Category: Short Essays

This is the only day of the year when some people think of Earth. The date was chosen in the first trimester of spring to celebrate rebirth both of Earth and hope. World Environment Day and Arbor Day are the only others. Ground Hog Day fits as well.
What fascinates me is how many “days” there on the annual calendar that celebrate human days. Here is the list:

Mothers day Fathers Day Memorial Day Labor Day Thanksgiving Christmas Valentines Veterans St. Patricks
Universal Childrens World AIDS Pearl Harbor Remembrance Human Rights Bodhi Religious Freedom New Years Freedom Martin Luther King Holocast April Fools International Womans Womans Equal Rights May Anzac Bike to Work Victoria Armed Forces St Jean Baptist World Refuge Canada Independence Bastille Indiginous Peoples United Nations All Saints Patriot World Suicide Prevention Grandparents International Day of Peace Constitution Citizenship World Teacher National Coming Out World Mental Health Election International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women Human Rights Bill of Rights National Wear Red Presidents Leap Read Across America World Autism Paraprofessional Appreciation World Health National Library Workers Workers Memorial National Teachers National Nurses Flag Parents World Population ( and probably others)

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Late April gardening tasks in the early morning unfold and time slips by. I opened one of the windows of my cold frame to place a starter box with basil seeds. I caught sight of a fuzzy mass of activity in a corner and knelt down for a close look. I was witnessing tiny one- half millimeter brand new spiderlets. Some clung to a tangle of strands in a cluster, some fell on silk threads, most of the two hundred were suspended in a maze of strands. A few were heading away from the rest crawling on strands. I searched for the silken ball where the eggs were laid. After a while, the ones that were crawling away headed back to the others. I could just see theiir forelegs move.

What would become of these tiny creatures? How can they nourish those tiny muscles inside their legs and body? What will they eat?  They hatch and instantly are on their own. I left this small event feeling honored that I had the chance to watch a tiny bit of nature unfold. Two hundred  potentialnew spiders for my garden. There might be hundreds of new webs, and eventually thousands of more spiders.

While I watched, carpenter bees buzzed above my head. Today seems to be a catchup day for nature. The temperature has reached the mid-sixties, just right for spiders to hatch, blossoms of a tulip tree start to push out.

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YES MANIFESTO

We say yes to a healthy, undisturbed soil ecosystem; yes to moss colonies, green, healthy, taking hold on dead blow downs, and tree boles; yes to mouse ear-sized oak leaflets in mid-May, and their flowers and insects that attract migrating warblers; a yes vote in favor of all trees who live in this bulls-eye of a potential clear cut; yes to the climbers like poison ivy, wild grape and European bittersweet who work toward light and rely on strong trunks; and yes to the struggle, completion and balance of all species who live in this forest; yes to the dark shade of red cedar trees; a big affirmative for those who pass by these trees quietly on foot; and yes as well to the community of human outliers who come here for peace, open air, hearty exercise, and restoration of their spirit; yes even to the ticks, who have their place in the web of life; to turkeys who range here looking for fallen acorns and deer who find foliage along the edges of openings in the tree canopy; and …YES to multiflora rose, with canes of wicked thorns, so cat claw sharp that they can take a hat off and rip skin.

Tom Stock March 30, 2016