In case you haven't noticed, I am not sure my brain really knows how to make metaphors correctly. Often I start thinking about one thing, which makes me think about another, and then I sort of sigh and relax into "the great smug curtain that goes around everything / has always been there / will always remain."
I used to be a Kashi fiend. I mean, I absolutely loved that stuff-- it was like rocket fuel for me. I could eat Kashi for three meals a day, every day. That cereal was great-- unsweet, crunchy, fibrous, delicious. I see it all the time-- on ads, in stores, etc., and recently, man, I've been wanting some Kashi.
The only problem is.... Kashi is known for it's seven whole grains and sesame... and the first two of those grains are derived from... wheat.
Sadness. No, really. I went to my local "health food establishment" hoping to find a replica for Kashi, something similar to Kashi, only sans wheat, and, surprisingly, nothing existed. There were lots of tasty "Leapin' Lemurs," which I also enjoy, and the "Nature's Harvest 'cheerios'," but nothing with the delicious non-sweet healthy wonders of... Kashi. I was actually feeling rather frusterated, and contemplated creating my own flakes and twigs out of gluten free grains (until I realized, but wait, I hate cooking! Grilling is okay, but I know I will never be a baker.) Anyway, today for a change of pace, I came to Greenville, still craving Kashi, and on a last ditch effort, I went to Earthfare and found the cereal shown above.
Okay, so maybe its closer to "Honey Bunches of Oats"... still, it filled me with great happiness to finally find a not-so-sweet "flakes + twigs" cereal. I honestly believe that one day I will be healed of this. I know that this should not be possible... but I believe in quantum mechanics, and God, and I think between the two of them, impossible stuff can happen.
This makes me think of the American Chestnut. What's so interesting about the story of the woods in the Southeast is how much the American Chestnut shaped the woods, yet there isn't an American Chestnut to be seen around here. Last fall, we went to North Carolina to look for American Chestnuts... we found one. It was about five feet tall, and there was a dead skunk near it, so we didn't spend much time with it.
Prior to 1904, American Chestnuts were the dominant tree in the overstory of the Eastern USA. When I say dominant, I mean that Chestnuts were roughly the size of the redwoods in California-- huge, beautiful trees, rich in tannins and providers of delicious mast for deer populations. Under the shade of the chestnuts, the oaks grew tall and strong (oaks can dig shade, but much of their competition, like poplar and maple, doesn't). Then, in 1904, Cryponectria parasitica (Chestnut blight pathogen) was introduced to NY. In 40 or so years, all the chestnuts were wiped out. It was that fast.
Well, maybe I shouldn't say wiped out. We still have American Chestnut... shrubs. The CP pathogen causes cankers on the bole of the tree below the branches, so that the tree canopy can't exist, but the tree can (and does) produce a bunch of ancillary sprouts below the gall. A tree the size of redwoods is now smaller than crape-myrtles that get planted in yards. It's kind of a sad story.
I'm a big fan of the idea that woods tell a story: when we look at the (eastern) woods today, we're seeing the aftermath of American Chestnuts. Without the safe canopy, the old oaks (that have reached a height greater than understory species) are still standing strong, because they grew in the time of the chestnuts. New oaks, born after the chestnuts, are kind of small and weak, and worse, overpowered by understory competition. I've heard from some people that (in part) because of the loss of chestnut, at some point, the eastern woods will just be poplar and maple. No oaks. In terms of ecosystem balance, this could be devastating. Oaks are a prime mast provider, but understory trees are not. A loss of oaks is a loss of good food for animals... I'm not trying to be an animal hugger and say "oh, the poor animals," but I am a huge fan of economics, and I know that when you change one supply in a multi-commodity system, you affect the supply and demand functions of every commodity in the system and the system equilibrium.
But that's the glory of the field of management. Management (at least for forests) is about the maintenance of an equilibrium in the face of a system that naturally strives for otherwise. An effective management system will mimic and ultimately become a natural process for the area, but one that will achieve pre-specified goals. What's beautiful about this... and about not being able to eat Kashi, I suppose... is that management of a seemingly hopeless situation can produce stellar results. Chestnut is still struggling now, but there's a lot of devotion to its restoration. My intestines may be fighting now, but I'm devoted to healing them. Chestnut is not going down without a good silvicultural fight, and I don't think it will actually go down at all. If anything, I believe that chestnut will return to the overstory. And I believe that one day, I'll be healed. It's not at all a logical train of thought... but as S says frequently, "everything in Nature is logical, the hard part is figuring out how to understand it."
Well, since that was long enough, I'll just conclude and say that I'm glad to be here today, with my "pseudo-Kashi." It's forty-five and rainy again; the world is still elegant.
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