James Walker ~ Among Trees

When one lives with a bookshop, there is a rule:  do not lay your book down unless you have your name on it ~ and a big bookmark in it.  I have lost the book Looking for Old Ontario, which wouldn't be a big deal except that I posted yesterday that I would quote from it today.

The intended quotation about trees is an important one given that rural areas have adapted a culture of clearing land of trees. It is well-known that Haldimand County resists planting roadside trees and modern farming requires huge fields void of fences and trees.  Haldimand-Norfolk Stewardship Council partnering with other environmentalists is working to combat the trend by developing tree-planting programs ~ one being Memory Gardens.  The Stewardship also encourages and supports land-owners in efforts to create new woodlots.

Tomorrow, if the historical book shows up, we will present the story of municipalities paying farmers to plant hardwood trees along roadsides.


[Great 'shot' James.  Where is this?]
Postscript:  Sunday, June 15 ~ Still looking for Looking for Old Ontario!

ROADSIDE TREES ~

"...a human-made element of rural Ontario.  They give articulation to a landscape where the next highest field feature may be the fence post.  Roadside trees are not the remnants of clearing but were consciously reintroduced...amid the widespread belief that trees 'for shade and oranment' contributed to the virtue of country life.  Poets were aroused by the frightening prospect of a treeless landscape, and Arbor Day plantings became regular spring events at country schools late in the nineteenth century.
"Farmers pointed out that shade and beauty did not increase their income, and we read in Canada Farmer's Sun of the resident who cut down his line of non-productive forest trees.  The journalist urged others, as a compromise, to plant nut trees at the roadside.  Shade benefited church-goers, weary travellers, and sweaty kine on sultry August afternoons.  It did not matter that such trees did not grow ramrod straight for the satisfaction of lumber merchants.  As for the romantics, the play of light and shadow through basswood or hemlock added immeasurably to the maturing landscape."

~ LOOKING FOR OLD ONTARIO, Thomas F. McIlwraith, University of Toronto Press, 1997.

[Tomorrow:  Beginning in 1883 municipalities could pay farmers for planting roadside hardwood trees]

Thoughts and prayers with those mourning a loss today.

"A NEWSPAPER once ran an unusual competition.  For a large cash prize a question asked, 'Where is the shortest way to London?'  It didn't say where from, but didn't have to.
As every seasoned traveller knows, 'The shortest way to London (or anywhere) is good company."

or "The road to a friend's house is never too long!"

~ The Friendship Book, 2010.

"For where two or three are gathered together..."

Sunday, June 8 at 2:30 p.m. East Seneca Church ~ "The Little White Church in the Country."

151 th Anniversary Service

[Photo files ~ lbw]

Yes, in the poor man's garden grow
Far more than herbs and flowers ~
Kind thoughts, contentment, peace of mind,
And joy for weary hours.

~ Mary Howitt, English poet. (b. 1799).  Mary & William were well-known writers in their day.

"You know, Francis, when I have problems and feel a bit downhearted, I like to go out and work in the garden.  Maybe it is just being in the fresh air beside so many growing things, but I know I go back indoors more relaxed and hopeful about dealing with my worries, which seem to become smaller.
I smiled.  'That's the value of your garden, John.  Mary Howitt knew all about it, and so do lots of people, including yourself. ' "
[Conversation related in The Friendship Book by Francis Gay, 1999.]

 

D-Day June 6, 1944

 

[Photo: lbw]