[002] Paradendritic Nano-Utilitarianism

"A profound facet of gardening has been the way it fuses the act of caring for something else with the act of caring for myself." - Willa Köerner, interviewed by Rachelle Robinette

Grab a scissors, or a pruners, or a strong knife, and walk outside.

Walk until you find a tree with a twig to spare.

Cut it. Does it yield easily, like willow? Is it soft, like pine? Or stringy, like elm? Or just damned hard, like oak or ash or buckthorn?

Strip the bark. Feel the sap sweat out from the wood. The life-water of the tree, the wood-blood, is on your hands. It smells like cucumbers. Fresh rain. Green.

If the twig is from a willow, keep the bark. It is an ancient and global medicine. Willow bark is a painkiller, anti-inflammatory. It has been prepared in countless ways since the beginning of time. The current most popular willow bark recipe is known as Aspirin. But you can make it yourself.

If the twig is from a linden, also known as basswood, eat the leaves. They are delicious. A nutty flavor. Crisp.

If the twig is from a sumac, fast-growing, tall-reaching, you might poke out the pith and use it for a straw.

Leave the twig to dry. Somewhere you can see it everyday. Do you notice how it becomes hard, less flexible?

You wonder: could I have bent it into a more interesting shape when it was fresh and green? Yes, you could have. And there are many more twigs out there. Try it.

Place the dry twig in your kitchen, alongside your spatulas, your cooking spoons, your tongs.

Perhaps the twig will stir syrup into your coffee. Maybe it will scrape the last bits of egg from the pan.

If you had chosen a branched twig, and sharpened the tips, could you have used it as a fork?

If you had been more adventurous, chosen a stranger shape, could it still have been useful?

A quiverful of twigs will serve you well. Don't go anywhere without one.

"All Americans, regardless of caste, live in a culture woven of self-referential illusions... a simulated republic of eagles and big box stores, a good place to live so long as we never stray outside the hologram." - Joe Bageant, quoted by Gordon White in The Chaos Protocols