Doug Newton and his wife Nancy Ladd (who is the director of our Pillsbury Free Library) live a mile or so west of us, across the Warner River, on our road after it turns from Waterloo into Newmarket Road. He’s a logger and a passionate local naturalist. Meaning that he cuts down trees, very carefully and respectfully, and that he has learned as much as anybody I know here about the creatures and the plants that grow in our little valley. When he has the time, he works with kids in Simonds Elementary, teaching them a little bit about the flora and fauna that surrounds them.
Oh, and I buy my wood from him, so our friendship has the added complexity of commerce. I need for him to get me 3-4 cords of wood early in the summer, and he’s happy to take my money. But you have to realize that he’s got more customers than he needs always in line.
For the past two years people have been talking about Doug’s new garden. How he drained his beaver pond and spread the rich black silt out and leveled a new garden plot. But as Doug told me, the health of the soil is a more complicated business than we may realize.