Author: Andrew

 Back in middle school my mom and stepdad took me to a rather free spirited celebration of something I had never heard of. At the festival I got to hold an albino python courtesy of a humane society raising awareness. There were many games and foods with a flavor I could not identify but still enjoyed. During the end of our walk through Johnson’s woods I learned about something unique to Ohio. I learned that Ohio is one of the few natural homes to the paw paw tree. The pawpaw tree bears a small green fruit that looks similar to a symmetrical pear called the pawpaw fruit. These supposedly taste like a mango-banana-citrus combo. When I told my mom about it I found out about an event called the pawpaw festival. More interestingly I learned that I had actually been to one.

Thinking about it now I grew a better appreciation for the presence of the festival. For those who live in Ohio you might agree with me that there’s not a lot of things that make Ohio any different from other states. But knowing about the pawpaw festival made me a little bit more proud of Ohio.

The over lying theme of the Economy seems to be focused on how humans have a way changing the situations to better suit us but that is not necessarily a bad thing. for example he talks about him baking bread and getting rid of yeast after an burn incident one time. Also he talks about the way he cut down trees in order to make a log cabin for shelter.

After reading the Economy I feel as though Thoreau does an excellent job in providing extremely realistic details for imagery. I found it very interesting how he was able to describe everything in a relatable way. Albeit Thoreau’s writing can be a bit extensive at points in the reading however many times it was what the writing required. I also feel like it is very important to keep in mind this book was just his thoughts scribbled down so it is not much of a surprise that most of his writing is about the truly outstanding things he felt and wanted to convey with utmost clarity. One thing that often frustrates me is trying to figure out how much to read into Thoreau’s writing because while he does use nature to explain his ideologies I usually get confused trying to figure out what exactly he means.

Hey I realized I never posted my first blog due to technical difficulties so here it is now.

When I was in seventh grade my boy scout patrol was lucky enough to be able to go on a mountaineering trip down in Philmont for two weeks. Philmont is a large plot of land in New Mexico That was entrusted by Wait Philips to the Boy Scouts of America with the condition that Boy Scouts take care of the land. One thing about the outdoors is there are bears-it seemed like bears were everywhere- And bears have a really good sense of smell. So the way to avoid having bears ransacking our tents is, every time we set up camp we would put all of our “smellables”(food toilet paper trash) in a “bear bag” and string that bag up on a cable running between two trees about 20 feet from the ground. During the second day we had arrived at crater camp. Like all of the campsites in Philmont it was breathtaking and completely unique. The layout of this campsite was a spot 500 meters or so from a rushing river that had eroded a gorge. It should be Noted that when we went the drought had ended that summer and we experienced rain almost everyday. As a result the environment was thriving there was ground cover of ferns, lichen, and a lot of moss. That night it was my turn to string up the bear bags. Somehow when I was throwing the rope over the cable I managed to tie a perfect knot onto the cable. And I spent the next hour along with my buddy trying to get the rope untied. And with no success my buddy went to go eat while I stayed trying to wiggle the rope off the cable. At one point I just stopped what I was doing and listened. I could hear the water rushing through its course, while still being able to hear the absence of movement around me. And the green life around me was highlighted by the light mist from the recent showers. 

In the village passage Thoreau talks about two points that seemed to be linked to greed, or loss of self. The first half of the section describes shop owners who use ruthless or cold tactics to tempt consumers or visitors of said village. Then Thoreau talks about how easy it is to become lost on a path. Which I interpreted to allude to how easy it can be to keep working and moving forward through life without stopping to reevaluate oneself. And in the end Thoreau talks about how he leaves his houses unlocked. I believe the reason why he did this was to show hospitality or empathy for the traveler that found their way there. Also Thoreau spends a few sentences praising his practices.