Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education, Poetry, Art & Environment

Ed Hessler 

Friday, December 17, 2021. 

Greetings from the Center for Global Environmental Education, Hamline University on day 351 of the year. Not much of this year remaining--96.16% is gone (8424 hours). Sunrise is at 7:45 am and sunset is at 4:32 pm. Between these bookends there are 8h 46m 37s of daylight.

Foodimentary calls our attention that this is National Maple Syrup day and provides facts, pictures and food history. National Day Calendar agrees and gives much more information on maple syrup from tree to table.

Quote. "“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. -- Aldo Leopold. Foreword, A Sand County Almanac. In a Draft Foreword, Leopold wrote "I do not imply that this philosophy of land was always clear to me. It is rather the end result of a life journey.” -- Companion to a Sand County Almanac.

Today's poem is by James Silas Rogers. It made me smile because when I was a kid, the root vegetable which it celebrates was not a welcome sight along with parsnips and turnips. Most often served mashed with potatoes. I like all of them now and I'm so glad Rogers chose to write about one of them. Here is the scoop on these three root vegetables.