The Tree Planter's Waltz, a re-working for another distinctively Canadian field of employment. (Unfortunately, hip-hopped out of 3/4 time, but the sentiment is there...)

Here's the train of thought that got me to that video this morning: Olivia Judson, who writes on biology for the New York Times, had an article this morning about The Rap Guide to Evolution," by Baba Brinkman. It giving some background on him, she said he claims to have personally planted 1 million trees. Several of the commenters on the essay said they found the claim outrageous.

I went to his web site, www.babasword.com, and realized he was from British Columbia and had worked as a tree planter (replanting after clearcut logging) for 10 years... suddenly it seemed plausible. I googled and found www.tree-planter.com, which has more on the profession. Then I went back to Baba's site and on his "Travel Journals" page, #10 under 2009, the name "The Tree Planter's Waltz" caught my eye. He's got the video and some background there and pointed to the YouTube copy.

Also, there's a link to brinkmanforest.ca -- turns out tree planting is a family business (his parents are shown in action in the beginning of the video).

And one of the commenters mentioned Kate and Anna McGarrigle's "NaCl (sodium chloride) song...

So, that's what happens when "inquiring minds want to know". (Some might call it an hour wasted... I say, time flies when you're having fun!)

~ Becky in Tucson