Oh, I know about purging things. But I tended to purge non-nature things first, unless I knew I would need them. Each time my home library got smaller, its percentage of field guides and biology- and ecology-related volumes got larger.
In my younger days, I went through a rockhounding phase. I don’t think any of those collections are still in my possession anymore. Every now and then, I miss those days, but there is so much nature to experience in the present, I can’t pine for the past for very long.
Now, if I was at my place in the Dominican Republic, I would show you pictures of my fruit trees and other plantings. I would rather copy the locals with their passion for flowers than copy my expat neighbors with their passion for lawns and paved patios.