Monday, February 22, 2016

American Chestnut Interest

In April of this year (2016), the 3rd anniversary of this blog will come about.  It is interesting that prior to that month, there will be over 5000 views on here!  For folks to find my little ramblings about American chestnut trees in Louisville, Kentucky (and across the state), is pretty neat.  Even the demographics of the viewers is very interesting.  Here are the countries in which the top 5 viewer numbers come from:


1.  United States
2.  Russia
3.  France
4.  Ukraine
5.  Germany


The US views make up about 3/5 of the total views.  I wish that just 10% of those US viewers would consider joining The American Chestnut Foundation and help to bring this tree back to our woods in the Eastern US!  You can learn more at TACF Membership and right now until the end of March, if you join at the $250 level or higher, you will be eligible to win a hand-crafted American chestnut Tappan chair!  Find out more here:  Chair


It is not too early to begin thinking about springtime and flowers.  Towards the end of May and into June, look throughout Kentucky's woods for flowers that look like this:


These are male flowers (catkins) of the American chestnut tree.  Often, chestnut trees are the tallest trees in the woods, so when blooming on the side of a mountain or below a lookout point, they can readily be spotted.  Report your finds by following the directions found here:  http://www.acf.org/find_a_tree.php


Keep your spirits up during this late winter time.  Enjoy the warm, sunny days when they come and know that spring is on the way!  I even had a moquito on me a few days ago, so that is a sure sign of spring/summer!


Best regards!