Site Discussions

Excellent piece.  While social media has many benefits, it is also where young people (and old) like to “show off”.  Even though their lives might not be great, they want everyone to think they are living the dream.  It does create pressure on their “friends”.  There is also pressure created by our government , media, and others for all young people to go to a four year college, racking up a lot of debt, while they might have been happier at a technical school or a two year college.  Manufacturers are struggling to find skilled technical workers.  Many young people might be happier working with their hands, in a factory or in the woods as you say.  It’s a problem we need to solve.

Interesting article in business week about other states that have passed a ban…

I’m looking for information and pictures, on the little creatures in our local puddles. Can you recommend a book or video?

Your instructions suggest a Spud with approximately the same curve as the diameter as the tree. From that, I pictured using the Spud, curve down, following the tree curve. But the illustration looks like the Spud is being used curve up, opposite the logs curve. What am I not understanding? Thanks! Mark

We have 2 mature butternut trees in our backyard. Love the shade.

Thank you for the information on the balsam for resin blisters.
I wish I had known the resin and twig motorboat when I was a little guy.
We had similar trees in northern Manitoba but I remember them as darker, almost black in color.
Thanks again!

Dave Sawyer has been to the Windsor chair what Wallace Gusler (Colonial Williamsburg) has been for the Kentucky longrifle revival. Without Dave we probably would not have Curtis Buchanan, Elia Bizarria and hundreds of others dedicated to preserving this art form and teaching others. Many thanks to your devotion Dave- well done.

This is a really, really, good piece. I think it deserves a wider audience in one of the the general media outlets, and would encourage you to pursue that.

In response to Stuart’s remarks about Facebook: Keep in mind that there’s an upside to Facebook, too, just as there is in television and computers and phones and all the technological marvels of our time. In FB’s case, it allows people who otherwise might slide out of touch to remain in connection, to learn about each other’s lives, draw comfort and support and knowledge from each other, and open windows to a world that expand one’s ability to think and experience. Used correctly, like any other tool or communication medium, it is a valuable thing. Used as a copout or a crutch or an excuse to avoid reality, it’s not a good thing.

I sell various wood products, wild mushrooms and edible wild plant items through my site. This really is for the above Robert Seidel. If you contact me I can get you some inner bark.
Mike

Thanks so much for this article! I have a whole group of cellar spiders in my shower too, and I love to watch them do their thing. I was curious to see what kind they were, and your article helped me figure it out. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who is chill with shower partners such as these!

I think the concerns are valid and a good general rule to keep in mind with everything. Don’t eat any plant if you think it’s growing in bad dirt. Consume everything in moderation.

We tried Lambsquarters this spring for the first time—excellent!  But I’ve read some warnings that are not sited in your article… are the following concerns unfounded?

“... Do not collect Lamb’s-quarters growing in artificially fertilized or treated soils [or the roadsides mentioned in your article?]. It will absorb pesticides from the soil and is also prone to accumulate high levels of nitrates. (in very much the same way as its’ relative, spinach). It also contains high amounts of oxalic acid (also like spinach) and should therefore be consumed in moderation.”

Source: http://www.kingdomplantae.net/lambsQuarters.php

Stephen - great job on this article.

A good place to start for anyone of any age who is wanting to find a purpose larger than themselves is to first “unfriend” Facebook. Removing oneself from such shallow distractions does wonders for figuring out a path to follow.
Thought provoking article by the way.

I am 40 years old with a family and career but still long for the days I spent hiking the Long Trail 7 years ago.  It comforts me knowing that places like Vermont and organizations such as the Long Trail provide opportunities for people to escape everyday life for a while.  I commend Red for the courage he has to walk.  There is no better place to reflect upon life than on the trail.

Dave,
If Current Use is so good for Vermont, then all Vermonters should pay from the general fund, not just the residents of each town who are forced to pay a tax surcharge because Property Valuation and Review uses a town’s Adjusted Grand List to figure their tax rate. Realtors advertise open land as having low taxes because it is enrolled in CU, but the asking price and eventual selling price is not the CU value but many times that ridiculously low assessment. This is supposed to be a democracy where citizens have the right to vote for fair representation. Vermont’s Current Use as offered and implemented by PVR is more like a medieval tribute paid by vassals to the landed gentry, without the right to vote for fair taxation. Unlike the “Tea Tax” demanded by KIng George in colonial America, where it could be avoided by not buying, Current Use imposes a tax without recourse, unless one sells their property and leaves that town for a town that does not participate to the extent that it is a burden, like Shoreham; where land owners have enrolled 15% of the Grand List assessed value, and that surcharge is levied on the residents of Shoreham, not Corinth.

In response to these thoughts, Peter, I’d ask why someone’s open woodland—land that requires no municipal services—should be taxed at the same rate as a residential building lot which requires plow trucks and road maintenance and probably schools and water and sewer. They’re not the same thing—which is the whole point of Current Use. If land is forest, the town shouldn’t pretend it’s a building lot and tax it at the same rate. If we’re going to start taxing things on their potential and not what they actually are, then we should start taxing farmers on what they could theoretically make if they were wall street executives. Think of all the money we’re losing by simply taxing them on their meager income.

Check your Town’s Annual Report. If, as here in Shoreham, VT, your town is using an “Adjusted Grand List”,( the Grand List minus the assessed value of property enrolled in the Current Use program), to compute the annual tax rate, then non-enrolled property owners in your town are being charged a tax rate that is inflated by that difference between the Grand and Adjusted lists. The State of Vermont collects that extra money then returns the portion that represents the municipal revenues lost- the infamous “Hold-harmless” payment. The State sends that check to your town almost a year later, Shoreham usually gets its check the week before property taxes are due. Some would say this is floating a check. I think “Hold-harmless” means the towns hold the State harmless from prosecution for theft because Vermont has taken this extra money from a town’s citizens without the consent of the governed. Shoreham residents do not vote to participate in the Current Use program, but non-elected persons in Waterbury compute a tax rate that increases the liability for non-enrolled property owners in our town. The state of Vermont has to pay for the management of the Current Use Program, but it is each Town’s property owners who pay extra tax to cover the lost revenues for their town’s enrolled owners of the Current Use Program. Maybe Bernie Madoff has a web-site or blog-post that would explain this better than I can.

I cut a cherry birch on a creek bank over a swimming hole last year and am sawing it today. It is a beautiful wood. Am trying to quarter saw so maybe it won’t check. They are rare in this part of the country. Saved a few seed so maybe I can grow some more.