Plant a Tree

Old Apple Tree, Copyright by Maureen Shaughnessy

Do you want to plant a tree (or 2 or 3) yet
a.) keep putting it off until you settle down in one house for a long time?

buy a house?
b.) figure out exactly what you're going to do with your garden so you know exactly where to plant the tree?
c.) have enough money saved to afford a large tree?
d.) decide what kind of tree you want to plant?
e.) other?

Well ....

The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now. -- International Society of Arborists

Weeping Tree over Bench, Copyright by Maureen Shaughnessy

HOW TO PLANT A TREE
So .... What are you Waiting For?
Click here for a fact sheet on planting a new tree.


a few facts about trees, listed on the International Society of Arborists website:

• In one year, an acre of trees can absorb as much carbon as is produced by a car driven up to 8700 miles.
• Trees provide shade and shelter, reducing yearly heating and cooling costs by 2.1 billion dollars.
• Trees lower air temperature by evaporating water in their leaves.
• The average tree in metropolitan area survives only about 8 years!
• A tree does not reach its most productive stage of carbon storage for about 10 years.
• Tree roots stabilize the soil and prevent erosion.
• Trees improve water quality by slowing and filtering rain water as well as protecting aquifers and watersheds.
• Trees provide food and shelter for wildlife.
• The death of one 70-year old tree would return over three tons of carbon to the atmosphere

If you love trees, and want to tell other people about it, please head over to the Festival of Trees coordinating blog to find out how to participate in the next festival. Click here:

I will be hosting Festival #15 for the month of September, at Raven's Nest (aka Water Earth Wind and Fire) ... so check back here around the 1st of September to see more about trees from all over the world.

Meriwether Fire Makes Its' Own Weather

Meriwether Fire Makes Its' Own Weather, originally uploaded by MontanaRaven.

I know that in many places all over the globe wildfires are burning places that are dry as a bone because of years and years of drought. Montana is one of those places. In some parts of the world, heavy rains after long drought have encouraged vast amounts of plant growth -- only creating more fuel for the fires to devour when the land does dry up again as it has in Montana. So, I know we are not alone in living with wildfire almost every summer. Though it is hard to breath some days, and the smoke makes our eyes sting, I feel grateful that our home is not threatened. And grateful to be alive. Never take our lives for granted!

Today this truly gigantic cloud formed over the Meriwether Fire in the mountains north of Helena. Thereis NO way I can capture the enormity of this cloud formation in a photograph. It towered over the city of Helena and over our valley. You can see the mountain ridgeline at the bottom left of this photo. This cloud was mostly smoke from the fire.

What's really incredible to me is that just yesterday, we couldn't see more than a few blocks in town and today, the air was much clearer, though just half hour after I shot this photo, the billowy "softness" had dispersed and the cloud was just an ordinary thick haze of hazardous smoke again.

Worth viewing Large on Black background

Montana Wildfire: too close for comfort

Meriwether Fire: too close for comfort, Copyright by Maureen Shaughnessy

Here is what my town, Helena, Montana looked like yesterday at 1:35 pm. The smoke blew into town from the Meriwether Fire just north of town near the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. The Forest Service's air quality level was the worst so far, with visibility at less than one mile. It was actually way less than one mile at the moment I shot this photo -- I couldn't even see across town just a few blocks away.

The Helena Cathedral's twin spires are barely visible in the center foreground. The mountain range on the north side of the valley are completed invisible. The fire is at the moment burning basically uncontrolled, though the Forest Service and other firefighting teams are trying to protect structures and homes in the path of the fire. Folks living in the area have been asked to evacuate. Some people do and others just want to stay home to protect their own homes and animals. I'd hate to have to make that decision!

Here is the same view of the Helena Valley last Winter, crystal clear air:


I shot a slightly different angle this April:

Please pray for all of the land that is crispy dry and threatened with wildfire, or that is already burning.

The above photo is on the Helena Independent Record Flashpoint page, a regularly updated page of information about the fires burning in and around Montana. Click the photo to go to the article about the fire, written by Martin Kidston.

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap ... Box: a new film

Heard on NPRs weekend edition: Robert Smith interviewing Sara Lamm about her new film, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox which opens in theatres in July. The documentary is about the man who invented the formula for the ubiquitous liquid soap, and whose main goal was to unite all of humankind by distributing the Moral ABC's printed in tiny letters on the soap labels.

Though the style of Emmanuel Bronner's message is a bit on the wacky side, it's always made for entertaining reading ... and when you really think about the essence of his message: that all religions are one and all people are one, it's hard to deny the truth of that -- and how appropriate that is for our world right now.

The film, Magic Soapbox follows Ralph Bronner, Emmanuel Bronner's 68 year old son, as he talks about the legacy his father left behind, and about growing up with a creative genius who was so obsessed with uniting all people on Earth, that he neglected his own family.

"My father was an eccentric -- he did not have a religion - he collected the best of all religions and philosophies put them on a soap label so people could see how much we have in common, and see each other as brothers and sisters, and you don't kill your brother and sister it would have put an end to war - it's as simple as that to put an end to war."

I've used Dr. Bronner's soap since 1972. My tastes in soap "flavors" have changed over the years, as new scents were introduced. It used to come in just peppermint. Now we can get lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint and tea tree soap. Since I buy it in bulk, I can mix the different scents. We use Dr. Bronner's for laundry, shampoo, body soap, hand soap and to dog-soap for Sam.

I love this description of the way the peppermint soap makes you tingle, written in a fan letter to Dr. Bronner's company:

"Dear Dr. Bronner, I want you to know how much I enjoy your peppermint soap. After I shower and dress it feels like someone put a york peppermint patty in my underwear."

I wonder if Sam ever feels like he has a peppermint patty stuck in his fur after we give him a bath in Dr. B's???

Idyll for a Hot Summer Day

Idyll for a Hot Summer Day, originally uploaded by MontanaRaven.

Our outdoor dining room is just a table and chairs under the lilac hedge. These lilacs are at least 50 years old, and I have trimmed and pruned them to create a "cave" or roof over that part of the garden. With the umbrella (barely visible above the table amongst the lilac branches) even when it rains in summer, we stay dry. At least until the wind starts blowing.

The hammock in the foreground is hanging between the house and the trunk of an 80+ year old Colorado Blue Spruce. The spruce is a condominium/apartment house for birds: chickadees, finches, pine siskins, magpies, ravens, flickers and the ever-present sparrows. In the mornings and evenings our garden is LOUD with birdsong .... and relaxing in the hammock in the evenings or late afternoons is like being in a concert hall -- or out on a school playground at recess. Joyful. Raucous. Busy.

Though it's not visible in this photo, between the hammock and the table in the background is our small garden pond with a trickling waterfall and a small splashing fountain. The birds love the water. So do I. Even when the birds are singing their little hearts out, this part of our garden has a real sense of peace because of the water, the shade, the privacy...

Our outdoor dining room is just a table and chairs under the lilac hedge. These lilacs are at least 50 years old, and I have trimmed and pruned them to create a "cave" or roof over that part of the garden. With the umbrella (barely visible above the table amongst the lilac branches) even when it rains in summer, we stay dry. At least until the wind starts blowing.

The hammock in the foreground is hanging between the house and the trunk of an 80+ year old Colorado Blue Spruce. The spruce is a condominium/apartment house for birds: chickadees, finches, pine siskins, magpies, ravens, flickers and the ever-present sparrows. In the mornings and evenings our garden is LOUD with birdsong .... and relaxing in the hammock in the evenings or late afternoons is like being in a concert hall -- or out on a school playground at recess. Joyful. Raucous. Busy.

Though it's not visible in this photo, between the hammock and the table in the background is our small garden pond with a trickling waterfall and a small splashing fountain. The birds love the water. So do I. Even when the birds are singing their little hearts out, this part of our garden has a real sense of peace because of the water, the shade, the privacy...

View On Black

Morning Light

Morning Light, originally uploaded by MontanaRaven.

Shot a bunch of garden photos for a blog post on summer garden chores for these hot days of July.... This was one of the shots. I need to get out and deadhead my perennials -- daylilies open one bud each day -- and each bud lasts only one day. Each stalk of buds contains from 6 to 20 buds. Deadheading the spent lilies encourages the plants to set a few more buds.

Look for the dog-days-of-summer-garden-chores article in the next day or so.