Category Archives: Virginia forestry

Tree Farm Leadership Conference in Baltimore

Posted on February 29, 2020 by JohnMatel

I think people should have business cards. I don’t know why people don’t or even if it was a general habit outside my peculiar circle, but I do know that my memory for names and numbers is not good enough … Continue reading →

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We need GMOs

Posted on February 27, 2020 by JohnMatel

Too much about the Tree Farm Conference to write about, so I will hit only a few highlights. GMOs Standards of sustainability may not permit the use of GMOs.  Our standards conform to European-based standards of PEFC.  Europeans often have … Continue reading →

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Longleaf resilience and Espen on the ATV

Posted on February 23, 2020 by JohnMatel

Checking out my recently burned longleaf, I discovered that they are already starting to grow of the season, very early. The remarkable thing is that even “completely burned” branches are coming back, as you can see in the picture. My … Continue reading →

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Oak, shortleaf & snow

Posted on February 20, 2020 by JohnMatel

Snow. The weather man said that the moisture came all the way from the Sea of Cortez, like a river in the atmosphere and then some sort of kink in the jet stream. I did not understand exactly what they … Continue reading →

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Planting more trees and my new ATV

Posted on February 5, 2020 by JohnMatel

Chrissy told me not to get any more trees, but someone cancelled a longleaf order and I got two more boxes, 668 trees, native Virginians from Garland Grey. There was no other choice. So back to work filling in places … Continue reading →

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2020 Brodnax fire

Posted on January 30, 2020 by JohnMatel

I “identify” as a good looking 24-year-old man. Unfortunately, intolerant and un-PC nature will not forgive those four decades and insists on treating me like I was 64. I am getting old and this is the end of a long … Continue reading →

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Forest health conference

Posted on January 27, 2020 by JohnMatel

I have to get a new battery. My car would not start this morning and I had to call USAA to get a jump start.  That made me late for the forest heath conference.  I don’t regret that too much.   … Continue reading →

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Busy couple of days

Posted on January 18, 2020 by JohnMatel

Lots of variety. Thursday I was planting trees. Yesterday, I did some WAE work for State and watched Espen Matel band play. Today, I am writing up. Most of it is just personal, but I need to write up notes … Continue reading →

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The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

Posted on January 5, 2020 by JohnMatel

What influences us? We often do not know because very profound influences come in small packages. The picture above is a good example. I took that picture more than ten years ago (October 2009) at a conference on creating bobwhite … Continue reading →

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Old man and the woods

Posted on December 21, 2019 by JohnMatel

I take great joy in my forestry for many reasons. It connects me. I feel part of something that I can both control and not. The paradox of human existence is summed up in the work in the woods, beyond … Continue reading →

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