25 km2. No fresh water. Little land. Lots of stones. A few cyclones. Not much to start. … and yet! Since the first men set foot on Saint Barthélemy, they have never ceased to tame it, to work on it, to fertilize it, to enrich it. to make it what it is today: a garden, a retreat, a haven. A destination. By utility, inadvertently or for pleasure they brought plants, animals, crustaceans… some microbes too…; modifies the ground and the relief, eliminates undesirables, rationalizes the space. Whether we praise it or deplore it here, the wild state has given way to a more or less disciplined nature which must negotiate with us day by day the place we want to leave it. … and yet! Every day with us on this stone raft beings and things are born, struggle and die in the endless combat of the chaos of life against the order of death. Their fight is also ours. Charles Moreau St Barts, February 2017