Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Poetry Passage

This week's poet is Aldo Leopold. Leopold was an essayist from Madison, Wisconsin. I first became aware of his writings and philosophies through Fred Wooley, our naturalist at Pokagon State Park. Fred refers to Leopold's writings often in his own talks.

This past winter, storyteller and friend, Jim Fitzer has developed a one man show on the life of Aldo Leopold. The show opens this month at the Chattanooga Theater Center in The Circle Theater in Chattanooga. The show dates are April 18, 19, 25, and 26. The show begins at 7:00 and the tickets are on sale for $10.00. If I lived closer to Jim, I would be first in line for a ticket! For more information on Jim and his work, please check him out at www.jimfitzer.com.

I chose to share with you a part of an essay Leopold wrote for the beginning of April, the piece is entitled, "Bur Oak".

Following the essay is a photograph I took at Pokagon State Park yesterday. It is what was the origin of today's blog.

"Have you ever wondered why a thick crust of corky bark covers the whole tree, even to the smallest twigs? This cork is armor. Bur oaks were the shock troops sent by the invading forest to storm the prairie; fire is what they had to fight. Each April, before the new grasses had covered the prairie with unburnable greenery, fires ran at will over the land, sparing only such old oaks as had grown bark too thick to scorch. Most of these groves of scattered veterans, known to the pioneers as 'oak openings,' consisted of bur oaks."

Aldo Leopold from his book "A Sand County Almanac".




Spring break in St. Pete...

  Adam and his pups! The late-night flight is full. Everyone is heading out for spring break. Students and teachers, moms and dads, kids and...