Crossing The Threshold (Part 3 of 3)

Crossing the Threshold

By Jeff Manker

Years ago when I taught middle school I used to do an activity with my students on the second day. The first day was about getting to know names, seating charts, describing the class and settling in.

The second day was about setting expectations. I knew what my job was, by the end of the quarter, semester, year, I was expected to cross a landscape of topics bringing my students along for the ride. Their “job”, as I saw it, was to make their best effort to learn the subject. After 32 years as a teacher, I can tell you that many students arrived for their journey mentally unprepared.

When they came in on Day Two, I had written across the top of the blackboard (later a white board and finally projected on a screen) “ARE YOU READY TO CROSS THE RUBICON?”

Kids love drama, so I proceeded to tell them the origin of that phrase. Here’s the short of it.

In 49 B.C., Julius Caesar was governor of a vast region of the Roman Empire that dwarfed the region of Italy proper. As governor he was also the general for the Roman Legion of that province. As his term was coming to an end, the Triumvirate (3 rulers) ordered him to disband his army and return to Rome. No general was allowed to return to Rome at the head of their army as it was considered a threat to those in power. Caesar paused on the banks of the Rubicon River north of Rome, which was considered to be the border crossing into Italy. If he crossed the river with his army it would be a capital offense and he and all of his army could be put to death. This was a decision that there was no going back from. He crossed the Rubicon (…”the die is cast!”) and started a civil war from which he emerged as the sole dictator of the Roman Empire.

I asked my students to pledge to come to class with an organized notebook, pencils, paper, a good night’s sleep, and an eagerness to learn (no death penalty implied). I drew a line on the floor, and had them sign a paper after they “crossed the Rubicon”. I know, schmaltzy. But occasionally I run across one of those students and they remember making the “crossing”. 

In this blog I am going to ask you to cross a threshold. You can draw a line on your floor if it helps. 

I want you to plant a native plant somewhere in your sphere of influence. That may be your yard, your balcony or somewhere on the property of the apartment complex where you live, in a parking strip, at your business that you own or the one where you work. Maybe you can convince the local school or library or local gas station, restaurant or doctor’s office. Maybe you can find an abandoned property or empty lot. 

Kathy Kramer, the founder of Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour (BBTNGT) who was featured prominently in my last blog, has an excellent website https://bringingbackthenatives.net/ with a seemingly endless amount of information on native plants that can help guide you to your first planting. I especially recommend looking at the Keystone Species tab, the Gardening info tab, and the Native Plant Resource Team tab.

You see, I am an educator, a birder, a board member, but I am not a gardener. Nonetheless, I am on this journey too. I have identified the plants in my yard (all non-natives) and made a map like I suggested you do in the first part of this blog. I have read Doug Tallamy’s book (I even had dinner with him at Kathy’s house!). I have studied the BBTNGT website to choose my first plant. The rains have softened the soil so I can remove a hedge of an exotic plant. I am ready to commit. 

I am ready to cross the Rubicon. Will you join me?