Croc,
One of the weirdest sounds on earth is the one that comes when clear, thick, ice expands enough that it has to crack. Like a carbon/kevlar canoe the size of the Titanic hitting an iceberg-sized rock.
I never thought I'd get nostalgic about ice...
You mentioned sugar maple bushes in an earlier post - I always used to tap trees, pretty big ones at that. Is it different now? One of by more pleasant early memories is of sludge-trudging from tree to tree in early New Hampshire springs, collecting sap and pouring it into huge cauldrons for boiling. Something like the August blackberry harvest, but without the thorns.
I was also curious about how much of the traditional knowledge is being handed on to the young. I talked a bit with the guides about language - they have their own, which is probably only spoken by a few thousand people; they also speak Tagalog, which his how I talked to them. I was wondering if the kids still learn the old language, and apparently they do. They are certainly picking up the ways of the forest. We ran into a couple of 8-10 year olds out in the forest, where they were checking snares they had set for birds. I suppose they will also keep some of the traditional herbal knowledge, though not perhaps all. Interesting community - they were displaced from their original land about 15 years ago, ironically to make room for a camp for Vietnamese refugees, which is now completely deserted. They are pretty well settled in the new piece of land, though, which is at least close by and adjacent to the traditional gathering grounds. I hope to spend more time up there over the coming year - most of the Aeta settlements here are of groups that were displaced by the Pinatubo eruptions, and are pretty sorry places; this one has a more healthy, living feel to it. Fascinating people.
Do you actually farm your farm? What does it grow?
Steve
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