Eco-Icons: Aldo Leopold and A Sand County Almanac

“A tree tries to argue, bare limbs waving, but there is no detaining the wind.”

-Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

My definition of great books has changed a little as I grow older. There are the delicious books that you gobble down with gusto like a piece of chocolate, and if they were the tastiest books ever you may go back and read them again and again. Or you may just remember them fondly as a once in a life time event, like the time you visited that expensive out of town restaurant. Then there are the books you savor ever so slowly, like a thick mug of hot chocolate (can you tell I love chocolate?).  So that was me. I used to judge books entirely on the yummy factor.

Now my tastes have changed. I consider multi-functional books to be pure genius, whether they are really good references or works of philosophy and fiction that just work for me, in whatever it is that they do.  Sometimes the genius of the literature is only apparent once I realize that I keep referring back to it again and again, to use in different ways. Few books hold this honor for me. A Sand County Almanac is one of those.

I originally read this book back in high school for the sole reason that it was written by Aldo Leopold, who is one of my “heroes,” so far as I have them. Aldo Leopold was an iconic forester, land manager, and professor. In my humble opinion, his life was interesting and accomplished. He was revolutionary in his day for founding the “land ethic,” which means to respect and honor the land and all of the organisms that dwell therein for the sole reason that they are alive. Instead of managing property based off of what could be harvested from the land, he managed based on land ethic, with goals to bolster a healthy and robust, well-rounded ecosystem. And he is also famous for writing this book, A Sand County Almanac, which is similar in notion to Thoreau’s Walden. Aldo has a country weekend get-away where he connects to and works with the land, and he writes his thoughts and observations about it in the book, arranged by month.

The first time I read it straight through. I found it mildly interesting but not earth-shatteringly good or thought provoking, but there was still something unidentifiable about it that made me appreciate the book right off and I considered it valuable, in un-enthralled respect. I used the book a second time in a research paper for school. The third time I read it, I skimmed through it, admiring the sketches and reading my favorite bits in detail. Now, well more than ten years after I first picked it up, I have turned to it again. I am going through A Sand County Almanac month by month. (In November, I read the passage for November. In December, I read the passage for December.) I do this because it makes me feel calm, appreciative, and meditational – almost spiritual - and I enjoy re-discovering gems like the quote I included here.

So I guess if I go back to my food analogy, this would be an “acquired” taste – the thing I am indifferent to at first, but the more I consume it, the more I realize the possibilities  and the complexities of the flavors, until it becomes a favorite. In that sense, A Sand County Almanac is my coffee and tea, or my favorite stout beer. And when life feels hectic, it gives me peace. It feels like coming home.

Governor's Energy Conference Summary and State Energy Plan

Last week I was able to attend the Governor’s Energy Conference at the Cox Center. I found this to be an informative event on various levels; aside from being a good source of information, I was also able to hear the Governor, the Secretary of Energy, and CEOs from Devon, Chesapeake, OG&E, PSO, and GE speak – among other notables. Seeing as these are some of the people shaping the policy and economy of the state, seeing their personalities interplay on stage was interesting to me. I imagined I was glimpsing futures to come as I listened to them banter and present their sides.

In addition to these, Governor Fallin and the Energy Office revealed two policy projects. The first was the commencement of an agreement between Oklahoma and Colorado to procure more CNG-fueled vehicles for state fleets. Other states are also expected to join this initiative, which is designed to trigger a top-down effect to speed up the infiltration of CNG vehicles into the market as well as the expansion of fueling infrastructure. The word around the water fountain is that, because states have the ability to order vehicles to spec directly from manufacturers, they are in a unique position to influence the production of alternative fueled vehicles.  So there’s that.

The second policy reveal was the online publication of the State Energy Plan, which covers the major arms of the energy industry in the state and aims to describe Oklahoma’s current situation and lay goals for the future direction of energy development. If you live in Oklahoma and have ears and eyes, you can probably take a guess that the plan would contain a major push towards the development and use of natural gas in every way possible… and you would be correct on that assumption. There is also a smaller push to enhance Oklahoma’s renewable energy portfolio, particularly in the wind sector, and to continue to pursue more effective use of energy efficiency.

The plan touts Oklahoma’s potential to become the country’s energy capital for a second time in upcoming decades, and the conference described how natural gas reserves have significantly increased in recent years due to advancement in cost-effective technology (from what I gleam said technology consists mostly of hydraulic fracturing techniques and equipment). The conference also featured debates over the definitions and benefits of renewable energy (I know! Really!) and whether or not wind and natural gas complement or detract from one another.

The energy plan is a very manageable length for a read; not overly long or academic yet still hefty enough to be educational and substantive. If you are interested in Oklahoma’s energy future (or even energy now) you may want to consider giving it a flip through. You can find it here. 

Veteran's Day - My Adventure in Converting Casettes to mp3s

I spent Veteran’s Day doing something veteran-related for my family that could also be loosely considered an activity in the “Use Less Stuff” category... or it would be, if I use my newfound knowledge to preserve my old music collection rather than replacing it with a new set of audio CDs. So here's my tale.

I have never been a member of any of the armed forces, but I have a large extended family with relatives in every branch of the military. Most notable to me is my paternal grandfather, who was a WWII marine. I was fortunate enough to have been close to my grandpa and granny, and one summer my Dad set me the task of recording their many stories. This was a memorable experience for me, but the point is that for the past 10-15 years I’ve had a stack of preciously guarded cassettes filled with their voices and memories. The stories span an approximate set of years from 1925 -1995, and contain all of my grandpa’s favorite war stories (among these included meeting and marrying my grandma, having his first baby, how bananas helped him enlist, and a humorous tale involving coconuts).  My grandparents are both gone now, and I don’t listen to the cassettes for fear of ruining them. Somedays I miss their turn of phrase and thick southern drawl and I think to pull the casettes out, then stop myself short. Better to miss their voice than lose the tapes!

Yesterday I finally sat down and figured out how to convert these cassettes to digital formats so I can better preserve them, enjoy them, and share them. I’m not tech savvy. This was a time consuming adventure for me.

This is how I did it.  I’m going to cut out all the steps where I was bumbling around aimlessly, futilely downloading random things, and rearrange the steps until they make sense!

1)     First, I bought this doo-hicky:  Behringer UFO202 

2)      Then I had to buy a cord that allowed me to connect said doo-hicky to my boombox, with a headphone plug on one end and red/white audio jacks on the other.

3)     Download Audacity.

4)     Download LAME for Windows.

5)     Connect cord from step 2 from the boombox headphone jack to the input plugs on doo-hicky.

6)     Connect a pair of earbuds to doo-hicky’s headphone jack.

7)     Connect doo-hicky to computer via USB.

8)     Open audacity and select under the Project tab “New Stereo Project”

9)     Press play on boombox

10) Press record on Audacity

11)  After the allotted length of time, press stop on boombox

12) Press stop on Audacity

13) To save it, do one or both of these:

14)  Click file, click Export as .WAV, select location.

15) Click File, click Export as .mp3, select location. (If this is the first time you are saving as an mp3, you have to show Audacity where LAME is saved. It should be under “C/Program Files/Lame for Audacity/lame_enc.dll“  Select the file and tell it to open.)

Happy Veteran’s Day! Whether or not you believe in war or patriotism, it is always good to remember your loved ones and your history.

CSA Day on the Farm

I mentioned a little while back what a great time we've been having with our CSA, Berry Creek Farm. We've had a huge bag of fruit and veggies and delicious eggs every week since March. We've tasted new things and learned new recipes (the last couple weeks we've been digging on cucumber soup and baked eggplant ziti). We had enough to share with our family, and our freezer is stocked.  Last weekend was the annual picnic at the farm. We invited my parents, who, hearing of our CSA exploits, were considering joining for next year. It was fun to eat outside in the pretty weather, and have a tour of the farm where our food was coming from.

   This is the Berry Creek pest control squad.

This is where my boxes of delicious grapes came from.

These guys made me beautiful eggs all year.

This fellow is ready to make me yummy food next year...

Two tummies that enjoyed Berry Creek food this year, after lunch at the farm...

List of what we got from the CSA this year:

Spinach

Lettuce 

Alfalfa sprouts

potatoes

sweet potatoes

okra

watermelon

honeydew melon

cantaloupe

grapes

beets

radishes

eggplant

turnips

persimmon

Armenian cucumbers

lemon cucumbers

onions

eggs

peaches

cabbage

cauliflauer

broccoli

sweet peppers

The amazing thing to remember is... with drought, record heat, and a late freeze, this was a hard year for farmers!  Just think how great it will be on a good year.

How Do You Do It

I purposely stay ambiguous about the exact nature of my employment here, other than the fact that I work in the environmental arena. I'm going to continue to skirt around the subject, out of respect for my employers and the occasionally sensitive issues we deal with. Despite that, I will try to be understandable here. 

Last week I had the good fortune to attend a work-related conference. I really love conferences on environmental stuffs... aside from being interesting and informative, they are sometimes inspiring, and they almost always bring together people from all levels of work: private industry, corporations, nonprofits of various flavors, students and academia, as well as different levels and branches of government. I feel this is ever so important. It is sometimes far too easy to overlook the human face of other groups in the environmental field, to forget that for the most part we all have the same end goals. I try to keep in touch with this notion and to remind others when they need it... but even I slip now and then. Events like this remind us that we're really one big community.

During social time I was speaking with someone that is on a different "side" of the field. She asked me, "How do you work in this field and do what you do? It seems like it would be so frustrating and depressing." I hadn't ever thought of my job this way... but when I sit down and think about it, any job in the environmental field could be viewed like this. I'm not that singularly special.

I feel the answer is easy. You concentrate on the small victories, and the small positives, because these things do matter. You hold onto the things that really inspire you. And remember that if you keep learning, and keep working, maybe someday you will be in the right position at the right time, with the knowledge and skill to make a significant change.  That is my answer. When I gave it, she blinked at me, and said, but of course; that's the only correct answer!

But it is also very important to remember that change is slow. Change is hard. Especially large scale change, or change against the powers that be (and much of the eco movement is very large scale - face it folks, you can't create cultural change in a week). People fight it. Some of them with more money or power than you or I may ever have. And most environmentalists feel so strongly about things that we all want everything to happen NOW. Some of us may even feel like the world will end if NOW becomes later, even though all anyone can do is their best. Still...

Know your expertise. Know your ability and sphere of influence.  Do what you can with what you have, and feel proud of that. And you can always learn to do better.

Building a Garden, take 2

This is the second garden I built this year. You might argue that this one was more work than the raised bed garden. I dug up a plot of yard, pulling out all the bermuda grass, using a shovel and hand tiller. I unearthed several LARGE pieces of concrete in the process. This took quite a while... I'm not good with major digging to begin with, and adding concrete to the challenge was not helpful. But in the end, I had a bunch of turned up clay/top soil, and that was what I needed. The border pieces are really just debris that had been sitting around in the yard. I really can't tell you why we had a long metal pipe. I don't know where it came from. Some of it is made of bits of concrete I dug up. A fence post that had broken off and fallen over, a cinder block. I think Not Fancy might be the official title of this border style. Maybe even Trailer Park Chic? But it works fine.

Inside are canna lilies that people at work were giving away after spring dividing, and a squash plant that was a gift from my mom. I stuck that in with the cannas on a whim, and I'm pretty surprised it liked the poor soil over there. Lucky for me! I had to fit this bed with a drip hose and mulch during the drought. My cannas are stunted (these are supposedly the six-foot tall variety) and haven't bloomed much, but they are growing happily now, so I'm pleased! I'm sure they will do much better next year.

One morning I walked out and saw a giant sphinx moth drinking out of these flowers. Little fellow let me get right up close and take a good look while he buzzed around... so nice of him!

Building a Garden

TA DA!

This is my new raised-bed flower garden, now seeded and sprouting for fall gardening. I built it myself this past April. I had been planning to build this since we moved in, the winter of 2008. I have had the size and shape laid out for a year. I’ve had the bricks for two years. I finally got the push to do it after my mother-in-law started stacking bricks while she was house-sitting. I couldn’t believe it might be that easy, so I took several thoughtful trips around the neighborhood scrutinizing the yards of others. At last I realized that the only reason I hadn’t built it yet was because I was making it harder than it actually is. I thought I had to dig down into the dirt, build up a base, mortar those suckers in there, and pull up all the grass inside. I couldn’t decide if I should hire a mason or learn to do bricklaying on my own.

But I didn’t have to mortar. I didn’t even have to pull out the grass. All I had to do was stack the bricks up, like so. Because I was concerned that I would lose soil between the cracks, I lined the interior of the bed with landscape fabric and anchored the fabric under one of the brick layers. I grudgingly purchased soil from the hardware store, putting in a layer of manure on the bottom and good garden soil on top. It’s about 7” deep, and there is enough depth that I can add more soil/mulch/compost without running out of space.

I really like my bricks! I salvaged them from an old brick sidewalk in my friend’s yard when the sidewalks were being replaced with concrete. They’re 100 years old; literally.

I thought growing a garden would be an easy success for me – I’ve spent time as a horticulture technician, and I helped my mother and granny with their gardens as a young’un. I quickly learned that while I had plenty of experience maintaining a healthy garden, I had no experience at beginning one from scratch. I thought I was choosing my plants wisely for my garden’s sunny micro-climate. I did a combo of seeds, root stock/bulbs, and baby plants; mostly these were purchased from OSU-OKC or garden clubs, but a few came from Lowes. 

Success? Well…

·               Some sprouted. Some didn’t.

·              Some that germinated, produced. Some didn’t.

·              Some of the bought-plants grew larger. Some didn’t.

·        I’m not sure WHY any of the above things happened. But...

·               I got a decent spinach harvest.

·              My mesclun and onion harvest were teensy tinsy.

  One of the squash lived to start producing at long last this month. 

·             Strawberries, cucumber, tomato: nil.

·              I’ve gotten a pretty good sustaining harvest from most of my herbs. I get a ridiculous amount of comfort from having drying herbs hanging in the kitchen.

Lessons?

·              I successfully (and accidentally) grew a LOT of mushrooms. Turns out that this was because I was watering at night, instead of during the morning.

·        Apparently, I should have started my spinach when it was still chill outside to prevent early flowering and climaxing. (Despite this, I still got a modest harvest of spinach, which tells me that spinach must be Really Easy to grow.) I think I should have planted my onions earlier, too.  I may get a Farmer’s Almanac for next year.

·              You should harvest mesclun when it is tiny and young. You should let dill flower before harvesting. Don’t let basil or spinach flower.

·              You can give chives a buzz cut, and the next week they will be almost the same height again.

My garden has not been nearly as productive or lush as I’d hoped (notice how far apart some of the plants are? I wanted to give them plenty of room to get BIG!). However, since it is my first year at starting my own, since the weather has been rough, since I have learned so much, and enjoyed it so much, since I still have enjoyed (and am enjoying) some harvest from the garden, I’m happy. Having nothing but a wide expanse of crunchy Bermuda grass in my backyard is a thing of the past – and thank goodness for that!

Here is a recipe for my favorite use of summer garden produce:

Medium-sized sprig of lemon balm or a few large sprigs of lemon thyme

Small sprig of lavender

3 basil leaves

Pitcher of water

After a couple of days in the fridge, this is so delicious! Not strong enough to be tea, light enough to be refreshing, just a bit sweet and flowery. Of course the bottom of the pitcher is the best part… 

On cue for the fall garden:
Still going good from the summer, we have squash, carrots, basil, parsley, lemon thyme, regular thyme, lemon balm, and oregano. 
Currently sprouting: Spinach, lettuce, and peas.
Seeded, not yet sprouted: Chard, kale, garlic.