Guilford Trees

My office at present is on the 5th floor of the Guilford Building on South Elm in Greensboro. I love it downtown. I look to the north out of my window and see downtown proper and beyond. Though I can’t make out individual trees in the distance, there is a lot of green out there.

A while back I had an office in a building near the corner of Westridge Road and Battleground Avenue. There was a parking area that backed up to a gas station, to one neighbor’s back yard, and to a side road called Nathaniel Street. There was a small buffer of a few feet between the parking lot and each of these different bordering pieces of land.

One day while sitting in the parking lot I wrote the following. I call it “Guilford Trees.” I was speaking at first of the small little spaces of trees surrounding the parking lot.

In these rather small spaces a variety of typical local trees are reaching and stretching for sunlight. There is a young sycamore maybe 8 inches in diameter, the trunk completely white, that has bent and wound its way to its spot in the sun. From it hangs many of last fall’s sycamore balls. There are a couple of sweet gum trees, each with its component of unfallen sweet gum balls dangling as they do. There are several young tulip poplars growing tall and straight trying to outrace as it were all others to the open sun. There is a loblolly pine tree (most common tree of my hometown), several Virginia pines, a few maples, a red oak, a dogwood, a white oak, a black locust, and a small hickory tree.

300 years ago before settlement by European colonists, many of these same kinds of trees would have made up the mature forests of the rolling hills and stream bottoms of what is now Guilford County.

It is highly likely that over the course of time well over 95% of the land in Guilford County has at some point been cleared for crops. What has not been cleared for crops has been logged for wood. There are no known stands of “virgin” or even mature climax forest in Guilford County.

In fact, most of the land has been cleared several times over again. The remaining forested parts of our county, even in the creek and river bottom lands, contain second third or even fourth growth forest.

The early settlers who came down from Pennsylvania and Virginia came to an area almost absent of a local Indian population. The Saura Indians based in the present Eden area to our north and Randolph County area to our south had at one time roamed and hunted and even farmed freely in what is now Guilford County. Because of pressure from marauding Iroquois tribes the Saura had fled from the area before it was setled. Yet, they had left their mark. The first settlers were surprised at the number of open fields filled with tall grasses that would reach up to the height of a man’s chest riding on a horse.

But mostly the land was continuous forest. Early settlers cleared the forests for crops lands, usually using poor farming techniques, and either cleared more land or moved on when the soil was depleted or eroded away. Fields would convert back to forest, which future farmers and settlers would clear and log again.

Not only were the forests cleared for growing crops, but the trees were needed for fuel for fireplace and furnace, as well as for building supplies – for wheels and casks and barrels and furniture. Many trees were cut and exported for use by the military or by industries growing up around the country.

Most of the forests we have today are in the midst of various stages of the process of plant succession. Thus on a hike around Lake Brandt one might come across (even in a thickly wooded area), a large oak tree with old branches spreading out horizontally, a sure sign of a tree having grown up in an open space with no competition from neighboring trees, and with no need to waste resources in a race to the top of the canopy. Likewise, amidst stands of mixed hardwood and pine woods one will come across a row of old red cedars, marking no doubt an old fence line dividing field from field.

Had we been able to walk into what is now Guilford County 250 years ago we would have found largely mature hardwood forests, though even some of those forests would have grown up from fields cleared by Indians long before. These mature piedmont forests would have been characterized by a dense high canopy made up primarily of white oak, chestnut, hickory, southern red oak, and tulip poplar, the lower part of the canopy itself perhaps a hundred feet high. At ground level the field of view would have been dominated by large tree trunks spaced much farther apart than we are accustomed in our woods today. Tree trunks would have exceeded two feet in diameter for the great white oaks, and up to four or five feet in diameter for tulip poplars. The forest floor would have been relatively clear of brush, with somewhat of a park-like feel. Under this think canopy would have been scattered dogwood, sourwood, ironwood, redbud, beech, and other smaller trees.

Creek bottoms would have been dominated by huge sycamore trees up to six or more feet in diameter, along with massive tulip poplars, with great beeches and maples on the bluffs.

Through these forests ran many well worn paths, some used by Indians, and many packed and cleared of undergrowth by traveling herds of buffalo. It is hard to believe that in our little section of North Carolina, as recently as 250 years ago, there would have been an abundance of buffalo, wolves, elk, and eastern mountain lions, in addition to the common animals we still see today. It was a wild and often dangerous place!

Clearing this land was not for sissies, but cleared it was, in time almost every single bit of it.

Today we have the privilege of watching many forests coming to regain some of their earlier splendor. With agriculture waning in economic significance, there is the likelihood that if we can set aside enough of the tracks of land that are left, maybe our children and children’s children will have even more opportunity than we had of knowing what it would have been like to wander a piedmont forest of long ago.

My Flapper Grandmother (Nanny)

This is far and away the most-viewed picture on my Flickr site. It is of my grandmother Mary Sue Gillespie, my dad's mom, before she was married to my grandfather I think, and in a beautiful 1920's outfit. The condition of the 80+ year old print was outstanding, and it made for a great scan. "Nanny" was always a classy lady, and a wonderful guide and help and friend to me. I just thought I'd share this photo with you all again.

See my Flickr Set - Nanny.

Patsch, A Village in Western Austria

Got nostalgic about Austria today,, so I went back and looked at some pictures that I took in early April 1978. This little village in Western Austria is called Patsch. In our train tour around the continent we had wearied of the rush and decided to spend a little time in one place, and took a bus ride out to this village. Thanks to Flickr friends for helping me identify the place - I had forgotten.

More Europe in 1978 pictures.

Purple Rock - Badlands SD

I took this on a drive out to Vancouver in August 1980 with my dad. We had taken a detour off I-90 so as to go through the Badlands and we came up on a helicopter - an OLD looking helicopter - sitting on the dirt outside a little shack, with a sign advertising rides. He looked at me and I looked at him and he said "what the hell." So we pulled over. We walked into the shack and there was a very, well, worn looking woman, and she called for "Frank" or whatever his name was, and Frank came stumbling out of the back half asleep. "Want a ride," he said. My dad looked at me, and I looked at him, and he said "what the hell" (again). So Frank started up the chopper and off we went. It was way fun! Dad and I had a blast and got some good pictures too.

Flags for the Fourth

My favorite Greensboro flag picture, in honor of July 4th, 2009!

Downtown Greensboro Pictures

Evolution Revolution Devolution

OK, I admit, the title of this post is dumb. Was just playin'

Anyway, a high school student who currently attends a public school, and who used to attend a private Christian school, asked the following (edited) question about evolution, and I answered as best as I could.

Here is the question...

"Well, I am in Biology this year...my exam in on Friday...and we have been studying the theory of evolution. While we were taking notes in class on evolution the verse from Ecclesiastes came into my head, where it says, "there is nothing new under the sun". Based on the verses before and after that verse I don't really think that it had anything to do with that, evolution I mean, but I was just wondering if it did. It was alot easier at (my fomer school) in science class because we were able to talk about these things from a biblical perspective, but being in a public school that is not how it is taught, or how the discussions go (though, really there are no discussions...it is just accepted as fact). So, I don't know. I get confused because some of it makes since...and then all of a sudden the teacher writes something that I am to copy down and I cannot see how anyone could believe it. So, there you go..."

Great question, don't you think?

And here is my answer...

"Dear ****,

You're right, the verse in Ecclesiastes has nothing to do with evolution, though it does speak to any and all ideas that come to man. Philosophically speaking, in terms of how people so quickly and easily jump from evolution to evolutionism, that is, from a scientific/historic theory of development to a purely materialist view of reality, then it's not new under the sun.

You're also right, in public school for the most part one cannot look at this or most other topics from a biblical perspective, or from a Buddhist perspective, or a Hindu perspective, or Scientology perspective, etc. It's a good thing and a bad thing.

I would venture to say that at most Christian schools they don't really look at the topic from all perspectives either (even if the discussion is more open) because they don't take evolution seriously enough to evaluate it and examine and respect it as the powerful model that it is. In my opinion one cannot speak with credibility to a matter if one does not understand it. I have found evolution too easily reduced to silly cliches by those who like it and those who don't.

Yes indeed, some of it makes sense. In fact, a lot of it makes sense. Not all of it makes sense to me or anyone else, but it is a powerful model or framework for understanding change - especially biological - over time.

We have to remember though that the processes that add up to evolutionary theory are strictly impersonal and with no purpose whatsoever. Evolutionary change is not progress; it is just change. There is no "point" to it. But, since we have a hard time swallowing that, we slip personal language into the process. We give the process "purpose."

On the other hand, and this is important, all scientific study has to have a kind of atheistic methodology. If you want to cure cancer, you find the mechanisms that cause it and you don't assume that the gaps of knowledge are to be filled in by God. We don't just say "God made cancer" and let it go at that.

In a similar way if we are curious about how so many of the plants and animals on an isolated island (like Madagascar) are so different, we don't just say "God made them that way," we try to understand how it is that they are or became different. There is nothing wrong with the impulse to want to understand that. That impulse is a significant part of what makes us human beings.

If you take both the Bible and science seriously, which you should, you will grapple with this issue most of your life one way or another. Just try to learn and understand as much as you can.

More later,

Mr. G."

Turning Stones into Bread

My favorite book on the pastoral ministry was and is "The Art of Pastoring" by David Hansen. I have read it four or five times over the years and given a copy to many people along the way.

In his book Hansen talks about how a person called to be a pastor puts aside the prerogative of what he calls “turning stones into bread” or what I might call “working for a living.” Thus I derive the title of this post from Hansen’s book, though I do not wish to fault him for any bad or erroneous ideas I have come up with on my own!

Technically speaking as a pastor I was not “paid” to do a job as much as “supported” to do that job, in a similar manner as a missionary. OK, that support gets turned into a salary and a paycheck, but the official “call” from the congregation goes like this…”In order that you might devote yourself exclusively to the ministry of the word and pray, we the congregation…”

Once calledin this way, many business instincts are out the window. In my 20 years of pastoral ministry this was one of the most frustrating and also rewarding aspects of the calling.

Although there may have been an indirect correlation between how hard or well I worked on the one hand, and how much money was in the coffers (or in my paycheck) on the other, the pastoral ministry requires that such correlations be far from mind and heart.

If I run a business I can choose to work more hours, spend more money on advertising, or develop new proficiencies with the motive or goal of having more business and as a result more money. I may fail in those efforts, but there is nothing wrong with those efforts or their motivation.

Granted, one would hope that I see some greater good being served through my work, but seeking to provide better for myself and family is a perfectly decent motivation. It isn’t in the church. The moment I am connecting anything I do as a pastor with an increase in “business” (more money coming in) and the normally concomitant increase in “salary,” well, I have profaned the calling and am worthy only to be cast out of it.

Just think of the mischief to which such a motivational correlation would lead . First, it would cause me to spend more energy “courting” wealthier visitors than poorer visitors. Such favoritism is an obscenity. Second, it would lead me to focus pastoral attention and care more on those who offer possibility of financial return rather than on those who really need the care. Usually in such scenarios the mentally ill, the elderly, and the needy get shorted. Third, it would lead me to focus a church outreach on an affluent neighborhood rather than a poorer neighborhood. There is nothing inherently wrong with outreach in a more affluent neighborhood of course;, well, depending…(This reminds me of the almost universal tendency for church plants to be located in what are, on average, more affluent areas. Something seems wrong with that picture.) Fourth, the motive of “building the business” might be the driving force for all sorts of interesting and hip advertising campaigns. That would be bad.

Had he not been called to fast, and were he not being tempted to distrust his Father, there may have been nothing wrong with Jesus turning a stone into bread. Likewise as a pastor I gave up the right to work for my personal well being and benefit, especially financially. I gave up, as it were, the right to turn stones into bread.

On the positive side giving up that right forced me to trust and to pray more. God’s faithful provision over the years for my family’s needs also trained me to attend to the essentials of the calling while being able to rest in the knowledge that He had taken care of us all along the way and would continue to do so.

I was raised in a family of small businesses – my dad, his parents, my mother’s parents, my siblings, and so forth. I sought out work as soon as I was old enough to push a mower, and always had money. If I ran low I went out and made more money. If I needed to I advertised. If I needed to I sought work in the rich neighborhoods rather than the poor ones. If I needed to I worked dawn to dusk day after day.

And so, on the negative side, giving up the “right” to turn stones into bread went against almost every instinct I had and have. This reminds of my first rugby game at Clemson. I played left wing, and I remember on about our first offensive move down the field, after the ball came to me, my football instinct kicked in. I saw a crease and I cut and I ran for it. Had it been football I would have made a twenty yard gain, gotten a first down, and lots of pats on the head. But it was rugby. All I did was cause our team to lose possession once I was down. I got a few knocks on the head for being stupid, that’s about it.

After being well trained in the ministry mindset I am now back in that other world. All in all, I think I like it. It’s scary in a whole different way, but I am enjoying the opportunity to think creatively about how to survive.

As you think of your pastor or rabbi or priest, remember the unique challenge it may be to him or to her to give up the right to turn stones into bread. Be generous and do what you can to allay the anxieties that may eat away and tempt him or her to take that stone, that calling to trust and wait while being devoted to word and prayer, and turn it into bread. The temptation is always there. It can be insidious.

I'm Not Dead Yet, Am I?

So, a professional colleague and friend called me yesterday wanting to know how I was doing. He had heard that I had resigned from the pastorate. I think he wanted the scoop. That is fine and good, but I have learned something interesting in many many such conversations over the last month.

Many people who have talked to me about my resignation seem to view leaving the pastoral ministry as like a death, and thus they talk about it as they would talk at a funeral - quietly, slowly, reverently, heavily, and sadly. I suppose every change is a kind of death. But I don't think that if I had gone from being a CPA to selling organic food at the Farmer's Market that people would have the same view.

It seems out of keeping with Reformed Theology that recognizes the fundamental dignity and significance of each kind of vocation and work. I have never for a moment believed that my work as a pastor was of greater significance than another person's work as a teacher or a businesswoman or brick mason. Likewise, if someone who had been teaching school for a long time decided to go into business instead I don't think I'd miss a beat, even if life changes contributed to the move.

Speaking of teachers, I remember back when I taught high school running into students at the grocery store. They would look at me with some confusion of mind as if to say "He eats?" "Yeah I eat, and I poop too." So there.

Which reminds me to be patient. If almost-adult students had a hard time seeing me apart from my "teacher" mantle or mode, then it's no wonder that people who have known me for 20 years as a pastor would have the same challenge seeing me apart from my "pastor" mantle or mode. Not all do, but many do, maybe most.

Perhaps in some deeper way all along, this very issue has made me a somewhat reluctant pastor. Perhaps I always chaffed at the difficulty of being seen as just a person, flawed and with feet of clay, with lot of things that interest me other than the Bible. I'm thinking lately that this very issue has been worming around in me for years.

I remember back when I was coaching a softball team there was a guy - one of the kid's parents - who often helped out with practices. We talked a lot. He was a very smart and funny guy, and laced his speech with certain profanities that added a kind of salt and spice to what he said. He was a good cusser.

I never ever ask people what they do for a living, but eventually he asked me. "Great," I thought, "there goes the relationship." I told him I was a pastor. I'm not sure he knew what I meant at first. He wasn't southern and so he didn't think "preacher." "You mean like a priest?" he asked. "Sort of," I answered.

Now this has happened several times with me, and almost always people start acting and speaking really differently. I've always hated that. I pray, "Lord, please don't let them ask me THAT question." But in this case he did ask, and, after my answer, he paused a moment as if to think about it, and then said something like "#*%&*, I wouldn't have thought." I loved that guy.

So, for real, I'm not dead, my faith isn't dead, and well, my vocational life isn't dead, as in, "Oh now that I have fallen from my calling I have to do SOMETHING (inherently insignificant) to make money."

Well, I do, have to make money that is. A lot. And so I continue to look and pray for a nice big regular job. And in the mean time, God is providing several smaller jobs, including a tutoring gig starting tomorrow. (I've always liked tutoring - science, math, composition, etc. So call me....) I was thinking today as I hobbled down Elm Street that it would be cool to lead tours of downtown Greensboro - hmmm, could I make any money at that?)

So, please don't tell but I am actually enjoying branching out. I don't feel like I am in a vocational funeral. It feels more like a kind of change of season, maybe summer to fall, and I like the breeze.

Twitter: From Mother Lode to Overload

So, I’ve been fiddling around with Twitter for a couple of months now. As I have come to understand how to use it better and search for people of similar interests I have discovered one of its more powerful features or attributes – a feature so powerful that I don’t yet know what to do with it. That feature? Twitter as a content provider!

For example I am following a lot of folks who are into various aspects of gardening. Not only do these gardeners share daily tasks (“Just finished harvesting the rhubarb”), but they share all sorts of links about every aspect of gardening imaginable. These links generally are to very thoughtful and informative Web sites or blog posts from which I can learn a lot. I have received

more of these than I can ever read!

The same goes for almost every other “topic” that I can think of. It’s like I’ve hit the mother lode of information, so much that I am suffering from information overload, and need to figure out a way, such as with third party apps, to save and categorize all this amazing information.

I ponder what this all means to how we think and work and gain information and expertise. But it is a remarkable phenomenon at any rate.

The Birds

Wednesday evening I came home late from the office - it must have been about 8:00. I parked the van on the road near the driveway (on the cul de sac). As I got out of the car some birds caught my eye, and I stopped to look. Apparently it had just rained, and the water from the pavement on the cul de sac was evaporating. I stood in the middle of the road.

Then they came - the birds that is, first a couple and then more and more. I think they may have been swifts or swallows. They would fly in very fast, then do an arc like an ice skater and be off, circling again a couple of times around trees or just in the air. Their wing beats were incredibly fast. Several flew straight away from me and their wings were just a blur surrounding their body. They would dive into the "asphalt zone" on a steep glide, turn on a dime, zig-zag, and be off again on a circle around a near by tree or just up in the air.

Watching them in front of me, above me, behind me I kept thinking of how an anti-aircraft gunner might feel with planes coming from all directions. On several occasions one or another of them would fly within feet of my head and I could hear the wings and the high pitched twittering. They acted as if I were not even there.

I assume that there were insects rising up perhaps with the humid evaporation off the asphalt, but I could not see anything. The birds zig-zaggy change of direction as they entered the "asphalt zone" suggested feeding, but I could not tell for sure.

There is something joyful and humbling about being in the presence of another creature's life and activity, especially when we are completely irrelevant to that creature. There is a sense of transcendence when we are brought out of ourselves into self forgetfulness and wonder at that which is truly "other." Our overly self conscious selves need this - but it has to come to us, as if by accident, and we have to be prepared to be caught up in it.

The birds kept on whipping in and out and around. I stood in the midst of them for maybe 10 minutes and eventually went into the house. It was the highlight of my week.

A Summer Garden Past

Our humble backyard in a summer past.

See my photostream.

Working It and Keeping It

It says in Genesis 2:8 that “the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.” It goes on to say in 2:15 that “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” All this of course follows, and to a great extent explains, the more general description of man’s purpose as found in Genesis 1:28 - And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

OK, so back to our yards…for those of you that accept the importance and significance of what we read in Genesis above…

Our yard or garden is one little spot under the sun that God has given us that we might exercise dominion over His creation. We can rightly say indeed that by God’s providence He Himself has given our yard or garden to us and placed us in it. Genesis 2 helps understand the nature of this dominion. We are placed in our little bit of creation “to work it and keep it.”

So what does exercise dominion in the sense of “working it and keeping it” look like?

I think that “working it and keeping it” means making our place as beautiful as we reasonably can, since God made His world to be beautiful and pleasing, reflecting back as it were the beauty of His own person. As He created, He Himself liked what He saw, and He pronounced it “good.” I wonder if He would say “good” as to how we have worked and kept our bit of creation? Beauty is important to the Creator of all that is beautiful, and it is important to our neighbor. Indeed, we have more than enough ugliness to contend with on a day to day basis as it is. Beauty is itself a kind of sanctuary.

"Working it and keeping it” means that we seek to extract as much potential goodness out of our little piece of God’s earth as we can. This may mean working the soil to make it even richer, or planting trees and shrubs and flowers that will draw out the fruitfulness of the earth in beautiful and exciting ways. Many of these plants will then provide food for our animal friends. We can plant food for ourselves too – enough even to give some to our needy neighbors. In so doing we extract out a goodness that was there only as it were in waiting for us.

“Working it and keeping it” includes seeking to bless not just other people but all of God’s creatures in and by the bit of the earth He has loaned to us. Birds, mammals, insects, reptiles, amphibians, arachnids – all these can find a home and sources of food in our little spot of the earth. Each adds richness to creation and joy to human life (yes, even spiders when adequately understood). I think of the various animals being brought before Adam (who was alone), each of which (with affection I believe) he named (and blessed in so doing), and I can’t help but think that we were meant to be friends to the animals, and a means by which God blesses them. I believe that animals (especially the higher animals of course) experience a kind of happiness in living, in simply being unselfconsciously what they are. And we get to help bring that about, working in cooperation with Him “who fathers-forth whose beauty is past change. Praise Him.”

“Working it and keeping it” would include I believe care for our human neighbors all around us – within sight and earshot, but also downwind and downstream. Do I really wish to disturb my neighbor’s peace with my power blower? Do I want to pollute the air and water of all my neighbors downstream and downwind? I don’t. Neither do I wish to bring harm to God’s creatures downwind and downstream either.

“Working it and keeping it” could well include providing a place of beauty and haven and rest for needy and wounded souls battered by the difficulties of this life. Even though beaten and battered ourselves, we can extend hospitality to others by giving them a place to rest and to refresh. The smallest yard can be this kind of place, even a porch garden.

I remember many times in my life when I have been struck at how an extremely small and humble home and yard can be made into a haven of beauty. This can happen amidst urban blight, in a small abode tucked next to a freeway, or in a poor rural cottage. Living well in this way is not restricted to the rich or to those with lots of money to spend on their properties. Within humble means we can bring beauty out of ugliness, working and keeping the little spot in which God has placed us.

Obsessively Green Gardening

I was driving out of my neighborhood this morning and passed a crew working on a yard, doing the typical maintenance stuff with power mowers, power blowers, power edgers, etc. Their van was parked on the street, its name written boldly across the side. I would not have paid the van any attention except that that I saw the word “Green” in the name. I think the van itself was green. Granted, the crew was cutting green grass, and their van was colored green, but I see anything else about the operation that was “green.”

Which got me thinking again…What would uber-green (as in hyper green – better yet, let’s call it "obsessively green"), what would obsessively green gardening look like, especially in the urban/suburban/exurban setting?

Suburban gardening and yard maintenance is noteworthy for its pollution and toxicity. Almost all power equipment pollutes the air much more even than do cars. Then there is the noise – oh my has suburbia become a NOISY place to live. Power blowers are the worst, but power mowers and weed whackers certainly add to the noise pollution.

Water pours off roofs, driveways, and lawns carrying with it all sorts of nasty stuff – grease, oil, tire and asphalt residue from the driveway and roof; animal waste, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers from the lawn. The runoff goes right into our streams and rivers and lakes. This polluted runoff not only contributes to increased costs for water treatment downstream, but dramatically impacts the ecology of streams and rivers, effecting amphibians and fish and other aquatic animals, and the animals that feed upon them. The horrible state of Jordan Lake is a prime example of one end result of all this.

Are we really comfortable with the trace elements of these toxic chemicals in our water supply? There is no treatment that gets rid of it all.

We grow grasses and plants and trees that are not native to our area and not adapted to the particulars of our climate and soil, so we coddle them with excessive amounts of water, or douse them with fungicides when the clay soil is too moist. We use expensive treated water to keep these water-sucking non-native plants alive, water that could and should be preserved for other needs. We could reduce demand for treated water by catching roof runoff in rain barrels, or even (for those who can do so), catch roof and general runoff with cisterns. Large properties can have beautiful rain gardens where much of this water is allowed time to seep more slowly into the ground water supply, and at the same time provide habitat, food, and shelter for birds and small reptiles and mammals.

Most of us love it when birds and other wildlife show up in our yards and gardens. I think everyone loves bluebirds, watching them perched on a tree limb gazing downward, diving to the ground to snatch up a bug, and returning to their perch. And what child does not love robins! I watched a robin a few weeks ago put about ten worms in his mouth before returning to a nest. Robins also eat insects, the kind that live in a biologically healthy lawn.

Bluebirds need to eat insects in order to survive. We love bluebirds, yet we succumb to pesticide ads that promise to “kill everything” in our yards, a promise which I suspect is pretty truthful as advertising goes. In the “perfect lawn” as advertised on TV there are no bugs, few worms, and no weeds - just grass, the whole lawn looking and being little different than AstroTurf. It is a single crop farm, the crop being grass, with everything else dead.

The herbicides that kill the broadleaf “weeds” that interrupt the perfection of our lawns also seep into the soil to be ingested by worms which robins then feeds to their chicks. The leaf eating insects that manage to survive the initial dousing ingest huge amounts of this poison as they feed upon the grasses and other remaining plants (if there are any), which said bluebird takes into its body with each bug he eats.

On Memorial Day weekend I saw a lady out mowing her lawn with a manual rotary mower. The mowed lawn looked quite fine. No air pollution there! There have long existed manual edgers. There are even manual blowers – OK, not really, but I was thinking of rakes and brooms. I've yet to find an emissions free tiller other than a shovel and hoe, but we need tillers in this crazy red subsoil we work with in Greensboro. Is there a powerful enough electric tiller out there?

Though they are not pollution free (the electricity comes from a power plant somewhere) there are very good electric versions of most of these same tools.

So these are some of the things I think of when I think of obsessively green gardening. Maybe you have some ideas as well.

Picture - Summers Past: Bill in Pecan Orchard

Bill Marshall in a pecan orchard near Due West SC. This was taken on the great SC bike tour of 1976 - Clemson to Ninety Six to Columbia to Charleston to Beaufort to Hilton Head to Savannah and back to Columbia - just four guys and their bikes (well fed and clothes washed each night by friends!)

My Flickr Photostream

An Act of Kindness I Appreciate

I know it may seem terribly self serving for me to post this link - but....I was very moved by this kindness towards me, and I just wanted to say "out loud" that I appreciate it very much. Thank you Joe.

Atheist Commentary on Being Proselytized

I may be the last person on the planet who has not seen this video, but it is really excellent. It is an atheist comedian's take on being proselytized by a Christian. I really recommend as worthy of a look for Christians and non Christians alike. Check it out!