My Roman Garden- presented at ACL 2014-William and Mary

My Roman Garden 2014

Biclinium in vineyard near amphitheater, Pompeii

The Romans had various gardens.    There was the vegetable garden much like those of today- in fact modern gardens are very roman for many vegetables grown today are plants developed and improved by the Romans.  The famous family of Caepio may have been well known at one time for their onions, that of Cicero for the chickpea and Fabius for the bean.  There are other gardens, formal and informal- both of these gardens were attractive but also very practical. It was the place where the family often spent a great deal of time- here they dined, walked, talked, sat in silence and enjoyed peace and argued.  This is the garden primarily which we will look at today.  

Why bother to develop a Roman garden?  Can there possibly be any advantages?  To someone devoted to Roman antiquity? To someone trying to interpret texts?

Olive, a symbol for Mercury

Think of the number of times something has been missed simply because of preoccupation with something else.  That scene in the Aeneid where Mercury swoops down from Mt. Atlas to put a fire under Aeneas.  It is easy  to focus on some deep meaning. But if a person is not careful it is easy to miss the realization how much Virgil loved nature and how keenly he observed it.

So when the garden began to take shape and as plants were added and more and more time was spent in the garden, passages in Cicero, Virgil, Ovid or pick your favorite author, became moments to connect with nature instead of passages to be studied in a windowless room.  In fact much of Latin literature is meant to be read outside. 

Entrance from the road

Entrance from barn area

Walkway- house of Tiburtinus, Pompeii

There are three ways to enter this garden.  One from the road, one from the barn ( Romans reveled in design which moved from dark to light or light to dark) and one from the house. From left to right we see herb beds, a pergula with a wisteria clawing its way up, then moving on to a circular graveled area entered via a winding path and last fruit trees, apples, followed by the vegetable garden now with raised beds.

Wisteria

Wisteria

Years ago before this garden was conceived, there was a cherry tree beside which a wisteria seed was placed.  It grew and grew, strangled the cherry and the pergula came along to support the wisteria. This wisteria has long since killed the cherry and now is putting pressure on the pergula.  Now it can be understood why the Romans let such things go- they are beautiful, attractive and delightful.  If the wisteria ever destroys the pergula, another will be built. Better that than cutting down the wisteria.  Just think of those murals with scenes of vining plants climbing a pergula and embracing it.    Beauty trumps practical.  

Yet the wisteria provides shade, even protection in a light rain, and comfort on a hot day.  

The open circle is for cooler times.  Here the sun can be enjoyed and provide warmth and a view of the sky.  Romans found the sky fascinating night and day. 

Warm reading area

Chimney swifts arrive in north eastern Ohio sometime in late Spring. They build their nests with mud and sticks inside the chimney and provide much pleasure because they can be heard descending into the chimney from inside the house. When the young hatch, their eager voices can be heard the moment mom and dad enter the chimney with a mouthful of insects.  No way could anyone ever forget the sight of these agile flyers as they enter and exit a chimney.  Every time they change direction in flight it means that they have seen an insect and grabbed it.  

While watching these acrobats twist turn at will, the sheer beauty of Mercury on his way to tell Aeneas to shove off becomes striking. Mercury sets out and flies down from Mt Atlas and - well, let Virgil tell:

Chimney Swifts

from Mt. Atlas Mercury headlong with his whole body hurtled himself toward the waves, like a bird which around the shores, around rocks full of fish low flies near the water's surface.  In the same way between land and sky he cut the air coming from Mt Atlas. ( IV. 253-258 ) 

Of course the poetry is wonderful, the style is so very artful but it takes on value because it is based on the real world, the world any Roman could see, imagine and enjoy.  The chimney swifts make Virgil's passage beautiful and very real.  This would not have been noticed without this garden. These lines would be worthwhile to translate just for the beauty of the scene.  Virgil was outside in his garden when he wrote these words. 

Romans placed baskets in ivy beds and let the ivy engulf the basket.  Here logs were used. 

Ivy mounds buried in snow

The mound of ivy takes on a pleasant shape in winter.  Virgil's description of Mercury's flight past Mt Atlas could easily be appreciated here:

Ivy mounds

Then flying along he sees the head and lofty sides of Mt Atlas, who balances the sky at his peak.  Atlas whose pine covered head continuously with dark clouds is pounded by wind and rain. Snow covers his shoulders, then rivers of snow trail from his chin and his beard bristling with pine is stiff with ice.  (IV.  246-251)

No birds, no mountains but the chill of ice and snow is there. Was Virgil swiftly composing these lines while outside in the c

old? Imagine Virgil's delight when he witnessed falling leaves and then composed the scene near the River Styx.

In Cicero's work, De Oratore, he lays out what an orator needs for excellence.  Here, just as in the Aeneid, it is easy to miss how much these people enjoyed nature. In De Oratore I.28 we see Cicero's beloved teacher, Crassus, and friends talking and walking through a garden.  In II.20 they are walking along a portico, looking out on to a palaestra, part of a garden, around which were several benches. The scene in III.17 is interesting as Cotta, one of the gathering, relates how after their rest he found Crassus in the garden in serious thought, so much so that Cotta backs away.  In III.18 they decide to locate in the woods because it is shady and cool.

The literary images makes the scenes come alive.  The scene is presented as one familiar to Romans. It was chosen as a place suitable for discussion.  A garden breathes life into old books.

Leaf skeleton in early Spring

Looking at Virgil, Pliny, Cicero, Ovid and others through the lens of a garden it becomes clear that Romans liked nature.  They enjoyed flowers, insects, trees and the fragrance these bring and animals.The very nature of their gardens attracted countless birds, insects and reptiles.

In De Natura Deorum Cicero sets out the different views on religion.  One view, that of Epicurus,  suggests that the universe is the product of chance.  Beyond the material world there is nothing.   Matter is all that matters.  It seems that the epicureans are winning the argument that chance and not any plan has brought life and the universe to this point. They met at someone's home, seated around a curved bench in a garden.  

Maybe they are correct but it seems that it is more than valuable to have someone like Cicero who holds out for another view. I have learned few things in life but of this I am sure- no advancement has ever been made in understanding when everyone is in agreement.  Partly because each person must learn what others have learned.  Knowledge is not something which one person learns and then everyone else accepts it as truth- that is the road to dogma.  The acquisition of knowledge is constant and ever reaches back.  

Even though our culture has so many differences with antiquity it is well to remember that the nature and needs of humans have not changed.  

The stoic replies to the ideas of Epicurus:

Examine the earth, placed in the middle, a solid sphere and everywhere rolled up into itself by its own gravity, clothed with flowers, plants, trees, fruits, all of whose incredible magnitude with its own endless variety is distinguished /marked.  Add to this the cool ever flowing fountains, the crystal clear rivers, their banks clothed with radiant green, the vaulted loftiness of caves, rugged rocks and cliffs…..but how much beauty there is of the sea, the appearance of its vast expanse, countless variety of islands, charming shores and bays… (II. 98)

In another work, De Finibus (III.73), he wonders how anyone can make judgements about good and evil unless the whole system of nature has been learned.   

The garden was the place where these people thought, wrote and talked and argued.  The garden influenced thought and supported argument.

It is difficult to miss the fascination, the respect and awe the group has for the world around them.  The garden questions a common modern view that all of life, the complexity of humans is no more than statistical data.  

De Natura Deorum takes place around an exhedra at someone's house.  There is one similar at Pompeii- part of a tomb with a garden at one time behind it.  It makes sense that this discussion took place in a garden in an exhedra.  Its shape is very conducive for a discussion as no one is left out.  Those present must surely have looked around at the plants, sky, birds over head as points were made.  In a garden one can hear their voices.

So often chance seems to explain it all.  But then again how can chance come from reason and order? How can chance be predictable?

A curiosity

To return to the garden in winter setting, there was this leaf whose stem somehow imbedded in the snow.  Look closely and then imagine how the circles were made in the snow.  The bulbous end of the stem kept the leaf in place but the wind blew from enough different directions to cause the leaf to spin.  That is chance, an accident. A wondrous accident.  But the complexity of the leaf, its structure, development and final form is merely a result of accident?  The fellow who espoused Epicureanism would say yes but the stoic would point to plants about them and express doubt.  Perhaps life is too complex for numbers alone to explain it all.

In Pliny the Elder's Natural History we learn that peppermint (menta) was used to stuff pillows and brushed on tables to provide a pleasant scent for dining(XIX.160.).  This was also used to increase energy, promote eagerness for food, prevents milk from souring(XX.147) .

In Ovid's Baucis and Philemon we see Baucis leveling the table with a broken piece of pottery; and then wipe clean the table with mint. (VII. 662-663)

The mint just outside the door no doubt was used to bring pleasant odor to the scene and make their guests eager to eat.  The scene must have been one familiar to anyone reading this.  One of the most fun areas to weed in this garden are these patches of mint.  Afterwards the hands are very redolent and the fragrance lasts.

Herbs, a pot and a frog- all of which were welcome in a Roman Garden

One of the pleasantries of a garden is that nature is everlasting and that the worries with which the news media bombards us pales beside the pervasive power of nature.  

So what good would  a garden be during trying times?  During the Civil War of the Republic, Roman armies had marched all over Spain, Africa, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt by the time Cicero wrote to Varro in June/May of 46.  In 46 BC all was not going well.  The Civil War was still raging. Munda was yet to come.  The courts were a mess. Tens of thousands died on fields of battle at the siege of Brundisium, early battles in Spain, Pharsalus, Zela and Thapsus.  Elections, real elections were non-existent. 

Gardens are havens for fascination- note spider deep in nest

In a letter Cicero mentions to Varro (177) the difficulty of enduring the arrogance of Caesar's crowd, the pain of watching what was taking place in Rome and the need to dive into literature and philosophy.  Cicero does suggest that if no one seeks their advice, perhaps they should write on political theory in hopes of the future. As Varro and Cicero make their plans for a visit, Cicero writes:

if you are less able to come to me, I will rush to you.  If you have a garden as part of your library, nothing will be lacking (180).

When Cicero went to visit Varro he looked forward to their talks, Varro's library and garden. Gardens empowered these people. Was there mint nearby? Peppermint?  The times could gnaw at the heart but books and a garden could make it better.  

A doll made from an althea flower

Sometimes a garden can give us a glimpse into the lively imagination of children. A sweet young lady picked an althea, placed it on a spindle and imagined a dancer with skirt billowing as she spun about. 

These gardens meant more than the house itself.  After the earthquake at Pompeii in 62 AD, Jasemski's digs at Pompeii showed over and over that the first repairs done were to the gardens. ( D. Octavius Quartio/Loreius Tiburtinus) 

So it makes sense when Cicero went to check on his brother's place that he gives an update on progress for his house at Laterium.  While there were many comments about room plans and column alignment, Cicero commented on the utter beauty of the gardener's efforts (21):

although your house which is a place for contemplation seems to scold the insanity of certain luxurious houses. I praised the gardener. Ivy has so thoroughly entwined everything ; the foundation of the house and the spaces between the columns of the walkway that those draped statues seem themselves to be busy in the garden and offering the ivy for sale.

Thyme was used to treat snake bites and huge fields were grown to allow bees to make honey of it, honey which was highly prized(XX.245).

Few herbs have the potent fragrance and flavor of rosemary.

Rose from my parent's farm

Rose was used in perfume, chaplets, garnish on tables and amorous crowns in bedrooms. (XXI.  14-15)

Penny royal (puleium) was used for its sweet scent and to relieve headache(XIX.159-160).

In Pliny the Elder it is fun to see that Varro, a very serious scholar, had a sense of humor.  Pliny says: 

As far as Varro was concerned a crown of pennyroyal was more properly in the bedroom than one of the rose for it possessed the ability to relieve headache.(XX.152)

Sculptures of rabbits , deer, ducks, dogs, cows, birds, and so on have been  found on site in Pompeii.  Here we have Rana custos who is on guard duty and La Tartaruga plods. Romans did invite tortoises into their homes as they devoured insects.

Ara Pacis- there are numerous insects and birds

If ever in Rome, spend a day sitting around the Ara Pacis.  It is a place of peace.  Here numerous plants favored, used, grown, admired by ordinary Romans are everywhere.  There are grasshoppers.  This fellow feasts on the flower of the acanthus.  But he needs color- a garden can provide that.  Interestingly many plants are common weeds. Lizards dart about.  Snails softly glide. Frogs are there too.  But frogs are green.  What is more beautiful than a butterfly?  He begs for color.  How about a striking yellow? And look at that morning glory; blue would suit it just fine. Here one can learn that there is no need for statues in a garden, for the rose speaks of Venus, the frog of Apollo, the scorpion of Dionysus and grain of Ceres. A garden makes the Ara Pacis explode with color. 

Ovid's  Baucis and Philemon kindly receive a disguised Jupiter and Mercury.  Lelex, the story teller, describes the area.  An oak tree beside a linden stands among grassy hills surrounded by a low wall.  On the lower branches hang garlands placed there by those who have gone to visit the spot.  This is a garden tomb such as those at Pompeii.  Such a story would conjure up the reality of the presence of divinity.  A garden empowers the mind to color a tomb.  The sight takes on its own intrinsic beauty. What greater gift can divinity give than for two so devoted to pass together while doing what they loved?  These tombs are places of celebration and joy far more than a spot for grief.

Gardens are a vehicle for time travel.  Pliny the Elder gives detailed information on the grafting of trees.  He says that it was discovered by accident- after a farmer  had cut down a row of trees he jammed young branches into and among the stumps. The fence above began to grow using the base of the other tree below as a host. (XVII. 101).  From there the Romans became masters at grafting. 

Apple trees are an odd group.  Take a seed from a yellow delicious, plant it and what do we get?  Who knows but maybe not a yellow delicious.  The Romans somehow figured out that grafting preserved genetic purity.  If one takes a twig, called a scion, from a yellow delicious,  and grafts a bud to a suitable trunk, we get a yellow delicious.  There are some apples very very old which have been preserved through the centuries in this manner.  The pendu plat apple is the oldest known apple, brought to England by the Romans, perhaps during the time of Claudius. When near this tree it is easy to argue that this tree, the pendu plat, the one here in this garden, is a continuation of one grafted by Columella, Cato or Pliny.  When we touch this tree, we can touch Cato or Cicero.  A garden allows us to walk with Cicero as he discusses natural law along the Liris River in De Legibus.

Technology is not needed for time travel.  All we need is a love of nature. That has been here with us since the beginning of time.

Why have a garden? In a day and age when Hollywood mentality sets the tone for society's view of the past, it is nice to meet reality and wallow with Romans in the music of Nature's lessons. After watching Romans tend, fit, weed and fill their gardens, I have a suspicion that this is their source of power and this is at least part of the reason why they toiled and fought so hard.  

In every garden lies a pot of gold.

708. All Flesh is Grass by Gene Logsdon

708.  All Flesh is Grass by Gene Logsdon.  First the habit- annual grain crops dominate what comes out of farms.  Gene suggests that this habit is derived from the Medieval habit of walled towns setting up focused gardens within the walls for protection.  These farms maximized space for high production.  When humans moved out of the walls the habit was maintained.  As tools improved tilling was expanded.  And continues to this very day.  He says it is an expression of the desire to control nature.

The problem- annual grain production is very expensive: dust bowls- tilling land which should not be tilled.  The old system of pasturing worked but new tools made it seem that production was increasing and more could be done while sitting.  Fairs added to the problem in that the bigger animal won, thus it was soon learned that grain was the way to accomplish this.  This pushed tilling even more to have the grain at hand to do it.  Those with money were more able to do this.  Remember- in my view the meek shall inherit the earth.  Animals were crossed to promote growth.  Thus breed gene lines have been damaged.  Till farming consumes large amounts of fossil fuels, requires expensive equipment which puts farms in debt, requires use of fertilizers and pesticides and herbicides.  It increases the amount of erosion, the equipment required to harvest is very expensive.  All of these also cause farmer to have less and less to do with soil and the nature of the land.  The list is not done-  speed of harvest, shipping and production have made artificial drying necessary- this uses a great deal of energy.  The need for storage, transportation over long distances, the manure from large indoor operations has caused serious pollution problems, handling the large amounts of manure is expensive,  confined feeding requires use of antibiotics, to increase weight gain the need for hormones has increased, and then the meat, eggs, milk etc must be transported long distances. Confinement of animals often requires irradiation of the meat.  This for example in chicken destroys 95% of vitamin A.  It increases mutagens and carcinogens such as formaldehyde and butane.  It also kills organisms which keep botulism under control.  Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) helps fight cancer, obesity and diabetes.  However, 50 % is lost when grains are fed to dairy. Grains adversely effect meat too.

So what is the solution?  At the moment something like 90% of farming is for that of growing grain and 10% is in pasture.  Gene suggests that this be reversed- 80 % in pasture and 20 % in annual grain.

In pasture farming the animals are let out onto a field.  In this system, the animals harvest the their own food.  Since they are out on the field so much, they fertilize the soil, help to keep down weeds and actually benefit the grasses in the field when the animals are properly rotated from field to field.  Pasture farming can work on poor soil.

The evidence provides a strong argument that pasturing produces more meat that confinement.  But the agribusiness resists pasture farming because money is tied up in equipment.  The production of these machines employs people.  They argue that fewer animals can be grown on a given amount of land when pastured.  But the total amount of plant growth consumed on an acre of alfalfa is greater than an acre of corn.  Animals which grow on corn have a faster growth rate but their nutrition suffers.  But till farming has won out over pasturing because of government subsidies for multiple levels of numerous industries.  But till farming has caused the loss of many jobs as people have left farms and moved to cities to find work. Gene suggests that smaller famrs would actually employ more people.  Fewer expensive machines would allow greater number of people employed, yet the farmer would still do well. 

Grass farming is brain farming not factory farming.  Pasture farming takes into account that fossil fuels will not be around for ever.  Gene suggests that there must be a transition from megafarming to small farming with small equipment to human/horse farming of the future.  This sounds kind of wild, but he may be right.  As I learned in Green Illusions - the costs, pollution, health problems associated with so-called green energy is not so rosy.

He does not have much faith in research methods employed by universities because he makes the case that land, climate, weather, seeds, soil, animals grown, different crops grown are so intertwined and complex that controlled studies are almost worthless.  

Gene realized looking back on his own childhood on the farm that it made no sense to clean the barn, harvest the crops, work constantly, while the cows stood in the shade of trees and watched.

Gene came to know Bob Evans, the Bob Evans, who set up farming in southern Ohio on poor soil, land that few wanted and figured out how to pasture his cows year around.

Gene gives numerous examples of farms who plant corn for example and let the animals eat it in the field-  first lambs are let on to the corn to eat the lower leaves.  Then later the pigs are let on to it to consume the ears of corn.  Then in the winter the cows and sheep are let out to consume what was left.  Machines were perhaps needed to till the field and plant the seed, but everything else was done by the animals while the farmer sat in the shade and watched.  By the way- the animals provided the fertilizer for next year's growth, worms increase in such a system to aerate the soil, there are even weeds which when they die, their roots leave a cavity which allows moisture to enter the ground.  Often in this set up grasses can be planted among the rows of corn in the fall- these, the grasses fix nitrogen in the soil.

Gene himself learned that he needed to watch his animals, watch the land, observe results and find what worked for HIS AREA.  He learned that one universal rule does not fit all.  Standards in agriculture apparently are just as dangerous as standards in education.  Rate of grass growth of different grasses just may require two grasses which grow at different rates.  But proper grazing by sheep for example can allow the slower grasses to emerge as the sheep are moved to another field.  During this time the slower grass may take off while the other grass fades as summer dryness takes effect.  Also one grass may benefit another grass and vice-versa.  In a sense two grasses may battle it out to the benefit of each.

His point is this- farms must adapt the kind of animal, breed and characteristics and soil, climate and grasses to each other.  One size does not fit all.

Gene gives examples and models for farming with a wide range of animals and the grasses needed to feed these animals.  He even discusses the potential which weeds may have for pasturing- at least in some areas.

There is a valuable quote- page 136-137:

I suppose that as long as one stays within the abstract world of mathematics or even the molecular cause-effect structures of chemistry, scientific methodology is fairly straightforward and can lead logically to some valid conclusions.  But in the real world of human and animal behavior, science can easily founder on the almost unlimited variables that come into play.  Husbandry is an imperfect science.  Agricultural scientists perform their experiments where they can exclude as many variables as possible in an effort to isolate the one cause-effect phenomenon that they are studying.  Generally their conclusions hold up only until they clash with some other isolated cause-effect experiment.  Why society in general puts so much faith in this kind of science is beyond me.  

We as a culture have decided that the principles of business can be applied to farming and look at the results.  The principles of business are now being applied to education and a new disaster is in the making.

696.  The Contrary Farmer by Logsdon.  A wonderful book.  He makes clear the vibrant life which farmers lead.  The fun they have.  The joy of friendship and fellow companions.  He constantly reveals the delight of gazing at a meadow or field of oats or wheat and taking delight in a sea of glory.  But it is not nostalgia.  It is a way of life that he makes clear is important for a meaningful existence.  For him the goal is not to afford a Beamer but to wallow in the independence which such a life brings.  He discusses the value of trees and woods to slow down the wind, encourage a variety of wildlife and enrich the soil.  He talks of the beauty of a pond and value of fish for the table.  He does not recommend going overboard and making something too big or expand too much but instead keep it simple so that a person is not overwhelmed and work becomes the driving force instead of the joy of life.  His chapter of corn is interesting, not only the danger of modern industrial raised corn but his own efforts at developing open pollinated corn.  He just may hold the record for the largest ear of corn ever grown.  He plants one to two acres of corn by hand.  He harvests it by hand and shucks it. He gives a great deal of practical advice which is fun to read- doing one's own repairs, how to buy used equipment and keep it simple, work with other farms and for a trade of some sort have them combine or something.  He talks of the joy of growing one's own wheat, grinding it into flour and making one's own bread or pasta.  All of this is presented in the sense that there will be hard work.  However, he points out the absurdity of looking with distain on working with soil and then coming home and while some hired dude mows the lawn go run for two hours.  He wonders why the hard work of a linebacker whose brain is hammered and damaged each and every game is admired but someone who toils in the soil for society's benefit is looked at as the village idiot. He has nothing but praise for gardeners, small or large. In fact he views these as important and valuable contributors to meaningful contact with the soil.  I will be reading this book again.

694.  Living at Nature's Pace.  by Logsdon.  A very interesting book which opens one's eyes to what is happening to this country.  Between politics and ignorant bureaucrats much damage has been done to farm land.  This has direct effect on not just the countryside but land itself and city life.  As one deteriorates so does the other.  Industrial techniques have been applied to farming with huge equipment, gigantic farms, low wage employees (this- low wage employees is a problem in and of itself).  This has resulted in using increasingly dangerous chemicals to fertilizes the soil.  It was once the case that a farmer had any combination of cows or pigs or sheep or chickens or all of these.  Their manure was spread on the fields.  Consequently no fertilizer was needed in the artificial sense.  Crops were rotated in a far more elegant and sophisticated manner.  This reduced the amount of plowing, gave the land time to recover for the next rotation.  This method also prevented the growth and increase of insects.  Insects never have time with this method to grow to uncontrollable numbers.  However, with industrial methods, there is little crop rotation and consequently as insects have grown in numbers, more and more pesticide is used.  A whole host of problems have flowed from this- pollution in the streams, loss of bird populations (as plants with industrial farming have become more uniform there has been a drop in diversity of animals living off of or near that land) and damaged soil.  No-till has also added its own set of problems.  It does not prevent erosion as promised and requires immense chemicals to produce a crop and huge tractors to do this, tractors which are so heavy that they cause soil compaction.  All of this has also required those who have bought into all of this to go heavily into debt.  For this expensive equipment makes production from an acre of land to cost more, thus a farmer borrows more to add more land to try to increase profit. Consequently the expansion is endless until the economy changes and then these farms are in big trouble.  Of course with the advent of industrial farming has come investment from monied people who are looking for an investment.  They have the pull necessary to sway members of congress (most of which know little or nothing about gardening let alone farming and soil) to subsidize these modern farming practices.  Against all of this talk that this is the only way to do it,  Logsdon offers the Amish who farm with horses, raise a variety of animals,  rotate crops on a grand scale, keep costs down, produce as much per acre as the industrial farmers, make more money and lead happier lives.  I highly recommend this book.  Logsdon also points out with great care that the Amish are not backwards but have used and adapted modern or old equipment in such a way that the equipment does not run their life but only enhances it.

558. Great Possessions. David Kline-Summary

558.  Great Possessions.  David Kline.  This Amish man explodes the view that the Amish are ignorant.  He and his family are very impressive naturalists who have a valuable contribution to make with their perspective on humans place in the world.  He draws the reader into his world in different ways.  His descriptive powers are full of charm and they linger too.  The following are examples:  As Jack ( this is a wild flower), in early May, stands in his pulpit beneath a green and purple striped sheath, there’s often a choir of scarlet tanagers and vireos overhead.  Here is another:  It has been said that the gentle bluebird carries the blue of heaven on his back and the rich brown of freshly turned earth on his breast.  Just one more:  Entering the woods, I soon found an old log to sit on.  Resting and watching I could feel the rhythm of the season (Autumn).  The trees were alive with migrating yellow rumped warblers and our resident birds who were busily feeding.  The birds also seemed to be enjoying the splendid day.  There is another way he draws the reader into his world.  He discusses Nature in such a way to reveal how fascinating the world is.  Katydids rub their wings to make music.  One edge is the scraper, the other edge is the file.  At the base of the wings there is an amplifier made of chitin.  This is the same material out of which the exoskeleton is made.  This material is stronger than a comparable thickness of steel.  Thus the katydid can be heard up to one half mile away.  Since I just mentioned an insect, David teaches us that we need the birds for beauty and to help keep a balance in nature.  But  the birds need each other.  The Great Horned Owl makes its nest in old red tailed hawk nests.  The birds even need us.  The Barn Owl finds barns a fine place to set up home to raise their family.  Bluebirds depend on us for nesting boxes.  David also has facts which are just plain interesting.  Columbus may have discovered the Americas because he and his crew smelled sassafras.  Bats can hear a fly cleaning its wings.  The Arctic Tern migrates from the Arctic to Antarctica.  He uses these interesting facts and beautiful descriptions to make another point.  One which is sorely needed in these times.  Man’s place is not to stray out of nature but to be part of it, to revel in it and be a quality steward of Nature.  He points out the the Barn Owl population is down.  He has not the explanation of a biologist or research scientist but that of a farmer.  His view should be taken very seriously.  The state purchased farm land and preserved barns and put Barn Owl nesting boxes in them.  As time passed, the fields which were once plowed and crops harvested, turned to brush and forest.  As a result the hunting areas for Barn Owls dwindled and they left.  To David Kline man is part of Nature.  One day David was splitting an white ash (his favorite wood) for winter heat.  Part of the tree happened to be hollow.  He split a log and he exposed a hive of carpenter ants and their eggs.  David sat down to take a break and watch the world around him.  Soon a chickadee came and took an egg.  Not long after that several came and eagerly attacked the eggs.  He was part of the meal that the chickadees enjoyed and he also derived pleasure from the whole.  Nature and humans are not separate but inextricably enter twined.  David praises the beauty of God’s creation, encourages us to protect this beauty by being in it and part of it. Humans are part of nature.