BIRD HAVEN FARM, with JANET MAVEC
- Jennifer Jewell
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
This week on Cultivating Place we celebrate one woman’s long-standing and loving cultivation of place in rural New Jersey. Janet Mavec is the steward and student of Bird Haven Farm, which after many years of learning from and loving, she now celebrates in word and image in her new place-based memoir: "Bird Haven Farm: The Story of An Original American Garden". Bird Haven Farm is written by Janet and photographed by Ngoc Minh Ngo, out now from Rizzoli Press.
This week's is a conversation about a beautiful, ecological, and intentional human and place collaboration to begin tying up the CP lessons of this season, and looking ahead to seeding and inspiring the coming seasons!
Janet is also an antique jewelry expert and jewelry designer by trade. For the past nearly 30 years, Janet’s love, labor, and inspiration have been married to the 100-acres of rolling hills, watersheds, meadows, and old farmstead now known as Bird Haven Farm, on which she and her husband Wayne Nordberg live, and together steward.
Some time into her knowing the land, Janet was inspired to work with
internationally recognized landscape architect Fernando Caruncho on a
ecological and beautiful Master Plan for the site, which had been in Wayne's family for so time. Working with Fernando, Janet's goal was to bring the land and its many rural outbuildings and gardened spaces more harmoniously together. Janet has also worked with Garden Designer Lisa Stamm on specific gardens within the plan including Janet’s beloved and productive vegetable garden, a monastery garden, and a very traditional perennial border. All of this is accentuated by an heirloom fruit tree orchard.
Over these three decades of Janet’s relationship to the land, her heart and
her jewelry line reflect all that the land and its many lives have shared with her. And it is throughout indeed a bird haven.
Janet and I have corresponded for years around our shared love of this Cultivating Place life, I am so pleased to welcome her to the program to celebrate this beautiful new chronicle!
Follow Janet online:
and on Instagram:
All photos used courtesy of Janet Mavec, taken by Ngoc Minh Ngo, all rights reserved.
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JOIN US again next week, when, in honor of the Solstice season, we’re in
conversation with Dr. Don Hankins of California State University, Chico. Don’s conservation science focuses on the intersection of indigenous stewardship practices as a keystone process to aid in conservation and management of resources, especially around fire and water. What better way to Cultivate Place with care? That's right here, next week. Listen in!
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Thinking out loud this week...
Hey, it's Jennifer—
I have been loving this short series focused on people who have spent a large portion of their lives dedicated to the learning from and loving one region or one place. While I have never lived with one specific piece of land for more than 12 years, I think once you see your gardening or cultivation of place as always being part of a larger whole and the larger systems of place, then we are all in long-term relationship with place, right?
And in learning to see ourselves – all of us – as potential keystone gardeners on behalf of people and places, we then both value our cultivation more accurately, and we hold our cultivation to greater accountability with greater integrity, I think? Have you all found this in your learning from and loving place -from your individual garden right out to the entirety of this generous planet?
Tell me I am not alone in this…..I know you’re out there. And I am so glad for it.
As we look toward the season of rest and reflection on the other side of
cheerful and busy - please join us for our Fourth and final CP COMMUNING of this year: we will gather on Zoom on Tuesday, December 16th to prepare our thoughts and intentions and cultivating place practices for the coming Winter Solstice on Sunday the 21st .
These CP Communings are A great time to reground and center the meaning
and manifestation of your cultivation of place in community. Registration is free and now open!
Please bring a book title that has been instrumental in your cultivating place practice – a garden book, a philosophy book, an art book, a volume of poems, to share with the group, and maybe some examples of your winter cultivating place tasks, traditions and of course intentions.
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The CP team includes producer and engineer Matt Fidler, with weekly tech and web support from Angel Huracha, weekly communications support by Sheila Stern and Carley Bruckner, transcripts by Doulos Transcription, and regular guest hosting by Abra Lee and Ben Futa. We’re based on the traditional and present homelands of the Mechoopda Indian Tribe of the Chico Rancheria. Original theme music is by Ma Muse, accompanied by Joe Craven and Sam Bevan.
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