firewood and beetles

Once again NPR comes through with some pretty important things to consider....such as where your firewood comes from. NPR reports that the Asian Longhorn Beetle is making huge strides in destroying hardwood forests by being spread by folks like us taking infected firewood on vacation with us.


As such, "New Hampshire and Vermont are banning wood from out-of-state as part of a major outreach campaign to prevent the spread of the beetles, which could cause epic devastation if they reach the Northeast's hardwood forests". Wow! That made me think about where the firewood for my fireplace comes from. Unfortunately, I have to obtain firewood from outside sources as I live on a very small lot. Where the trees infected trees? Is the left over wood now releasing beetles onto my property? Yet another example of just how important it is to know where the things you buy/consume come from. For more info, check out the link below.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105438580

pluots and more

The bounty of human creativity and trees continues. There is a great story that was on NPR this morning about a farm stand in Santa Monica, CA that specializes in stone fruits. J. Fitzgerald Kelly, the proprietor of the stand, grows over 190 different kinds of stone fruit, though they're not all in season at the same time.

Stone fruits are also known as drupes. These are fruits that typically grow on trees, which have an outer fleshy part that surrounds a shell (the pit or stone)that contains a seed inside.

Freestone refers to a drupe having a free stone, meaning the stone is relatively free of the flesh, and can be removed from it with ease. While a clingstone, is used to describe fruits whose stone is rather difficult to remove.

Plums, peaches, apricots and yes even pluots and aprium all fall into these catagories.

Trees truly are amazing with what they provide us!

For more info and to hear the story first-hand go to:
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/2009/farm-foods/?startat=2

and now the snappers

What appears to be a first week of June ritual has occured again. Today, the snappers have arrived to lay their eggs. This one was right under the front of our car and we didn't even see it until we had backed out of the driveway. They seem to always prefer the gravel drive to any of the flower beds or other mulched areas. If This summer goes as last summer did, the baby snappers should be making their appearances at the lake at the end of August.

pine trees and grizzly bears

Once again the intricate web of life is revealed in the current issue of the NDRC newsletter. One article in particular discusses the importance of the white bark pine to the continued survival of the grizzly bear. It appears that the rise in local temperatures is impacting the white bark pines in the west and "whitebark pines have a special relationship with one of the region's most iconic species. Yellowstone grizzly bears face an uncertain future without these trees. Females rely on caches of white bark pine cones and their high fat content when preparing to hibernate. And since the pines are an important food source; fewer whitebark pines probably translates into fewer grizzly bears." Hard to believe that the continued success of such a magnificent bear is linked to a small seed provided by a tree, but it is true. For more info check out http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jmogerman/zombie_trees_and_bear_attacks.html.