Of Wintergreen, Woodlands, and Walden

[XLFD]

In wilderness is the preservation of the world.  – Henry David Thoreau

 

When the brightness and warmth of summer ends, and autumn enters with her colors and coolth, the seasons change within me as well.  The swimming, sunning, and cycling that occupied the free hours of my life in summer and settled my soul during that season is replaced by autumn activities.  I walk away from the water, and enter the woods which were waspy and too-warmish the months prior.  I enter the world of walking with wintergreen, woodlands and Walden.

It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.  –Thoreau

 

Alliteration and assonance aside (aargh, at it again), my new outdoor pastimes reflect the falling temperatures that keep getting smaller.  A relative of mine owns a sizable wooded lot, and the wear and tear of a year is evident among the number of trees that have fallen or severely lean in his forest.  He also seeks to replenish his firewood and provide such for others in need with his excess.  He saws; I haul and maul the product.

 

Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain. – Thoreau

 

As we walk through the woods, one can’t help but step on the dense growths of wintergreens, with the kelly green leafs and brilliant pink and red berries.  We must bend down at times to grab a handful of berries, inspect them for critters, and pop them in our mouths and pockets.  This year the berries are extra big, but seem to have less flavor.  They go quickly, so I pick a few leaves too, which have nearly the same taste when chewed.  Amazingly, at any time during the year when I taste something with a wintergreen flavor I can mentally transport myself to this and other October forests.  After hiking the whole area, the overall plan is made.

In my afternoon walk I would fain forget all my morning occupations and my obligations to society. – Thoreau

 

 The variety of critters that haven’t completely scattered before us, start to do so now as the staccato tune of his chainsaw begins.  Some of the wood chunks need to be split beforehand with the maul to better fit in the wagon I brought along.  When this fills up, I roll it to the nearest wide path so we can pick it up later.  Spirits are high, and the work is satisfying and fun, except when the saw or the tree are not cooperating or when the wagon falls over on uneven ground.   As the day comes within hours of ending, there is just the matter of getting the chopped wood back to the splitting and storage area, which takes several trips.

 

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. – Thoreau

 

 As the fire gets started in the stove, the log splitting begins in earnest.  Its been a cool day turning into a colder night, but I’m sweating in my t-shirt while making little ones out of big ones.  Knots and corded wood make some problems, but I occasionally get spelled, and rehydrate myself.  If the womenfolk are around, we eat well, but if not, we eat lunchmeat on bread.  Either way, it tastes great after a long day of work.  And the warmth of the fire reminds us that our past labors have not been in vain.
 
If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen. –Thoreau

 

We are far away from the bustle of 21st century civilization, although we may throw a movie in the player after dinner.  I may stay in the spare bedroom in order to do some more splitting in the morning and walk through the woods for enjoyment, or I may go back to civilization that very night.   Either way, its been a rewarding day even though all I got out of it was a sore back and a blister or two.

 
Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it. -- Thoreau 

 

Man has never, and will never, improve on what nature has provided for us.  And yet… A bank can denude a beautiful pine forest for a future building and parking lot while there are plenty of developed commercial sites available.  A company can decide that government subsidized wind turbines dotting the lake’s horizon would be a good thing.  A township board can decide to put a new town hall in the middle of their only park.  A municipality can continue chipping away at its protected parklands so that they can appease a group, get a financial benefit, and/or attract tourists—and yet have plenty of non-park property available for those projects.

 

Truths and roses have thorns about them. – Thoreau 

 

 After all, what makes our area so attractive to those people in the big cities that come here?   And what keeps most of us rooted here even though we could do better financially elsewhere?  It’s the natural setting; be it unspoiled woodlands or beautiful waterways.  A place to escape from the superficial/artificial life of whatever they do, and for us to blow off some of the pressure of everyday life.  This area is their/our Walden Pond-- my Wintergreen Forest.  When we or our leaders start to do away with our natural settings, we will surely doom ourselves.

 

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion. -- Thoreau

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=49qWhJ0gjZQC&printsec=frontcov...

[charlemagnetism]

thanks again for the reminder. nature is to be preserved even here where it is all around us.

[Sweater Cows!]

Wait, I didn't think any of you right wingers were environmentalist hippies! LOL

I'm really baffled now. :)

[XLFD]

Thoreau did advocate the abolition of slavery and the minimization of government power; he was a true Republican before the Republican Party was even formed. Definitely, an environmentalist hippy too.

I believe true conservatives nowadays are a bit more conservationalist than they are given credit for. And some of the so-called environmentalists are more like Mentalists than they are given credit for, LOL.

[AQUAMAN]

I agree X, are conservatives and libertarian types being politically profiled by the public at large nowadays with regards to environmental issues? Methinks so, all too much too. Cause that's the liberal way of fear mongering. And just plain misinformation. Judge based on the individual speaking, not the media rhetoric that beats that false drum note. I for one, am committed to a cleaner Lake Michigan, more clean air, and fair and prudent usages of our forestry, always have been, and have memberships to various organizations that are also for these programs.

[Public Record]

thoreau was a trancendentalist.

[XLFD]

This blends in with Dave's thread about "The Party of Wealth". One party will tell you that Republican-backing/backed developers are destroying the planet, while their own party's humble followers are living green. Dare I bring up the name of Al Gore and the fantasy of global warming with Public Record so close by? LOL.

[Public Record]

You and Al Gore can fantasize about whatever you want.