Our catch phrase is on its way.
Dear Fellow Earthlings,
There is a battle raging on part of my land in the state of Oregon. Yes, before I return to Japan, I am spending some time on “Reltonia”, the name of my land in Oregon. Parts of the land have been logged from time to time – including for the past 32 years that Reltonia has been under my stewardship. Most of the timber I have sold has been Douglas fir, although there have been a few Oregon white oaks and some grand fir trees on my land that have also been felled by loggers’ chainsaws. Oregon law requires that when trees are harvested for sale as timber, new trees must be replanted. The battle that is being waged on one 8-acre portion of Reltonia is between the young firs that I had a professsional forester and his crew plant five years ago after a timber sale --- and Himalayan blackberries, an invasive species of bush that will drown out young fir trees just from the prolific way in which the blackberry plants reproduce and spread to form impenetrable thickets. Today, after the end of the work day for three men who are clearing out the blackberries to allow the young fir trees to grow big enough to stop blackberries due to the sheer size of the firs, I came to inspect the work. There is still a lot of work to do, but I can see that the three men are making good progress. After the fir trees get another two or three years of growth (gaining between 30 and 60 centimeters in height each year), they will be able to block out sunlight to the extent that no new blackberry bushes will be able to become established. As you look at the photos of the three pictures attached to today’s installment, please note the firs in the background. Those trees are 20 years old – and the forest floor has no blackberries. The red flag you see in one of the pictures indicates that there was a nest of nasty hornets there. Yesterday I had a professional exterminator come in and kill the hornets. The creatures had been stinging the men who were trying to clear the acres of blackberries out – for the hornets were trying to protect their nests (constructed deep inside the blackberry bushes).
Steve Walker, Earthsaver and Jingles Creator
© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.