Saturday Short Subjects: Remembering Trees Lost in the Storms

Sandy and her “sucker punch” sister storm Athena took a big toll on the trees of the northeast. The New York Botanical Garden’s old growth forest was hit very hard. 

New Haven's Lincoln Oak

Sandy’s mighty winds felled many of the region’s tallest trees — in woods, city parks, along streets, and in backyards. Suddenly we realized just how tall they were! Sandy weakened others which then toppled under the weight of Athena’s heavy, wet snow. Some of the lost trees, such as the Lincoln Oak on the New Haven Green, had national significance. Others had been planted by families to mark life events such as a wedding or the birth of a child. We will miss them all. Although we can’t replace them, we can take a moment to grieve and then pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and plant new trees where the old ones once stood.

Should you find yourself in the replanting mode, please consider your selection of a new tree carefully. Winter is coming and it’s too late to plant a new tree now. Take some time to read Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, by Douglas W. Tallamy. The book concludes with suggested native plants (including trees) for a variety of growing conditions in each region of the country. Over the cold winter days, Google these plants and try to imagine which ones might work out best on your property. If you choose correctly, you will be able to enjoy a beautiful new tree while helping to slow the rate of extinction of native wildlife.

It is so important to consider your choice carefully. For starters, check out my Saturday Short of the Day, brought to you by the National Association of Realtors. It is a short slideshow about 11 trees you do NOT want to plant in your yard. For more on native plants, check out this website. 

Have a great weekend. 

Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall  being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).

Meatless Monday: Food in the News

Last week, Meatless Monday dropped off my radar. In the Northeast we were thinking about food and food foraging and food safety, but not in the usual ways. We were preparing for Hurricane Sandy — stockpiling non-perishable items, turning up our freezers, filling them with containers of water, and reading tips from the USDA about how long we could safely keep food should we lose power. 

There was one pre-storm warning which brought a smile. My husband watched a segment on the Weather Channel in which the commentator urged everyone to have plenty of non-perishable food on hand, but to avoid buying canned food in case of a power outage. Apparently she was not familiar with the old-school can openers which operate with human power.

Sandy has come and gone. We were lucky here. One week later, life in most of New Haven has pretty much returned to normal. And here I am with a Meatless Monday post and lots of topics to cover.

First…

Food Day. At Food Day - Food Action!, held on October 24 at Yale’s Peabody Museum, the New Haven Food Policy Council unveiled the New Haven Food Action Plan, a collaborative effort designed to make New Haven a city where:

• everyone eats healthy, affordable food, and no one goes hungry;
• food businesses are thriving, multiplying, and hiring local residents;
• people have the skills and knowledge they need to choose and cook healthy food; and
• collaboration is strengthened among residents, government, community organizations, and neighborhood groups to improve our food environment.

Hon. Rosa DeLauro, U.S. Representative for Connecticut’s 3rd district (and member of the House Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies), spoke on a variety of topics including the importance of SNAP (formerly known as Food Stamps) in lifting families above the poverty line, the need for a Farm Bill which supports farmers growing fruits and vegetables, what it is like to be a committee member representing a New England state, and the impact of the obesity epidemic on health care spending.

Second…

Storm Sandy took a bit of wind out of the sails of the weeklong birthday celebrations for New Haven’s Elm City Market. The market opened its doors on November 2, one year ago with 750 member/owners. Now 1674 members strong, Elm City Market was voted Best Local Grocery Store in the New Haven Advocate’s 2012 readers’ poll.

Finally… 

Tomorrow is Election Day. Besides electing candidates to public office, voters in California will be considering a number of propositions, including Proposition 37 which would require the labeling of all genetically engineered (GE) food sold in grocery stores in their state. If Proposition 37 passes, California will become the first state in the nation to require labels on GE food. You can read what Michael Pollan has to say on the issue here. Barack Obama and Rosa DeLauro have both expressed support for the consumer’s “right to know” what is in the food  he or she purchases. The rest of the country will be watching to see what happens in the West.

Happy Monday! Thanks for reading.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Scene on the Green 11.01.12

The Upper Green is demarcated with crime scene tape. A small tent has been set up yards away from where Occupy set their tents up last year. Where a pair of investigators began their work yesterday, a crew toils now. They are all carefully working to unravel the mystery. Whose bones were revealed when New Haven’s Lincoln Oak was uprooted by Sandy early Monday evening?

The current scene on the Green.

No one noticed the skeletal remains until Tuesday afternoon. People had gathered to marvel at the great tree which had fallen. An inquisitive woman thought she saw something unusual amongst the roots, and after poking around with a stick revealed what looked to be a human skull. She called the police. The New Haven Independent was the first to break the story. 

The proper authorities were contacted. The state Death Investigator arrived, and the investigation began.

Now, for a history break: This part of the Green was once New Haven’s burying ground. After thousands were buried during yellow fever epidemics in 1794 and 1795, the Green became too crowded to continue as the main cemetery. In 1796, a prominent group of citizens led by U.S. Senator James Hillhouse began to craft plans for a new cemetery away from the town center. The State of Connecticut incorporated the cemetery as The New Burying Ground in New Haven in October, 1797, and the first burial there took place the next month. The last burial on the New Haven Green took place in 1812. While the bodies were not exhumed from the Green, the stone grave markers were moved to Grove Street where many line the rear walls in alphabetical order. This brief history is summarized from information on the website of the burying ground, known today as the Grove Street Cemetery. By setting up an account, the curious can even peruse the burial registry.

Now, back to today's news: Latest reports from the Independent speak of the discoveries of bones belonging to two persons, and a hand-wrought coffin nail.

The team has grown to include a variety of experts from Yale, UConn and the various State offices. I stopped by this afternoon and watched the crew gently brushing dirt from the tree roots into a bucket, which was then carried to a table where it was sifted. Every once in a while I could hear excited murmurs about a new find.

The crew at work.

According to the Independent, the work will continue for at least a week and the bones will be analyzed to determine the sex and age of the people, as well as the cause of death.

Keep in mind that when the Lincoln Oak was planted, it was a much smaller tree, requiring a not very deep hole for its root ball. It was only as it grew that its roots would have gone deep enough into the ground to intertwine with the bones which lay beneath. In 1909, the tree’s planters were most likely not aware of what was under their feet as they traversed the Green, just like most of us today until the Lincoln Oak fell.

What next? Come back soon for the next installment. And for some background on the Lincoln centennial...