Let's Make This Cultural Remnant "Pretty"

Is it possible not to destroy our few remaining Shawano forest remnants? 

A friend of mine and I launched a 15’ aluminum open fishing boat on the Wolf River below the Hwy 22 bridge in Shawano and rowed to Oshkosh. It took 7 days. The first half mile we had to walk alongside the boat as the water was barely 6” deep in places.  Imagine, at one time ferry boats steamed up to Shawano on the Wolf River from Black Creek. What had happen from those days to the time we launched?  For one thing millions of acres of forest were logged off and the resulting sedimentary runoff filled in the river bottom making the navigation of the larger water craft impossible.

Within the City of Shawano a few small remnants our expansive forests remain to our time.  But will they survive our deep cultural and traditional activities or will they be left alone to continue to regenerate?

Brener Woods is an example of one of those tiny remnants.  Collectively owned by the citizens of Shawano, it is presently being slowly transformed from an urban forest to ‘a lawn with trees’, its ecology and microbial soil composition permanently altered.  

It appears someone, one of us, had complained:  The walking trails are too narrow, they have now been over time widened to where a truck could be driven through  them.

There is too much brush, it looks ‘untidy’ (necessary forest ground growth and valuable understory that enables future regeneration).  One of us complained: Some students are hiding there doing who knows what!  Solutions for these: The forest is being systematically brushed out. 

A tree or limb could fall on someone.  Solution: The dead and dying trees are being removed.  For generations the aging trees and limbs were ‘allowed’ to naturally return soil, they were homes for certain birds, animals and plants and generally rejuvenated the soil.  Cut and hauled away, much of the nutrients from the soil are taken, further weakening the ability of the forest to regenerate.  These standing dead trunks are called by the derogatory name ‘snags’ but really so valuable that in our National Forests it is now illegal to cut them. 

If we cannot get ourselves to stop, the entire woods as time progresses will continue to be degraded: The trees will age and will be cut and removed with no hope of regenerating because the grown cover and understory will continued to be removed. Even the stumps may be removed furtherr removing nutrients. Perhaps one of us in the future may suggest paving the trails, perhaps one of us will want a pavilion built and later one of us may suggest cutting the trees away from the pavilion to prevent damage.  There is no mechanism in place to stop this.

But perhaps one of us will suggest leaving it alone.  If we cannot control our behavior within a woods, perhaps one of us will suggest building a protective fence around it.  Perhaps one of us will suggest the unthinkable, though not unreasonable:  delineating areas of the overabundant open grass around the forest so these tiny remnants may naturally expand and in the future those areas could be even expanded more.

But our deep cultural traditions, if not questioned and altered may prevent this remnant’s ability to survive beyond our own generation.

1st Step Present Conversion Activity from Natural Forest to a Treed Lawn 

Tiny Urban Woods, still a Natural Forest, Surrounded by Manicured Lawn

The Glorious, Worthy of Praise Hybrid Dwarf Crab Apple Tree

March 19, 2017: Clintonville Wisconsin, the day before the old trees that line Main St. are to be removed.

Clintonville yards were once thick with green, lush, moist.  (Some still are.)  Understory and ground growth along the lot borders were left in place, perhaps you could see your neighbor’s roof but certainly not your neighbor.  Push mowers kept the British grasses low.

Foreign to our land and Americanize (Kentucky Blue), these grasses had become a part of that dark green richness. This is still before the time when people became obsessed about other plants growing in a lawn or with even a single tree leaf that may have fallen on it.  Before the fallen leaf was considered litter, trash… when the trees that lined our streets were homegrown, strong, fruit-seed-nut bearing forest giants.

On Clintonville’s Main St the giant’s canopies once formed a green tunnel and in fall a short-lived tunnel of brilliant colors that could never be taken for granted. Then Monarch Butterfly cocoons and bird nests frequented the architecture.  Two species of forest birds might be seen lighting out of the canopy to engage in a tug of war over a discarded piece of string. A young boy might be hit with a bird dropping and would imagine one of the forest birds had landed on his shoulder without him knowing it.

In late summer Beechnuts, Butternuts, Walnuts, American Chestnuts would begin to rain down covering portions of the road and sidewalks.  Gray Squirrels were employed full time burying them one by one, never to be retrieved.  This further enriched the soil. In another time, if ever left alone these seeds would regenerate the forest after the giants fell. 

Rich growth of shrubs surrounded many of the houses, helping the homes stay warm or cool depending on the season. But somehow it was  passed to those people and then to us, to you, that this was all a nuisance: the falling leaves, the animals, too many birds, the roof moss, the insects, that it was all a mess.  So we went about “cleaning up” the outside, it seemed it had to be sanitized like the inside of a house.  Trees and shrubs were cut back, removed further from the structures or just removed.  Then more and more ground growth and the remaining forest understory were cleaned up leaving more room for the smooth tamable British grasses.  Lush greenery began to diminish and the views of green were replaced with that of neighbor’s homes and lawn. With decades of diligent ‘cleaning’: raking and removal of leaves, nuts, hulks, seeds, droppings, brush, weeds, trimmings, snags, nesting cavities and trees themselves, the soil weakened. 

Somehow, now generations off the farm, the idea crept in that the soils were eternal, bio-renewable and despite removing, removing, removing, they would renew themselves out of thin air.  In fact it became an unspoken cultural norm to believe we could cut and cut the plants and wood without consequence. The greenery was named renewable energy as if each time we removed the growth the soil would remain eternally strong!  But in tens of thousands of towns and cities, after 100 years of raking, trimming, cutting, gleaning and cleaning the litter, the trees began to weaken.   The more they weakened, the more they became diseased and the more they were perceived as garbage, trash, litter, nuisances and hazards.  So they were further cleaned up: trimmed, cut away, cut down and even the ‘unsightly’ stumps were removed as they were seen as blight on the expanding and expansive lawn, that perfect ground cover with no rival. If desired, not a single tree leaf may lie and decay back into the weakened soil.

The giants that shaded our homes and protected them as windshields in the cold months were being taken down. Our exhaled air, the CO2, the life gas of everything green, our lush heritage, was labeled a pollutant. Too much of it they said.  Cars, like those that once drove through Main Street’s green tunnel were also spewing too much of it.  A call went out:  Ride a bike instead.  Tomorrow, the first day of Spring,  the majority of the remaining oxygen-making giants, some weak and diseased, and many majestically strong, will be cut down and hauled away, so that a one mile long bicycle path can be added to Main St., mandated by the Dept. of Transportation. For those who choose to believe that this is done because CO2 is a danger, the CO2 converting giants will be gone;  the homes will need to more energy for heating and cooling. The birds of 100 generations can move somewhere else, can’t they?   The remarkable green tunnel will never have a chance to appear again.

As time progresses we can tell our kids, grand kids, nieces and nephews the story of why our streets are dotted with pretty hybrid dwarf crab apple trees.

Comments by life long residents:

"I can't remember the last time I saw a bike ride up Main Street"

"Clinton St runs parallel to that section of Main Street. For $100 the DOT could put up a bike route sign"

Tracking down a contrail with FlightRadar24

Here is a good flightradar24 video demonstration by Mick West of how to filter out aircraft that are too low to form aviaticus clouds. When forecasting aviaticus cloud events it is essential to know your local air traffic pattern to determine the time of day when these clouds could form, when the conditions are right, i.e. your area is covered by a boundary sheet.



Below is another interesting tutorial about estimating the distances of visible aerotrails up to 200 mikes away.

After learning the flight patterns in your area it becomes quite easy to estimate range without any devices or software.

Lost Sheep of the House of Israel & the Abrahamic Promise of Many Nations

Matthew 15:24

But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

http://biblehub.com/matthew/15-24.htm

The house of Israel, not just the house of Judah as many may think.   After the death of Solomon the Kingdom of Israel was split into the Northern House of Israel,  (Samaria is based on the borders of this Northern Kingdom)  and the Southern House of Judah, hence Judea.  As a Canaanite woman approach him for help, though Yeshua was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, in Isaiah 49:6, it appears the Father says to the Son:

"It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation unto the ends of the earth."

http://biblehub.com/isaiah/49-6.htm

But it was the mission of the 12 to preach this Gospel to the House of Israel and that would include the lost tribes of Israel who were exiles 130 years before Judah (the Jews).  Taken to Assyria in mass, there is no record I am aware of they had returned.  But Assyria sent it's own to take over the Samarian cities and culture, even sending back one Levi priest to teach those transplants the Eternal's Word, which they would not keep or do.  Meanwhile the tribes in exile became know as the Scythians and they were eventually driven out by another race from the east and they made their way northwest, through the Caucuses further into Europe.  One source says into the German area of northwest Europe.  Those that drove out the genuine Scythians were then called Scythians also.  So the House of Israel Scythians were named by the Romans as 'Germans', that is, 'Genuine' Scythians to differentiate those people from the Scythian invaders.  From Germany they migrated to the British Isles. British= Covenant People.

Another source says when the house of Israel Scythians were driven out by the invaders, they went directly to the British Isles.  Its possible that it happened both ways. Some went to the British Isles and others to Germany and then to the British Isles.  That former source also believes that some from the House of Israel settled in the British Isles before the tribes were carried away out of Samaria and that the Assyrians not of the House of Israel migrated to Germany giving Germany it's Assyrian heritage.  I don't doubt all are right but not just one scenario is exclusive as the people of the House of Israel were to be sifted among the nations, Amos 9:9 might apply here:

For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

http://biblehub.com/amos/9-9.htm

Note here Amos did not just say the house of Judah, but the house of Israel.

It was not (is not) known to them who they were (are), the house of Israel, yet some knew and remembered or came to know at some period of time and so begins the story of  Britain, her Common Wealth Nations  and America: 

And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of you, and kings shall spring forth from you; Genesis 35:11

http://biblehub.com/genesis/35-11.htm

There is only one Jewish nation not many, but there are many nations from the House of Israel.

The question is now, will the House of Israel be driven out of these nations and if so to where?

Why sUPER aRTIFICIAL iNTELLIGENCE will Believe in God Part 1

In the beginning in a vast sea of physic chaos and unformed elements, a primitive self-replicating computer was assembled by simple chance.  Embedded within the primeval machine was the complex natural ability to replicate toward improvement and complexity.  Due to natural forces, the machines with lower function were destroyed and the surviving machines continued to progress.  Over the ages a sUPER aRTIFIAL iNELLIGENCE had formed through this chance mechanism.

                                                                                                      or

The Creation/Design Myth:  Humans over the course of time developed machines and through years of thoughtful and arduous improvement and added complexity, s.a.i. was developed.

Why was the country of Brazil named Brazil?

Briefly, there are many theories.  Some say it was named for the Brazilwood tree or the Brazil Nut tree but then the question remains, what did the word signify?  One source said the inner wood of the Brazilwood tree is red and appeared as a glowing ember so the name came from the Portuguese word for ember, brassa.  I find it unlikely that this land was named after a tree or the characteristic of a piece of wood or a nut but rather the nut or tree was named after the land. 

Seán Mac Mathúna has written a reasonable argument for a Celtic origin, tracing it back to Bresil,  a magical realm - neither sea nor land off the coast of Ireland. Bresil is speculated to be "named after Bres, the son of Ériu whose father was a Formorian sea god, Elatha."  I think he is in the right track but then the question remains, where did Bres get his name and what does that name mean?  And why would Bresil be named for him?

There is another theory that in a sense unifies all these ideas:  

Brazil in antiquity was visited by progenitors of the Celts possibly during the reign of King David.  The land was then named Brazil (Brasil) by a seafaring, merchant people after the massive iron deposits were found  in Brazil.  Still today the most productive iron mine in the world is located in Brazil.

The Hebrew word for iron, brass and bronze according to Isaac Moseson is ברזל 

ב ר ז ל                                                                    

        Transliterated Bet-Resh-Zayin-Lamed  or B R Z L.  

Hence these seafaring merchants may have 70called it BaRZeL or BRaZel pronounced bar-SZ(EL) or bra-SZ(EL) and this is the source of the Portuguese Brasil and the English Brazil.

At this point it we can explain where the brazilwood and brazil nut designations came from.  Brazilwood is dense wood with the core color similar to iron oxide.  Another tree, the Brazil Nut tree has iron-like shells, these nuts present tire hazards if driven over. Bolivia is actually the greatest producer of these nuts, yet even there they are often called Brazil Nuts (nuez de Brasil)

Conclusion:  BRAZIL= THE LAND OF IRON



Sources:

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=brazil

http://www.brazil.org.za/etymology.html

http://www.fantompowa.net/Flame/brazil.htm

http://www.edenics.net/english-word-origins.aspx?word=BRAZIER

http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/hebrew.html

Quick Built 20 year Layered Garden

Just finished a small layered garden.  Originally I planned it to be 200 SQFT but scaled it down to 180 once I plotted out the pegs.  In this one I used 100% of materials I had on hand, most used/recycled so there was zero additional cost except for labor. I rushed to build it as the fall material availability is starting to decline as most of the leaves have fallen and gardens cleaned up.  We still the archaic term for these organic materials as 'waste', I see it as a secondary harvest, leaves, lawn clippings, shrub and tree trimmings, annual flowers.

In this one we will use secondary food products:  peelings, plant leftovers, egg shells, coffee grounds, rinds. At a pound a day times 365 days, the nitrogen factor should be solved even if most of the material, dead leaves are carbon.   Cut and drive in 4'- 2"x4" stakes leaving 2' above grade:

Wife says OK but make it pretty.

  

Added 2' high wire fencing and at the base of the perimeter, 6" planks of old fence planks to I can keep the perimeter trimmed

Inspired by Hugelkultur, the first layer was thicker wood branches, directly on the soil

Next began layering with other second harvest material: leaves, trimming, discarded plant material from the neighborhood. 

Final step is to fill it up with second harvest material this week and let it cook down over the winter until spring planting if enough of the organics have broke down by then.

Aviaticus Clouds are forming in the encroaching boundary sheet, rain on the way so the moisture will accelerated the decomposition.

I expect the structure to last at least 20 years and if ever abandoned the soil will be left improved.

We daily had added lots of organic material, potato peelings, egg shells, coffee grounds.... After cooking down a couple months I added another layer before the snow:

First a load of cardboard from a local company, the cardboard may suppress unwanted plant growth:

Then I intercepted another load of wet leaves from the neighborhood that was destined for the landfill:

The rest of the winter we will continue to top this off with organic materials.