After reading this gruesome story in the Australian Herald Sun about a movement to switch to reusable toilet wipes (NO THANK YOU!), I thought I’d post this friendly reminder that you have the lovely hills of the Doran Family Farm – Knock na Garry – to thank every time you don’t reuse your pooper scooper!
And it’s not just your bum that appreciates our hard work!
Say kids, do you know where comics come from?
That’s right! Comic books grow on trees! And here at the Doran Family Farm, we harvest trees just so they can be turned into pulp paper and then printed with stories that you can enjoy!
And so Sheryl Crow can wipe with more than one square!
Here, Sheryl! Have a square of papery goodness on me! I made it just for you.
Farming trees doesn’t mean just cutting down a swath of verdant wilderness so you can get your comic book fix. No sirree! It means managing the land, replanting all that stuff you just spent 20 years waiting to cut down, and enjoying the unique thrill of scrubbing bugs off of hemlock branches. Oh, boy!
And if you think that’s easy, I wish you had been here helping us out for the last several months.
Ah, the smell of fresh cut timber! The light glittering on silken leaves! The majestic thrust of the mighty pine toward the sky!
Why, it is all so beautiful…it makes me want to…SING!!!
It’s a little scary that you look quite at home handling that chainsaw, Colleen.
“Don’t mess with the Colleen – or there will be a whole new level of horror in the Virginia Chainsaw Massacre!” (wherein a petite and pretty comic book writer/artist goes after the paper snobs and copyright abusers!)
Colleen Doran wears women’s clothing. I used to think she was so rugged.
I had to add the Bolsheviks pic. That just slays me.
Recent article about toilet paper being made of “virgin forest”…BWAHAHAAHAAA.
Man, what saps.
They use the terms virgin wood and virgin forest interchangeably so you will be suckered into believing that towering redwoods are being cut down and used so you can wipe your butt.
Simply not true.
What this really means is that forests like ours are sometimes used to make pulp paper. Trees which have limited commercial use for building and woodwork, such as the soft white pine, gorws quickly, is sustainable, and makes great pulp.
That’s the “Virgin wood” they are REALLY talking about. Almost ALL of it being from sustainable growth wood planted for this purpose.
When trees are harvested, they are separated by type and size. Many trees are not strong or fine enough for manufacturing. Most of our forest is not, because though it was 30 years old, it was not well maintained. The trees were too close together and were diseased. Few of the trees were good enough for anything but making pulp. They were nearly half the trunk size trees should have been at their age.
And NOT harvesting them would have led to a sicker forest, as the pine beetle preys on strands of old and sick pine and can kill an entire healthy forest. Our forest was already sick and we were advised to harvest by the forestry service.
Sorry Bambi, the wood had to go.
But we planted lots more wood and can now properly maintain the trees. We’ve allowed a number of hardwoods to grow among them for health and variety in the forest.
We also have some nice chestnuts, and some hemlock (all diseased – we are trying to save them).
We’ve also planted about 20 new fruit trees.
This year, we hope to add about a half acre of trees for Christmas sale. Nothing fancy, just to raise some extra money on a regular basis, because we have to wait about 15 years between harvests. We can harvest Christmas trees in as little as eight years.
BTW, the front acreage has all been replanted by hand by my family. Hundreds of trees.
The back acreage is left open and has been seeded with flowers and forage for the wildlife. Its really pretty we have mullein growing over five feet high back there.
I’ll be happy to post more photos of our farm if you like.
I found those pre-moistened baby wipes very useful as washcloths after one of the hurricanes knocked out our power and water.
I love your farm pictures, Colleen! Makes me want to visit!
(But not live there – I really am a city girl.
)
Heh.
I love all these sidebar ads for toilette wipes that keep popping up now. I am so glad I could do something to contribute to national hygeine standards.
And I am so glad my readers are smart enough to know that old growth redwood is not being cut down to make toilet paper.
Sheesh.
I liked how the article pointed out how much paper the NYT uses and yet complains about the amount of wood pulp being used to make toilet paper.
I suppose people could start using the New York Times as a substitute?
Always wonderful to see pics of your family’s farm. However, like Scribbler, I enjoy visiting the country, but I come from “city folk”.
It may interest you to know that we recycle newspaper out here as mulch. We place it right in there with the cow manure, which is one way to say goodbye to your New York Times print edition. A few layers of newspaper keeps the weeds down and keeps moisture in.
Makes for yummy heirloom tomatoes.
I suppose people could start using the New York Times as a substitute?
It clogs the toilet, I’m afraid.
I’ll be happy to post more photos of our farm if you like.
Can’t speak for anyone else, but I’d enjoy seeing more such photos.