The original of this essay was written and posted to the Blog way back in 2017. The version you’re currently getting to read has been updated with a few changes to the actual text made.

Global Warming is indeed a terrible thing we’re going to be dealing with for the rest of humanities existence on this planet. In the case of Silverton, and Southwest Colorado, the way things grow in this small little mountainous valley has changed in some subtle ways as well. Things do indeed grow at a faster, different rate, and the actual summer-growth patterns have changed as well (they’ve gotten longer…). One thing hasn’t changed and this happens to be my passion for gardening. Surpassed only by my writing passion of course.                                             Word Count: 1009

Hurry Up and Get Big

So, who doesn’t think the presence of trees is a good thing, and their existence on this earth is a positive sign? For all practical purposes analogous in America to hot dogs, apple pie, and a certain car manufacturing company whose continued survival required a government bailout.

I have had a thing for flora of this type ever since I first discovered that over time healthy trees in certain places can grow to a height and fullness that boggles certain people’s minds. In addition, a grand old tree adds a lot to the appearance of the neighborhood. Lots of them grouped together indicate quite a bit about the overall health of a place.

If the trees in a forest are clumped together in a certain way, then that’s indicative of other hidden treasures such as mushrooms or raspberries. A big, nicely clumped together, forest can also act as a prime location for Hollywood producers to make their next fantasy, teen vampire, or horror classic. If that’s the case, movie people should encourage the growth of more trees. Right? They do like green, but often it isn’t always the same type of green as what you usually find in the forest.

My love of trees and outdoor environments led me to major in environmental biology during my college days. I loved signing up for any and all courses that involved field classes of one sort or another, and outdoor labs. This being Colorado where the weather changes every five minutes, sometimes you wished you weren’t attending classes that day outside.

When I applied to Peace Corps the recruiter asked me where I wanted to go and do during my two-year camping trip, (one friend’s description of the experience). I told him that I didn’t really care where I ended up living. Rather I wanted to do something with my biology degree that wasn’t teaching. Nothing against the profession since four of my sisters are teachers, their brother is just an eccentric dreamer.

As a result, I worked as an extension forester growing tree seedlings in central Kenya. While in the course of writing my first letter home to a college buddy I mentioned that I was working at the Wambugu Farmer’s Training Center. His reply back was to ask me if I was growing not just any old tree seedling, but Prize Winning Wambugu Seedlings. I told this to some of my fellow PCV’s and sure enough the Prize Winning Wambugu term stuck.

All these years later I still look back and fondly remember all those healthy Prize Winning Wambugus we used to cultivate. Maybe some of them have actually grown into big trees in the past thirty years? Don’t hold your breath unless you’re looking to change your facial color to a deep blue.

Since the equator cuts right through Kenya things grow really fast. It’s basically like perpetual summer, and except for dry and wet seasons the weather is pretty much the same from one day to the next, year-round. Great for growing things, but not so wonderful if you like snow.

Down on the coast in particular, things matured at a phenomenal rate. Made evident to me when I visited a buddy north of Mombasa. Their agro-forestry tree plots had just been planted and the seedlings were about six inches high as they poked themselves out of the ground. Six months later when I visited him again the trees had achieved a height of almost ten feet. My buddy complained about the shade they were casting adversely affecting the intercropped food species. I’m not exaggerating or embellishing this in case you’re wondering. Plants grew like they were pumped up on some sort of all consuming super steroids in that country.

On the other hand, a big part of growing trees here in our mountainous region of the four corners is “patience.” Nothing grows as fast as it did in Kenya, and at this altitude and latitude you’re pretty limited about what you can grow too. This was never made more evident to me than when I lived in Jersey and saw the variety and type of northeastern hard woods. Analogous to the first time I ever walked into “Forbidden Planet”, a super market sized comic book store in Manhattan. Had I died and gone to heaven? At the time I thought I had.

The fact that it takes excruciatingly long for things to grow around here hasn’t stopped me from my life long obsession. To decorate this valley with trees no matter how long it takes. How do I do it? Keep planting trees in every appropriate space I can find. How can I afford to keep buying trees to replace the ones that die? Simply dig up plants in and around this valley then re-plop them in the ground (Forest Service permits? I don’t need to apply for no stinkin’ permits). What do I do after the tree is deposited in the ground? Keep watering and feeding it till the plant has reached a big enough height to survive on it’s own. How do I maintain a positive outlook in the face of die-off rates that can goes as high as 70%? Take comfort in knowing about the flora that actually survives from one year to the next.

Is it working? There a lot more trees in this caldera than there used to be.  Some of that has to do with the fact that I also keep telling everyone who lives here they should plant and maintain more trees. The advantages of trees are boundless. They clean the air; provide a home for birds, squirrels, and other critters. They can grow into fantastic windbreaks. Downed ones also make a great firewood source. Oh heck, they’re an awfully good thing so let’s just leave it at that.

Am I being obsessive about this? Of course I am, maybe that’s why some folks quickly run to the other side of the street whenever they see me walking towards them.