Tiny Trees become Forest

[Tin Can]

Where is Johnny Apple Seed's Replacement

We better get at

I know my family planted saplings

In Northern WI, next Mid WI

and finally far north IL

A conservative estimate is 2500, with most survivors

I went and checked on them all 20 years ago

Now they are huge, for windbreak and privacy

but sadly father sold it all long ago

[Vaidotas]

Let them thrive.
I lost count how much I planted barehand with forester spade.
Must be few acres.
Mostly oaks, lindens, pines.
Various locations.
Father teached me this craft.
An easy thing here in Lithuania where rain is as common as daylight.

[metalsmith]

A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Greekproverb

[John Kasaian]

I've often fantasized about planting 20 or 30 giant sequoia seedlings in a draw somewhere high up in the Sierra where no one visits.
It would be a cool thing to leave on this earth since so many groves have been felled.

Maybe I already have (shhhhhh!)

[Tin Can]

Seldom Seen

Edward Abbey, Monkey Wrench Gang

[Vaughn]

Johnny Appleseed and his quest for hard cider was replaced by young hippies planting wildwood weed.

I've planted a mess of trees in my younger years...drop in the bucket compared with many of my friends up here (in their younger years and not-so-young years). Maybe 50k for me...mostly conifer (redwood, Doug, fir), and occasional 'weed' species such as alder and such for land restoration projects (to get the pioneering species a head start). Too long ago to remember exactly where all this was -- some of it on timber company land after sitting in the crummy for two hours in the dark to get there at 8am to start planting until dark then the two-hour ride back home. Some fond memories of the late 1970s!

I have also cut down a mess of trees. We (USFS) cut down some tall stands of white oak and left them there. Kinda strange leaving all that firewood on the ground, but also kinda fun -- avoiding hanging the trees up, cris-crossing them nicely and such. All smaller than a foot diameter. It was a good way to practice my chainsaw skills...in the wilderness we used all hand tools (double-bit axe and a misery whip...and some wedges).

The oaks resprouted and the trunks created areas where grass/shrubs could grow to provide food and shelter for deer, but excluded the cattle that were being grazed on the land and otherwise competing with the wildlife.

[Drew Wiley]

Many of those old Johnny Appleseed fruit varieties had much better keeping qualities than modern equivalents. They had to. I'd go through old abandoned 1800's orchards deep back in the woods, and stuff gunny sacks full of apples; and they'd store in a cellar for months without refrigeration. Here on the coast, during midsummer I seek out old pioneer plum trees - yellow, red, and orange fruit. They're smaller and with a bigger pit than market plums, but grow in big clusters and taste good. Coyotes love the ones which fall to the ground.

[Drew Wiley]

Randy - you do remember that Kirk, a former moderator, was associated with the REAL Monkey Wrench gang? - Ed Abbey himself and his cronies, exaggerated and fictionalized in his novel.

[Tin Can]

Kirk and I had lunch across the street from ARTIC

Years ago, we got along very well

When lunch was over

we hugged





we agreed

don't have the fish