Cultural Missionary Work (Outreach)

[Gabe Ayers]

Our crew and several other members of the Healing Harvest Forestry Coalition will be out of town for a week or so as described in the announcement below.

One of the lasting goals of this work is to establish a relationship between local animal powered folks and the Monastery of the Holy Spirit which has a large tract of land outside of Atlanta, Ga.

I will not have a computer with me or any way to connect to these sites of interest, but will be back in touch upon returning to the farm and home in the mountains.

Hope everyone is having a prosperous new year and decent winter.

David E. “Jason” Rutledge
Environmentally Sensitive Logging and Lumber Company
Healing Harvest Forest Foundation
8014 Bear Ridge Rd.
Copper Hill, Va. 24079
540-651-6355
rutledge@swva.net
15 December 2009
Green Forestry in Conyers, Georgia

During the first full week of January a unique forestry operation will occur at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Ga.

After research by dedicated individuals connected with the Memorial Ecosystems some of the best forest managers in the world have been contracted to salvage valuable logs from a micro burst weather event that flattened four acres of woods on the Monastery property. This group will consist of proven practitioners of restorative forestry that are members of the Healing Harvest Forestry Coalition. These are modern “horse loggers” or “Biological Woodsmen” that will be sensitively extracting logs prepared by highly skilled chainsaw operators, teamed with Drew Leviton, (Bobtail Critter Sawmill) a local portable band sawmill operator to process these logs into lumber for use by the Monastery and Memorial Ecosystems in the future.

“This event will be as ‘green’ as modern forestry gets” says Jason Rutledge, President of Healing Harvest Forest Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Virginia. “There is a growing interest in the sourcing of forest products for human needs and the natural world as it relates to energy use and pollution created in the process. This group promotes restorative forestry and uses modern animal power to harvest timber in a restorative way through out the country. We are a community service agency that educates the public as to the benefits of restorative forestry through a network of proven practitioners serving as mentors for willing students that serve apprenticeships. We will have two “Biological Woodsmen” apprentices training with us on this project. Through this educational program our numbers have grown proportionately to the funding available to the 501c3 public charity status the organization has achieved.” You may make tax deductible donations and read more about this group at their website:

http://healingharvestforestfoundation.org

This particular project will include several founding members of this organization and four Suffolk draft horses working to salvage the blown down timber in a nice oak hickory tract of woods that adjoins the Memorial Ecosystem graveyard on the Monastery property. These logs will be processed into high grade lumber for building “green certified” caskets and timber framing material for Monastery building projects.

The results of this work will be the saving of this lumber for use by the landowner and the sensitive low impact treatment of the forest land that will be in a state of recovery from this intense weather event that occurred recently. The low impact of this salvage harvesting will create minimal soil disturbance and be highly efficient in the amount of fossil fuel energy used and be a gentle, extremely light touch on the land. The eventual use of this wood will include a connection with the sourcing methods that can give a clear sense of being a part of the best treatment of the environment and our planet.

You may contact Jason Rutledge at rutledge@swva.net or 540-651-6355 for further information.

[Gabe Ayers]

Below are some links to media about this past event. It was such a pleasure to work the monks of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit.

Hope you enjoy the images and text.

[url]HTTP://www.rockdalecitizen.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&subsectionID=2&articleID=5833[/url]

http://www.11alive.com/rss/rss_story.aspx?storyid=125503

[Jim Ostergard]

Jason,
Nice job and good press. I think all would do well to check out the links. I often get requests from local papers to come and shoot pictures and even the Portland tv station. Sometimes I’m a little hesitant but then I think it is better to get some word out even if it is a, “photo opp.”
Hard to get the, “sound bites,” to something short that might get used but will a little practice we can all help folks learn about what we can do. Really glad you had the chance to go to Georgia, do the work and then share it will all of us.

[simon lenihan]

jason,
you are a pure slave driver, [ those poor monks ] Hi Hi
simon

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