Jack Burns Lives!

Today is one of those spectacular early spring days when you can just sit outside for hours. The southern sky is a brilliant blue, clear as you’ll ever see it, and the yard is full of blooming Indian strawberry (Duchesnea indica) and wild violets (Viola nephrophylla), Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) and a host of birds searching for nest building materials and seed.

Sitting by garden, I’m lost in the simple beauty of it all as my thoughts flow backward to similar days in my youth when I would sit and watch insects, especially ants, for hours. Yep. I was the weird kid that loved and was fascinated by all life, including the bugs.

As I age (not so gracefully), days like these make me feel more alive than ever. I’m surrounded by life and feel a deep sense of connectedness to it all. But at the same time I can’t help but wonder why the majority of people in my community pay little or no attention to these things. There’s too much apathy, ignorance and disconnectedness from nature, a disorder most likely caused by poor education, tee-vee and electronic gadgetry that dulls the senses.

But it doesn’t mean people don’t care about their yards. They most certainly do. You see, Indian strawberry and wild violets are considered undesirable weeds by the suburban crowd, pests that need to be wiped out by chemical cocktails provided by criminal organizations like Trugreen. And organizations like Trugreen don’t just kill weeds. They poison ground water and are a direct contributor to the decline in urban amphibian populations.

Where does everyone think this chemical smorgasbord goes? Answer: They don’t know and don’t care. What they believe to be a healthy lawn is actually sick, dying and devoid of wildlife.

But that’s their world, not mine. My immediate world is a world of wonder, a phenomenally complex and beautiful world filled with hundreds of interacting, living species in an area only 1/4 of acre large. I’m quickly alerted by the well-known “fee-bee” call of Poecile carolinensis (Carolina chickadee), and look up to see it sweep downward over an expanse of wildflowers bathed in sunlight. Picoides pubescens (Downy woodpecker) lights upon an oak tree, and in just a few hours, Nycticeius humeralis (Evening bat) rules the dark skies illuminated by the stars and the southern moon.

Today is the Spring Equinox, one of the great solar festivals celebrating the coming of spring. It’s one of two days in the year when the day and the night are equal in duration.

Tonight, we had our spring feast and burned the Yule tree in a celebratory fire, offering blessings for the seed and all living things.

I have fond memories of a huge Rite of Spring celebration that was once held in my community. The party lasted for three days with music, food, beer, dancing and celebration of life. And while those days were fun, it all seems so much more serious today. As our home is threatened by global climate change and a constant state of warfare, new life and renewal seems much more tenuous and precious.

I take nothing for granted and give thanks to Mother Earth for all life.

Statements about the dangerous expansion of socialism, anarchism, environmentalism and “liberalism” illustrates the success of the media elites in propagandizing society. It’s almost as if people are still looking under their beds for the bogeyman or communists. But these are myths, popularized by the tee-vee news-entertainment industry are intended to keep the citizenry on edge and dependent on a bloated federal government and equally bloated preachers running tax free businesses with ill gotten gains.

Beyond that, there’s a constantly changing list of enemies beyond our borders, supposed rogue states, trigger happy and ready to invade the United States the moment military spending is cut and the monies are returned to the rightful owners, the citizens. Force fed by the media, the whole charade is intended to keep everyone on edge, so the folks in the Pentagram can keep sending their buddies at Raytheon and Lockheed billion dollar checks.

After all, how can government stay in business if it’s shown it’s not needed? (more…)

I’ve been camping out the past two nights, enjoying the magnificent moon and trying to keep my mind off March Madness: Iraq, the potential grizzly delisting, climate change and all the problems right here in my own backyard.

Which is why I’m in literally in my backyard, a little sanctuary for green things, birds, mammals and their featherless bi-ped friend, Jack.

Why sleep indoors? It’s 65 degrees during the day, low to high 40′s at night and the sky has been crystal clear and filled with stars, bats and swaying trees. I rest when the other animals rest and rise as they rise. Sleep with the moon, rise with the sun, in touch with my natural surroundings, not walled off by concrete, plaster and glass, closed off from the soothing sounds of life as it should be.

Sure, I get some weird looks from the neighbors, but who cares. The majority of the residents (furry and feathered) are doing what I’m doing.

I’m enjoying a resplendent Waxing Gibbous moon this weekend and anxiously awaiting one of my favorite times of year, the Vernal Equinox and Rite of Spring. There have been a number of bats racing back and forth beneath the moon, most likely “Evening Bats,” (Nycticeius humeralis) a very important part of the Lower Mississippi Riverine Forest Bioregion because they control the insect population.

As spring nears, my thoughts are on the resiliency of the earth and its ability to somehow renew itself despite the actions of humans. Daffodils and Dogwoods bloom, Black bears in the Smokies emerge from their winter slumber, Red-bellied woodpeckers forage for food and build new homes (this photo is high res so you can see the woodpecker burrowing deep inside the tree), and if we can manage to reverse the damage done by criminal coteries like Trugreen, we might even see frogs and toads again.

But environmental “recovery” and sustainability requires sufficiency in living. It requires that man live within limits and recognize that he is just another component of the biosphere, not a lord or governor able to do whatever he chooses. Choices have consequences and even a cursory glance at my bioregion and my community reveals that humans have made some very poor choices and don’t seem to be anywhere close to making better ones. (more…)

I spent most of today on the patio, watching my neighbors hang out in the yard. There was a small congregation of juncos and sparrows, Carolina wren, Northern Cardinal, Red-bellied woodpeckers and those bothersome grackles.

The juncos won’t be around too much longer. Once the temps near the 80 degree mark, they’ll be heading northward, fleeing the frequently intense southern heat and humidity. If I could only convince several hundred thousand humans to go with them….

While I watched, I started drawing some mental pictures of my garden. I’ll need to move the tomatoes this year and the odd layout of the property will challenge my creativity. The property drains poorly, but I’ll make it work.

With temps for the week forecasted in the low 70′s, it’s almost time.

A recent Colorado Division of Wildlife press release suggests that a lone wolf may have wandered into and established residence in Northern Colorado. A Colorado Division of Wildlife manager took a video after following up on a report from a local rancher. While it is not confirmed, the evidence strongly suggests that it is in fact a wolf.
You can see that video here.

The last known breeding population of wolves in Colorado was exterminated in the 1940s, and if the wolf is to be re-established, it will most likely be via reintroduction, not a natural migration from Yellowstone. Colorado has a successful lynx reintrodution program, and we can only hope that one day wolves and grizz will once again roam the Rockies and San Juan’s, although there is evidence to suggest there are still grizzlies in the Southern San Juan’s.

Rod Coronado recently wrote an interesting essay about eco-defense for EarthFirst! Journal titled “Howling Like A Wild Wolf.”
While I don’t agree with everything in the essay (using explosives or arson to destroy property), the parallels he draws between the Apache and the eco-warriors of today caught my attention.

Just today, I discovered he was arrested on February 22 by FBI and ATF agents and is being held without bail. At least for now. Information about his arrest and status is posted on this site.

This case, along with others like it, demonstrates the folly of believing it’s possible to successfully meet force with force when confronting the power of the government and the the type of terrorism it protects. Just like Victorio, Nana and Geronimo, you eventually run out of places to hide, you run out of ammo and end up on the reservation. But in this case, the reservation is a federal prison.

Perhaps a better option is an Aikido strategy, whereby we use the force of the current violent and destructive government to bring about its own end. We should follow the path of the Tao, that of least resistance, occupying an almost invisable position, one that is passive but not weak.

Want to change the balance of power? Consider the power of balance.