Category: agrarian

Isaiah

three cows
{11:1} And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: {11:2} And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; {11:3} And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: {11:4} But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. {11:5} And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. {11:6} The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. {11:7} And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. {11:8} And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. {11:9} They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

fugit inreparabile tempus

human hand cow nose
Gray and I were walking the Atlantic Avenue, River/Old Harbor Road loop. Visited with the Holsteins.

portion of contact sheet
scanned the negative strips on a flatbed. This the last roll of TriX 35mm/36 I shot.

There have been two rolls of TriX hanging in my darkroom, drying, for years. I cut the film yesterday, discovered images from the summer of 2010. A decade. Fade to black.

Castanea dentata

Castanea dentata seedling
Fortunately, there are not too many parallels between COVID19 and the American Chestnut blight. But in common there is awareness and awakening. Minimize death, be careful. The awakening part… Have you planted a tree during this life? What are you waiting for? It is a rehabilitative and blessed thing to do. Plant. Now. #growingtowardthelight
large dead chestnut tree
The Family of James and Caroline Shelton pose by a large dead American chestnut tree in Tremont Falls, Tennessee, circa 1920. Courtesy of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Library

Greatest forest loss in history

The American chestnut is an historic and beloved part of America’s landscape. Its extinction would be the loss of a symbol of American strength, endurance and resourcefulness. Saving the chestnut and restoring it to its native range at scale could also help give other endangered tree species a new lease on life and directly offset the effects of climate change and deforestation. While no single intervention can completely eradicate chestnut blight, together the science of breeding, biotechnology, and biocontrol (3BUR) offer our best hope for rescuing the American chestnut tree.—The American Chestnut Foundation

Madison County

three horse barn tree
In the country, the urban services, garbage pickup, police, libraries, parks, schools, sidewalks, grocers, professional offices, jobs. They all are at a distance. There is a horse, a barn, a tree. Wildness sometimes, an ordering of the chaos at others. Always beauty. The beauty of creation. There was a song by Canned Heat.