Earth and Heaven. The Buckeye Seed

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My California Buckeye (5-10-2025)

(…)I saturate the soil till the seed sits in mud and I begin to excavate the thick radicle, gingerly, cautiously. I follow the root down into the mud with my fingers, careful not to break it. I is endless! It tapers down to the bottom of the bowl and, I can sense it, it searches in circles for a way down to the earth’s center, following gravity’s pull. The root enacts Darwin’s concept of gravitropism, but it is thwarted here: I pull out a long, pale root that is bent and crooked at the end. I rinse it, photograph it, and plant the tree, the sole survivor, next to my studio.

                                                  Herlinde Spahr. Notebooks