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Paper Moon Newsletter>
Deep Roots, Long Branches & Ephemera
March 12, 2009
With summer temperatures reaching into the high 90s and low 100s we here in South Texas understand the importance in selecting the right plants and trees for our yards and gardens.
While selecting the grass for my backyard I took great care in picking deep rooted varieties, such as buffalo grass and blue gramma, that would hold up during long periods of drought with minimal water. Also when designing our gardens I chose to stick to native plants only because I new that they all possessed the ability to hold up during the most challenging weather Texas had to offer. In addition to that I had three eighteen year old Live Oaks and a Mesquite Tree brought in, knowing these would not only stand firm but their long branches would also provide the shade and shelter we and the various forms of wildlife would need in years to come.
Over the past several years I have been able to watch the progress of my backyard haven in some very diverse conditions. I watched my trees stand firm during the one hundred plus winds of Hurricane Claudette. I watched my native garden persevere through the Miraculous Christmas Snow of 2004. And now again I am watching them all struggle through one of the harshest droughts I can remember. It never ceases to amaze me the great hardships they endure each year and yet still manage to show their splendid glory each spring.
In an effort to parallel this with my life and possibly find some insight I find myself asking “What causes these plants and trees to stand so strong through such adversity and hardship?” The answer lies within the root system of these native plants. For instance, grasses such as blue gramma & buffalo grass send roots into the ground as deep as five feet. The Mesquite has one of the deepest root systems known reaching as deep as 100 feet into the ground, because of this they quickly become almost impossible to uproot, the Live Oak however has a long lateral root system that helps anchor them to the ground even in the most harsh conditions.
Long before I had any branches of my own I started researching my family tree. While doing my research I was able to stand back and watch my ancestors endure through hardships that I cannot even fathom. I watched one branch as they took the long journey down the Oregon Trail. During this long and arduous journey they suffered much illness and even death, but they stood firm to the end hoping for a better life. I watched as my fourth Great Grandfather endured the horrors of the Civil War and its aftermath. I watched him struggle with the thoughts for a lifetime. I watched my Great Grandparents depart the ship at Indianola after sailing from their fatherland, Germany. I watched my Great Aunt leave her job as a nurse to take care of all her brothers and sisters after her mother fell ill. I watched my Grandmother on her three mile trek to school each day. I watched as all of my Grandparents and Greats stood firm through a Great Depression, and I watch my Mother and Father as they go through their lives trying to make do what they can to bring joy and peace into the lives of those around them. As I continued to delve deeper and deeper into my families past I started to form a clearer picture of who I was. I knew if I could one day provide my children with this deep and long root system they to would be able to stand firm just as those before them.
Now you may ask yourself what is ephemera and how does it fit into an article on Genealogy? First, ephemera is from the Greek word ephemeron, simply meaning something that disappears quickly or that which last but for a day and most often refers to the general area of paper collectibles. Now for how it fits into this story on genealogy, well even after all my research I felt a deep need for something more, something tangible, something I could hold in my hand that connected me to the past, something I could pass on to my children to help them connect to their past and understand that who these people are and what they lived through is a great part of who they are.
Deep, long roots are important not only because they help us stand firm in times of trouble, but also because they are our life blood. We carry within us little pieces of all those who came before use and in a sense they helped nourish us so we could grow into the strong tree we are today with many long branches providing shade and shelter for us now and those which will follow.
Written by: Kyle Boyd-Robertson
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