude of animals. I pay rent for the land and if the owner ever decides to sell it, the house will be worthless.

The forest and the Veluwe heath houses an interesting mixture of creatures. In the morning I often encounter the wild boar living there, sometimes deer. There are areas I don’t have access to officially because they are “resting areas” for the animals and anybody who wanders around there will be fined, as will anybody who is caught walking around before sunrise or after sunset. On the heath I often find traces of the sheep and sometimes I see them from a distance, guided by a shepherd and 2 sheep dogs, in full control of the flock’s movements. At night they are kept in a sheepfold with electric fences because wolfs roam around. There are solitary walkers like me, people walking their dogs, groups of mountain bikers, people flying their little airplanes, kids on motorbikes (Wednesdays and Saturdays only), elderly duo’s on identical electric bikes in similar outfits (usually aiming for the restaurant in the middle of the forest). Romans marched here, prehistoric burial mounds can be found throughout the forest - once you know what they look like you will spot them, in this flat country a little hill is easily more than just a little hill - and in a hidden spot - hidden before they put signage all over the forest - there are the remains of a big underground shelter that was used to hide people during WWII.

I like to walk through the part of the forest where the dancing trees are, the area where the locals once had the right to cut trees and took all the straight ones, not only because it is a beautiful part of my surroundings but also because there are a lot of mushrooms there, especially oyster mushrooms. It is not allowed to take anything out of the forest (not even leaves) but you won’t be considered a poacher if you harvest them carefully and not take more than 250 grams. Still it is officially hard to get them because wandering off the paths running through the forest is, you have probably guessed it already, not allowed.
I’ll leave it to your own imagination to what extend I trespass in this country. I can only say that when I do it, I do it with care and love, to get closer to nature and to understand better.

 




 

24/06/2023

How can you support me on this walk (or in general)?

First of all: by reading me and sharing my stories and/or sharing your stories, tips & inspiration sources with me.

Or: by exchanging your money for some of my past & future traces:

1. € 15,- A handmade little artwork, sent as a postcard, drawn/imprinted with materials found/produced during the journey (might be natural ink I made, coffee I drank, charcoal left from fire to cook on or sit around with people I meet, anything somehow connecting to and coming from the territory I move through)

2. € 25,- you’ll receive the CD The Eye in the Needle (with my song texts & art work) + I’ll write your name in the soil or another surface during my journey and send you the digital image *

3. € 35,- you’ll receive my book The Wanderer. A traveller born out words + I’ll write your name in the soil or another surface during my journey and send you the digital image *

4. € 50,- I’ll embroider your question on the suit I’ll be walking in (before or during the journey) and send you a digital image of the embroidery (please take into consideration that a long question will ask for many hours of embroidering) + I’ll write your name in the soil or another surface during my journey and send you the digital image *

5. € 60 both the book The Wanderer & the CD The eye in the Needle & a unique drawing (A6) from the series “Gravitating” (accompanied by the text “Weaving thoughts”) + I’ll write your name in the soil or another surface during my journey and send you the digital image *

Or: by supporting me monthly through Patreon (from €1,-), more info here 

Or: by just donating (yes, I’ll also write your name in the soil or any other surface and will send you the digital image, no matter how small or big your donation is) *

You can also “just” buy the book (€15,- ex. shipping) or cd (€10,- ex. shipping) to support me and the people involved in the making of them.

More info on:
Book The Wanderer: here
CD The Eye in the Needle: here
The drawings from Gravitating: here

* you can also request to have something else written in the soil instead of your name

Payment:
Send me an e-mail (monique.besten@xs4all.nl) or use the contact form (on the right) and I'll send you my bank details (I can use Tikkie in the Netherlands). You can also use the button in on the right for donations (a percentage goes to Paypal), don’t forget to add your address if you want a cd, book and/or drawing: monique.besten@xs4all.nl (if you order/pay elsewhere the money goes eslsewhere).

First shipping day (guaranteed): July 4 (for payments received latest July 3d)
Second shipping day (probably): July 11 (for payments received latest July 9th)
Third shipping day: after I return (somewhere in September)

14/06/2023

Day 1


 The young man who took my photo upon departure asked me if it wasn’t too hot to walk. “Yes”, I answered,”and if we don’t take care, pretty soon it will be too hot to live.”