Yucca Dreaming

Yucca Dreaming is an illustrated children\u27s book. The story was inspired by my own experience as a child spending time with my grandmother on our family\u27s working cattle ranch in central Montana. My grandmother has a connection to her land that embodies what the great ecologist Aldo Leopold calls a land ethic. This view of the world means that individuals see themselves as part of a larger biotic community, sometimes called a biocentric worldview. I take this concept a step further with Yucca Dreaming to address the unique way in which a land ethic leads one to see the world. Beauty, in the context of a land ethic, is the deep sense of pleasure that arises from a landscape where the relationships between humans and the biotic community are healthy. In my book, I present the idea that a land aesthetic comes not from the superficial beauty of a landscape, but an intimate knowledge of geography and natural history. The result is a children’s book with pen and watercolor paintings done in the style of natural history illustration