I wake on the first day of 2024 to your meditation and scientific observations of salt and learned so much about what I usually measure for recipes or sprinkle on foods. I know someone whose death is held at bay by consuming no salt. Your work as always is both a probe of life on earth and a philosophical way of looking at it.
Walter, your wonderful essays serve as artful meditations that can lead one to further explore the intriguing subjects you present. Today's riff on salt reminded me of the remnants of large rusting iron fire pots we encountered in the marshes of the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge, which you explained were used to evaporate salt as part of the civil war effort. Your essay also prompted me to read about the importance of salt licks as sources of essential minerals for wildlife and farm animals. As a kid visiting the family farm, I was fascinated watching holstein cows in pasture licking out graceful curves in big pink salt blocks, but I don't recall thinking much about the purpose of blocks until I dug into the internet today. As always, thanks for sharing your remarkably wide-ranging and deeply penetrating curiosity. It really is infectious.
I first encountered marshes during a road trip I took between graduation and starting my full-time job. As I drove up the coast from Florida to Georgia, I was stunned by both the beauty and uniqueness of a landscape so affected by daily tides. Thanks for prompting a pleasant trip down memory lane for me!
What a delightful tour de force! Where is sea level affected by the density of the underlying rock? I assume that more dense rock results in higher atmospheric pressure which results in a locally depressed sea level?
I wake on the first day of 2024 to your meditation and scientific observations of salt and learned so much about what I usually measure for recipes or sprinkle on foods. I know someone whose death is held at bay by consuming no salt. Your work as always is both a probe of life on earth and a philosophical way of looking at it.
Walter, your wonderful essays serve as artful meditations that can lead one to further explore the intriguing subjects you present. Today's riff on salt reminded me of the remnants of large rusting iron fire pots we encountered in the marshes of the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge, which you explained were used to evaporate salt as part of the civil war effort. Your essay also prompted me to read about the importance of salt licks as sources of essential minerals for wildlife and farm animals. As a kid visiting the family farm, I was fascinated watching holstein cows in pasture licking out graceful curves in big pink salt blocks, but I don't recall thinking much about the purpose of blocks until I dug into the internet today. As always, thanks for sharing your remarkably wide-ranging and deeply penetrating curiosity. It really is infectious.
This is an absolutely beautiful meditation on salt. Thank you. I'm so glad Dana Bryan pointed me to your letters.
I first encountered marshes during a road trip I took between graduation and starting my full-time job. As I drove up the coast from Florida to Georgia, I was stunned by both the beauty and uniqueness of a landscape so affected by daily tides. Thanks for prompting a pleasant trip down memory lane for me!
What a delightful tour de force! Where is sea level affected by the density of the underlying rock? I assume that more dense rock results in higher atmospheric pressure which results in a locally depressed sea level?
Tremendously informative, lyrical, and thought provoking. Like all your writings and I highly recommend your books on Ants to your readers.