What’s in Mrs. Hale Receipts for the Million 1857?
1135. To cure Wounds in Trees–wounds in trees are best cured by covering them with a coat of common lead paint without turpentine (for turpentine is poison to vegetation) in the sun, on a fine dry day. 
Healing the Economic woes of a Nation
My novel, Tree Soldier, has been out in book form for nearly month. A satisfying and terrifying experience as research goes to story and finally into print. Satisfying because the story of the Civilian Conservation Corps which helped so many people in our nation’s worst economic time in the 1930s is now available for our worst economic time, the current Great Recession. Terrifying, because self-publishing isn’t as easy as you think. But I’m celebrating that I got this far.
Mrs. Hale’s receipt on trees is over a century and half old but she’s right about how trees can have wounds. My hero, Park Hardesty, certainly has wounds and so did many of the men in the 1930s. Researching this time period and interviewing some of the “boys” who were in their 70s was a great joy. They talked about the friendships, dances, hard work, FOOD and here in the NW where a majority of the projects were located, an overwhelming awe of the mountains and forests.
I enjoyed reading old mimeographed newsletters from the camps, reminiscences, pictures and newspapers, great resources for the culture of the time with its ads, news and stories. Tarzan on the radio, G-men at the movies and chickens real cheap. Here is my book trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njoPh1U1hQc
Understanding the CCCs
To better understand this time, I’m listing some on-line resources. American Experience on PBS did a great program on the CCCs.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/
http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5657
