Comments on: Those who would farm the wind http://www.vianegativa.us/2009/11/those-who-would-farm-the-wind/ How can we live without the unknown before us? —Rene Char Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:44:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Dave http://www.vianegativa.us/2009/11/those-who-would-farm-the-wind/#comment-878226 Dave Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:16:06 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=5911#comment-878226 I should add that in North American parlance, "hedge" tends to refer almost exclusively to the decorative, trimmed borders around homes or commercial establishments, almost invariably comprised of nonnative shrub species: privet, boxwood, yew, etc. I should add that in North American parlance, “hedge” tends to refer almost exclusively to the decorative, trimmed borders around homes or commercial establishments, almost invariably comprised of nonnative shrub species: privet, boxwood, yew, etc.

]]> By: Dave http://www.vianegativa.us/2009/11/those-who-would-farm-the-wind/#comment-878225 Dave Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:09:01 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=5911#comment-878225 I had read about this practice, but never would've associated such artful interweaving with the verb "lay," so thanks for the explanation, which I'm sure other readers will appreciate as well. Good for you! Sounds like a massive amount of work, though. I don't think that custom ever took root here, but American small farms did used to include many messier affairs -- hedgerows -- between their fields. With the consolidation of properties into corporate farms starting in the 1950s, and the advent of so-called clean farming (like "clean and green," another creepy and misleading use of the word "clean") hedgerows have become increasingly scarce, and with them a great deal of wildlife, including wild bees whose pollination services have generally been disregarded until the crisis with colony collapse disorder among commercially raised Italian honeybees in the last few years. (Just about every loss in biodiversity has an economic impact sooner or later, doesn't it?) You are of course welcome to the title, and I'd be honored. I had read about this practice, but never would’ve associated such artful interweaving with the verb “lay,” so thanks for the explanation, which I’m sure other readers will appreciate as well. Good for you! Sounds like a massive amount of work, though. I don’t think that custom ever took root here, but American small farms did used to include many messier affairs — hedgerows — between their fields. With the consolidation of properties into corporate farms starting in the 1950s, and the advent of so-called clean farming (like “clean and green,” another creepy and misleading use of the word “clean”) hedgerows have become increasingly scarce, and with them a great deal of wildlife, including wild bees whose pollination services have generally been disregarded until the crisis with colony collapse disorder among commercially raised Italian honeybees in the last few years. (Just about every loss in biodiversity has an economic impact sooner or later, doesn’t it?)

You are of course welcome to the title, and I’d be honored.

]]> By: Clive Hicks-Jenkins http://www.vianegativa.us/2009/11/those-who-would-farm-the-wind/#comment-878185 Clive Hicks-Jenkins Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:59:35 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=5911#comment-878185 Dave, to 'lay' a hedge is to take a boundary planted with saplings and to cut and manipulate them to the diagonal, stake them and then inter-weave them to make a field enclosure. This is how we construct the mixed deciduous 'hedges' that are a defining characteristic of so much of the British countryside. Gradually the growth starts upwards again, through the diagonals to create a really dense hedge. Established hedges can be hundreds of years old and they've historically made a fantastic contribution to the wildlife habitat in our countryside, particularly for birds. But laying them is a dying skill, and the modern farmer wanting an instant stock-proof enclosure all too often resorts to post and wire, which is a habitat for nothing. Hedges also require maintenance, needing to be regularly cut and shaped. When allowed to grow wild they stop being hedges and turn into tree-lines. I'd never thought about this with regard to the US. Do you not have field hedges? When we moved to Ty Isaf three years ago we planted six hundred mixed plants to make boundary hedges to replace the existing long-past-their-best post and wire fences. We put in guelder-rose, hornbeam, hazel, beech, holly and many, many more species. They'll be due for laying in a few years time and then we'll have added another habitat for the wildlife here. I think that 'Those Who Would Farm the Wind' is a beautifully poetic turn of phrase, and I may come back at you one day to request the loan of it (credited of course) for use as a title for a painting! Dave, to ‘lay’ a hedge is to take a boundary planted with saplings and to cut and manipulate them to the diagonal, stake them and then inter-weave them to make a field enclosure. This is how we construct the mixed deciduous ‘hedges’ that are a defining characteristic of so much of the British countryside. Gradually the growth starts upwards again, through the diagonals to create a really dense hedge. Established hedges can be hundreds of years old and they’ve historically made a fantastic contribution to the wildlife habitat in our countryside, particularly for birds. But laying them is a dying skill, and the modern farmer wanting an instant stock-proof enclosure all too often resorts to post and wire, which is a habitat for nothing. Hedges also require maintenance, needing to be regularly cut and shaped. When allowed to grow wild they stop being hedges and turn into tree-lines. I’d never thought about this with regard to the US. Do you not have field hedges? When we moved to Ty Isaf three years ago we planted six hundred mixed plants to make boundary hedges to replace the existing long-past-their-best post and wire fences. We put in guelder-rose, hornbeam, hazel, beech, holly and many, many more species. They’ll be due for laying in a few years time and then we’ll have added another habitat for the wildlife here.

I think that ‘Those Who Would Farm the Wind’ is a beautifully poetic turn of phrase, and I may come back at you one day to request the loan of it (credited of course) for use as a title for a painting!

]]> By: Dave http://www.vianegativa.us/2009/11/those-who-would-farm-the-wind/#comment-878145 Dave Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:37:52 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=5911#comment-878145 I am not entirely sure what "having the hedge re-laid" entails, but it sounds terribly British -- and the right thing to do if it saves raptors. Many years ago, when we were kids, one of us found a dead great-horned owl that had had the misfortune to hit two electric lines at once. At that time it was still legal for taxidermists to work on non-game species without a permit, so we got a mount of it and kept it on top of the old pump organ in the living room for many years. The yellow glass eyes seemed to follow one around the room, which apparently traumatized a couple of my younger cousins. I am not entirely sure what “having the hedge re-laid” entails, but it sounds terribly British — and the right thing to do if it saves raptors.

Many years ago, when we were kids, one of us found a dead great-horned owl that had had the misfortune to hit two electric lines at once. At that time it was still legal for taxidermists to work on non-game species without a permit, so we got a mount of it and kept it on top of the old pump organ in the living room for many years. The yellow glass eyes seemed to follow one around the room, which apparently traumatized a couple of my younger cousins.

]]> By: Clive Hicks-Jenkins http://www.vianegativa.us/2009/11/those-who-would-farm-the-wind/#comment-878100 Clive Hicks-Jenkins Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:04:45 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=5911#comment-878100 Oh NO! No no no! Oh how can one turn the clock back and stop such things from happening. That was just heartrending. A few weeks ago I found a full-grown buzzard dead under a power line on the edge of our property. The line carries electricity to our house. i think the buzzard must have come through the grown-out hedge and not seen the wires before clipping two of them with outstretched wings. Now we're to have the hedge re-laid. Then the power-lines will be more apparent and hopefully there will be no more accidents like the one that killed this magisterial bird. I love living in the countryside, but the daily tragedies of the creatures around us sometimes leave me gasping. Nature takes no hostages. Oh NO! No no no! Oh how can one turn the clock back and stop such things from happening. That was just heartrending.

A few weeks ago I found a full-grown buzzard dead under a power line on the edge of our property. The line carries electricity to our house. i think the buzzard must have come through the grown-out hedge and not seen the wires before clipping two of them with outstretched wings. Now we’re to have the hedge re-laid. Then the power-lines will be more apparent and hopefully there will be no more accidents like the one that killed this magisterial bird. I love living in the countryside, but the daily tragedies of the creatures around us sometimes leave me gasping. Nature takes no hostages.

]]> By: Dave http://www.vianegativa.us/2009/11/those-who-would-farm-the-wind/#comment-877993 Dave Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:59:37 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=5911#comment-877993 Anxiety and insecurity, yes, borne of the destruction of authentic communal life and alienation from the land. That is my sense of things too. Anxiety and insecurity, yes, borne of the destruction of authentic communal life and alienation from the land. That is my sense of things too.

]]> By: dale http://www.vianegativa.us/2009/11/those-who-would-farm-the-wind/#comment-877991 dale Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:45:35 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=5911#comment-877991 I don't know what to do to ratchet down the anxiety that drives this party. It is anxiety too, I think, far more than greed: this feels obsessive-compulsive to me, the need for more, more, always more, we'll be happy sometime when we just have more. No, man, you'll be happy when you give up on that kind of happy. But how often can I even hear that myself? I feel like that poor raptor, sometimes :-) I don’t know what to do to ratchet down the anxiety that drives this party. It is anxiety too, I think, far more than greed: this feels obsessive-compulsive to me, the need for more, more, always more, we’ll be happy sometime when we just have more.

No, man, you’ll be happy when you give up on that kind of happy. But how often can I even hear that myself? I feel like that poor raptor, sometimes :-)

]]> By: Dave http://www.vianegativa.us/2009/11/those-who-would-farm-the-wind/#comment-877987 Dave Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:21:12 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=5911#comment-877987 Was that a poem? I didn't mean it to be! Glad you liked it though (and sorry I overlooked your comment until now--i was in a mad rush this morning). Was that a poem? I didn’t mean it to be! Glad you liked it though (and sorry I overlooked your comment until now–i was in a mad rush this morning).

]]> By: Dave http://www.vianegativa.us/2009/11/those-who-would-farm-the-wind/#comment-877986 Dave Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:19:11 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=5911#comment-877986 Thanks, Stan. That's a point that can't be made often enough, really. Horrific as the bird and bat deaths are, it's really the fragmentation of our last intact interior forest habitats that makes the prospect of wind turbines on all our ridges such a nightmare. But trying to convince people who've never heard of habitat fragmentation that it's even a problem is like, uh, pissing in the wind. Thanks, Stan. That’s a point that can’t be made often enough, really. Horrific as the bird and bat deaths are, it’s really the fragmentation of our last intact interior forest habitats that makes the prospect of wind turbines on all our ridges such a nightmare. But trying to convince people who’ve never heard of habitat fragmentation that it’s even a problem is like, uh, pissing in the wind.

]]> By: Stan Kotala http://www.vianegativa.us/2009/11/those-who-would-farm-the-wind/#comment-877972 Stan Kotala Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:25:00 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/?p=5911#comment-877972 Here's an example of the forest destruction, degradation, and fragmentation at PA's largest windplant, the Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm, near Blue Knob, south of Altoona. That windplant now has close to 100 turbines and 20+ miles of heavy-duty roadway. Gamesa groupie and "consulting forester" Mike Barton proudly says "The roads of the Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm have opened up previously inaccessible parts of this remote watershed, helping landowners to get their forest products to market." http://www.jvas.org/cc_forest_impact_ar_wndplnt.html Here’s an example of the forest destruction, degradation, and fragmentation at PA’s largest windplant, the Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm, near Blue Knob, south of Altoona. That windplant now has close to 100 turbines and 20+ miles of heavy-duty roadway. Gamesa groupie and “consulting forester” Mike Barton proudly says “The roads of the Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm have opened up previously inaccessible parts of this remote watershed, helping landowners to get their forest products to market.”

http://www.jvas.org/cc_forest_impact_ar_wndplnt.html

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