Autumn coming on.........
Charlie
decrease in number and some are probably just being monitored. Allowed to
slowly burn along so they consume the trash that would otherwise flare up
next summer and with a high wind could cause more destruction. While ever
these fires are tame and don't threaten communities and homes they will
probably be left as they are, trickling along and blacked out where the have
been and done their work.
The Apple Box, harbinger of autumn has been in flower for several days. This
quite wonderful tree, sometimes called But_But [E bridgesiana] is not looked
at twice by most people, if seen at all. It fades into the background as just
another tree, it's timber isn't durable and a rather fast burning fire wood
when completely dry. It has no straight grain or height like many of the
other eucalypts, in fact, it's very ordinary and therefore, it has no appeal
and considered of little use for most people who look at trees only timber or
fruit and not much further. The Apple Box like so many ordinary things in
life is most wonderful and many little noticed characteristics make it
extraordinary. It flowers at the very end of summer and the beginning of
autumn as do the red and silvertop stringy-bark. But it grows in places where
these trees of a higher profile do not, and it produces nectar and pollen in
abundance for bees and other insects reliably every year. It allows bees to
fill their combs with thick viscous honey not prone to fermenting once the
nectar has been cured, and thereby preventing illness to the occupants of a
hive and when sealed in wax cells is the colonies food supply over a winter
that can at times be long, and punishing. As well, as if this is not enough,
no matter how good or bad the season may have been, this reliable production
alone increases its value ten fold to any apiarist. This reliable, stalwart
and yes, funny little tree when compared against some of the forests giants,
allows the wild bee colonies which pollinate the flowers of the mighty
timbers as well, to remain in the area where otherwise there is little food
to be found. The colonies might otherwise perish of starvation were they just
to rely on the majestic woody plants, as these don't flower reliably each
year and some only every few years, and when they do flower, depending if it
was a season considered good or bad, they don't necessarily produce nectar or
pollen.
If the humble Apple Box was not in place, the bees and the tall timbers might
not be either. Apart from this, the majestic would not look so well were
there not something smaller against which they could be compared.
So it feels like autumn here, though it's some weeks early, and I wonder if a
season is not more how we see and feel about it as it actually is measured by
a rigid, human invented calendar? Last years walnuts taste delightful, as I
watch this years walnuts slowly mature and prepare to drop out of their
fleshy casings.
Be well,
Charlie
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Registered Linux User:- 329524
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There is no treasure in the deep mountains; he who has no desire for it finds
it. ..........ZEN SAYING
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Debian, just the best way to create magic
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