Tree Work

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Mark Zeiger

The return to colder temperatures has allowed us to get much of our tree work accomplished. We’ve had to prioritize it, with limbing and felling live trees most urgent, in an effort to finish before the sap begins to rise too much.

We try very hard to avoid cutting live trees. We’ll trim them for view, to avoid interference with lines and buildings, and to prevent them from growing into baffles that disrupt the airflow around the wind generator. Cutting them completely down comes more rarely. It’s taken us more than five years to remove one of the two trees that have created a sort of gateway to the cabin. Continue reading →

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A Poemless Moon

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Mark Zeiger

Tonight’s first quarter moon has no associated Mary Oliver poem. It’s been lean times as far as using Mary’s book, Twelve Moons, as a lunar calendar lately. We’re nearing the end of the book now, with only a poem for this month’s full moon, “Worm Moon,” left to read. When the last quarter moon comes on March 26th, we’ll have returned to the beginning of the book, continuing the project there.

I suppose that the poems petering out toward the end is appropriate, perhaps even symbolic, although I have no idea whether or not Ms. Oliver intended it that way. We are in the lean months, the “killing” or “dying” time, the last, hardest month before the cycle of the seasons advances enough for food to return, for water to flow, for sap to rise.

After this last “lean” time, her poems increase, first covering each moon phase, then growing until I had to stuff some of them into the weeks between phases. The output becomes lush, if you will.

Considering Ms. Oliver’s affinity for, closeness and attention to nature, maybe she did plan it that way after all?

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