About

Each new sapling shooting off the branches of the oak stems from its century-old roots. Like the oak, I strive to stay rooted in traditions that have nourished us over the generations with every new endeavor.

Follow the "Recipes and Resources" link above to visit my culinary site dedicated to the creative interpretation of nourishing traditions: www.rhymeandseason.com... And for all of life's other adventures, stay tuned here at Be the Oak.


My favorite oak tree (Audubon Park, New Orleans, February 19, 2011)


And a favorite quote that inspired the naming of this journal:
"Conservatism makes no poetry, breathes no prayer, has no invention; it is all memory.

Reform has no gratitude, no prudence, no husbandry.

Each is a good half, but an impossible whole. Each exposes the abuses of the other, but in a true society, in a true man, both must combine.

Nature does not give the crown of its approbation, namely, beauty, to any action or emblem or actor, but to one which combines both these elements; not to the rock which resists the waves from age to age, nor to the wave which lashes incessantly the rock, but the superior beauty is with the oak which stands with its hundred arms against the storms of a century, and grows every year like a sapling."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Boston, December 9, 1841

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