
The Cedar Choppers - whocansay
https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/cedar-choppers-once-ruled-texas-hill-country/
======
strait
The "cedar" in the Hill Country is actually the Ashe Juniper tree and it
thrives in the area. It is drought tolerant in an area of frequent and
prolonged drought and the hungry deer population won't touch the saplings
while they obliterate the competing saplings from most other tree species that
they are able to get to.

My parents live in the Hill Country and when I go to visit, I end up spending
some time in the back of the property, barefoot with a brush hand saw, taking
down large bottom branches from the Junipers. I do this for recreation and
also to divert the growing energy of the tree upwards as it matures.

The aroma from the cut branches is quite pleasing and the systematic work of
turning the branches into posts is satisfying. Usually, the long bottom
branches are cut first, so much of the time, the work is in the shade of the
upper branches, which can also transpire significantly on a hot day, with a
prominent cooling effect. I can understand how getting paid for doing this
might be an attractive life.

~~~
blantonl
_barefoot with a brush hand saw_

Oh man that made me cringe. I’ve spent a lot of time on Texas Hill Country
land (Kerville etc) and between rattlesnakes and chiggers you are one brave
soul.

~~~
strait
Something else is even worse. Fire ant mounds hidden under thick grass. If the
ground feels a little softer than it should, hop along extra quick!

------
dreamcompiler
My Dad lived in Austin in the 50s. He used to call poor, uneducated rural
people "cedar choppers" and until today I had no idea where that came from, or
that it was an Austin thing. It seemed -- weird -- because I never heard Dad
say a perjorative word about any other group of people.

------
lurquer
The tree pollinates during a 2 to 3 month period during the winter months, and
for many people, the allergies it causes are horrendous. If you're allergic to
it, you're basically screwed from December - February. The pollen is so thick
in the area that your car will covered with orange dust every morning.

~~~
adrianmonk
From [https://nosneezes.com/resources/pollen-
information/](https://nosneezes.com/resources/pollen-information/) :

"The highest pollen counts ever recorded anywhere in the world occur annually
when these trees cut loose."

That source doesn't give any further information to back this up, but it
doesn't seem too hard to believe.

~~~
pvaldes
what would be a definition of "cut loose"?

If it means pruned, sounds logical to me.

~~~
adrianmonk
It's a seasonal allergy. I'm pretty sure that "cut loose" in this case just
means when the time of year comes that the trees naturally start releasing
their pollen.

I'm not a botanist by any stretch of the imagination, but I believe that once
pollen is on the trees, the wind is the final thing that shakes it loose.

Here's a video showing what I'm talking about:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEYcBnE-
IPA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEYcBnE-IPA)

------
anon1m0us
> “They didn’t care about possessions,” Roberts says, “and they lived in
> housing fit for animals.”

I find it interesting how disrespectfully nose up folks talk about humble
people like the Cedar Choppers, when if we all continued to live like they
did, we wouldn't be in this climate mess we are in.

It's caring about possessions and extravagant homes ( _un_ fit for animals?)
that has destroyed the planet for _all_ animals.

~~~
usefulcat
If we lived like they did, we'd probably also have half the life expectancy
and way more deaths during childbirth, just to name a couple of differences.

~~~
mc32
That’s an extreme of course, but we have examples from other small communities
which shun luxuries to some extent like mennonite and Amish communities. In
any event we don’t need everyone to live barebones but even 30-40%
volunteering or seeking this lifestyle could help against our mass consumption
society. At least a significant portion of people wouldn’t live connected
lives 24x7. Maybe 12x7. That could reduce energy consumption.

~~~
52-6F-62
I think the movement's already started to some effect with modern
homesteaders.

[https://psmag.com/environment/opting-homesteading-matter-
tod...](https://psmag.com/environment/opting-homesteading-matter-
today-77062#.c4pghodw2)

[https://www.literallydarling.com/blog/2016/11/04/millennials...](https://www.literallydarling.com/blog/2016/11/04/millennials-
find-home-homesteading-movement/)

~~~
davidw
That sounds good, but realistically, and perhaps somewhat differently from
what most people imagine, denser city living (as opposed to suburban sprawl)
is probably the best bet for the environment for most people who can't go live
in the woods.

~~~
ksdale
There's also a growing urban homesteading movement that combines the benefits
of density with some of the benefits of self-sufficiency, a reduced
environmental footprint, and the added bonus of potentially living in a city
filled with green stuff!

