The Mountain is Calling
This Sunday! Don't miss your chance to try the best food, drink, and local farm produce in Birmingham and probably the whole state.
"Graze: Birmingham is a farm-to-fork picnic in which attendees 'graze' on a wide variety of dishes, each produced by a different local farmer/local chef pair. Add in some picnic blankets, live music, and delicious local beverages... and it's a picnic you don't want to miss!"
Tickets may be purchased here: https://squareup.com/store/asanonline
The oak-leaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia Bartr.) is the official State Wildflower of Alabama, and you can see why. Their pearl-white blooms almost seem to glow beneath the forest canopy. This deciduous shrub can be found in every part of the state, from the coastal plains to the Appalachian foothills to the north (at Ruffner, for example!), and deep within deciduous forests to landscaped lawns and home gardens. The striking white flowers turn a deep rose in summer and even deeper in color to burgundy in the fall.
Photo by and copyright, Joe Nazarian
Almost a hundred years ago, more than 100,000 young people volunteered to plant 100,000 trees in the heart of Tokyo. The trees had been donated from all over Japan in order to create an oasis of sorts, a sacred shrine forest, or chinju no mori, to surround the newly created Meiji Shrine. The future forest would become a self-renewing, naturally evolving and growing green space, sufficient on its own as a living organism and free from human intervention. The 172 acre forest, replete with fishing ponds, pathways, and an iris garden, was designed by Emperor Meiji specifically for Empress Shoken—a place where she could go to renew her energy amidst the bustle of quickly growing city. Today, the forest lives on, renewing itself, and the people of Tokyo, each spring.
For more information about Meiji Jingu Forest, visit http://www.ecology.com/2016/02/25/meiji-jingu-forest-heart-tokyo
Ruffner recently discovered that it has a German cousin in Rheinelbe, Germany! Starting in 1988, this old mining site was converted into wild urban forest by the government of Nordrhein Westfallen. Now, it continues to thrive as an urban green space where walkers, hikers, and children come to exercise, relax, or simply explore the wonders and beauty of this once blighted area. It's remarkable the similarities you can see between Ruffner's history and mission and that of our distant German relatives.
Our wildlife and green spaces are more important now than they have ever been. In a world of disconnection it is heartening and inspiring to see regular people across the globe fighting to preserve what is the right of every human being, everywhere: to connect with the beauty and quiet power of the natural world.
