Beech Tree News Network

Can you still make a rolled-up fist, leave a hole, blow into it, and imitate a dove call? Boys could. Recently I saw a twelve-year-old girl in Australia that could. But it was largely a boy thing growing up. Most girls thought it was silly. My cousin Ruby Todd could do the best one you ever heard. Ruby was the one with the guts of a bank robber, but no common smarts; the one who asked a teacher to “see her sore toe”. Her sore toe resulted from her husband trying to cut her throat. It was dark and he was drunk. Fortunately he got the wrong end. The teacher gave Ruby a sound thrashing by the way, and told him to mind his own business. Ruby retired from NASA, in Houston not long back- he evidently picked up a few smarts along the way.
Back to “Calls of the wild”, what’s happened? Whipporwills used to sit on top of our house and holler all night. We haven’t heard one in years. Chuck-wills yes. Whippors and chucks are first cousins. Same genes, different species.
However there have been only a few chuck wills (Chuck will’s widow) this spring and summer. What gives? Old time farmers need to plant corn when the first whippoorwill hallowed. They might be out of luck now.
we have an abundant clover year this time- but no bees to speak of. Bees are particularly vital to vegetable pollination. Fact is the pollination has been slack for some years now.
of course pesticide plays a large part in the scarcity of the bee population. Therefore it is vital to control insects up and until plants bloom and then stop. But no question we need pest control. Agricultural economist estimate that if there were no pesticide used on crops, the grocery bill to feed a family of four would run up to 800 dollars a week or more.
so we need to retire chemical use where we can: let the dandelions grow. They can be mowed. Leave the moles alone, they perform a useful biological soil function. Control ticks by keeping the grass cut low, they can’t stand the heat.
We don’t need to be larger to poison everything, including weeds and bushes along roadsides- those can be mowed. Also there are some pretty bad chemicals we flush everyday from our homes. Chemicals that contain bad things like lead. Municipal water facilities tell us they can cope with the bacteria, but these chemicals happen to show up in what appeared to be clear water. Not good.
Too, we want every new gadget that comes down the pike- that doesn’t happen without pollution – industrial pollution. Thus a problem.
yin and yang.
Kindest regards...