February - "Good Oak"

The February essay of A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC by Aldo Leopold is a favorite of mine. Leopold traces history through the rings of the oak log heating his Wisconsin shack retreat.
"GOOD OAK"

"There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace. To avoid the first danger, one should plant a garden, preferably where there is no grocer to confuse the issue. To avoid the second, he should lay a split of good oak on the andirons, preferably where there is no furnace, and let it warm his shins while a February blizzard tosses the trees outside. If one has cut, split, hauled, and piled his own good oak, and let his mind work the while, he will remember much about where the heat comes from, and with a wealth of detail denied to those who spend the week end in town astride a radiator."

"The particular oak now aglow on my adnirons grew on the bank of the old emigrant road where it climbs the sandhill. The stump, which I measured upon felling the tree, has a diameter of 30 inches. It shows 80 growth rings, hence the seedling from which it originated must have laid its first ring of wood in 1865, at the end of the Civil War..."

Later he chronicles history as they cut down a tree. "It took only a dozen pulls of the saw to transect the few years of our ownership, during which we had learned to love and cherish this farm. Abruptly we began to cut the years of our predecessor the bootlegger, who hated this farm, skinned it of residual fertility, burned its farmhouse, threw it back into the lap of the County(with delinquent taxes to boot), and then disappeared among the landless anonymities of the Great Depression. Yet the oak had laid down good wood for him; his sawdust was as fragrant, as sound, and as pink as our own. An oak is no respecter of persons. The reign of the bootlegger ended sometime during the dust-bowl drouths of 1936, 1934,1933, and 1930. Oak smoke from his still and peat from burning marshlands must have clouded the sun in those years, and alphabetical conservation was abroad in the land, but the sawdust shows no change. Rest! cries the chief sawyer, and we pause for breath....."

Please read more. These excerpts taken from the Tamarack Press edition, distributed by Oxford University Press, 1977

Leopold contest seeks Wild Words & Art

By RANDY MILLER — From The Hawk Eye, Feb. 1, 2009

Calling all scribes and scribblers — or authors and artists, if you prefer.

It’s time to kick off the third annual Wild Words & Art writing and drawing contest, so pull your chair up to the window, gaze out at the snowy backyard and bright red cardinals for inspiration and get to writing and drawing.

The theme this year is very simple: “The Outdoors and You.” The deadline for submissions is March 20.

The theme was chosen to emphasize how people observe and interact with the natural environment, not about pickup basketball games.

The contest is designed to foster creative writing and drawing and expose area residents to the philosophy and teachings of Aldo Leopold, a Burlington native who is considered an early leader of the modern environmental movement and author of “A Sand County Almanac.”

Cash prizes will be awarded in three age categories for essays, poetry and art works, $50 for first place, $30 for second place and $20 for third place. Art contest entries must be pen-and-ink, graphite pencil or charcoal on 8 1/2-by-11-inch paper.

Each winner also will receive a copy of  “A Sand County Almanac.”

The age divisions are middle school, grades six to eight; high school, nine to 12; and adult and college student. (Hint to area high schoolers: There were no entries in this division last year.)

Written entries will be read at an awards presentation at 2 p.m. April 19, at Starr’s Cave Nature Center as one of several activities scheduled by the Leopold Heritage Group.

“Sand County” is a collection of essays Leopold wrote in the 1940s while observing nature at “the shack,” a small farm he bought and restored along with him family on the Wisconsin River near Baraboo, Wis. 

The “shack” was an old chicken coop converted into rough living quarters when the family visited the farm on weekends. It has been preserved and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Leopold’s core philosophy was that mankind needs to move toward a more harmonious relationship with nature and the natural world. He originated the term “land ethic,” in which people see themselves as a part of the natural world rather than owners of the land.

“The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants and animals, or collectively, the land,” he wrote.

One of the most-quoted passages from the book is: “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

Leopold also was a strong advocate of maintaining wild places and was a co-founder of the Wilderness Society, arguing that humans cannot be truly free if they no longer have any wild places in which to roam.

Leopold was born in 1887 and grew up on Clay Street at the top of the bluff just south of downtown Burlington, where daily he could watch the hustle and bustle on the riverfront in the pioneer community.

From an early age, he was a keen observer of nature, keeping a journal of writings and drawings of animals and bird sightings encountered during wanderings around the still primitive town. He retained that innate attachment to nature throughout his life and enjoyed nothing more than taking a walk alone through a timber or along a riverbank.

The contest is sponsored by the Leopold Heritage Group, with support from The Hawk Eye, the Burlington Fine Arts League, the Aldo Leopold chapter of Pheasants Forever, the Burlington Education Association and Des Moines County Conservation Board.

Wild Words & Art rules, guidelines

Wild Words & Art is a writing and drawing contest inspired by "A Sand County Almanac," a collection of essays by Burlington native and naturalist Aldo Leopold. 

Entries will be accepted starting today. Deadline to submit essays, poems and drawings is 5 p.m. March 20.

Writing entries may be e-mailed to contest@leopoldheritage.org, or dropped off at or mailed to The Hawk Eye, 800 S. Main St., Burlington, Iowa 52601. Entries in the art contest must be mailed or dropped off at the newspaper office during regular business hours, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays.

Mark mailed entries to the attention of Wild Words & Art.

The theme of this year’s contest, which is coordinated by the Leopold Heritage Group, is "The Outdoors and You."

Rules are as follows:

• The contest has three age ranges for entrants: middle school (gr. 6-8); high school (gr. 9-12); college/adult.

• Entries will be accepted from Iowa, Illinois and Missouri residents living within a 50-mile radius of Burlington, Iowa.

• All entries must include the entrant's name, address, phone number or e-mail address and name of the division being entered: Middle school, high school or college/adult.

• Incomplete or inaccurate contact information will result in disqualification of the entry.

• Poetry — Minimum 10 lines, maximum 30 lines. Include a title. Typewritten only.

• Essays — Written in first- or third-person. Must be 250 to 600 words. Include a title. Typewritten only.

• Art — Black and white, pen and ink, pencil or charcoal only on 8 1/2-inch x 11 inch paper. Submit originals only. No copies. Non-winning artwork will be returned upon request.

• Judging will be by a panel of teachers, writers, artists and naturalists. Winners will be selected on the basis of connection to the contest theme, overall quality of work submitted and adherence to contest rules.

• Winning entries will become the property of Leopold Heritage Group.

Prizes will be awarded to the first three places in each category, with $50 for first; $30 for second; and, $20 for third. Winners also will receive a copy of “A Sand County Almanac,” and will be invited to participate in an award ceremony and reading at Starr’s Cave Nature Center on April 19.

First-place winners will be published April 19 in the Lifestyle section of The Hawk Eye. Second- and third-place entries will be published at leopoldheritage.org.