Rural System's

Developing and Holding Memories

Rural System has a few enterprises devoted to helping people developing, enhancing, and holding their memories. We know how important are photographs and souvenirs are. We are perplexed by the time we spend talking about preserving wildlife and historic buildings and how little time we spend on preserving our own memories, our family history and geneology, and even our care of photographs gained at such great cost. We need to structure events so that they produce good memories, preserve those in various forms (e.g., against fire or storm loss) and encourage rethinking, telling, and sharing them.

We hope we can become the center of tasteful preservation of the history of the rural area, its people, culture, and successes. While this is fun for many and some memories are very personal and precious, we have in the background the idea that the joke

we learn from history
that we do not learn from history

• The Age of Wood - How old is that tree? When was that house built? How fast is the tree growing wood? Answers to questions like these are trapped in tree rings and we are seeking access to techniques of a leader in this field of study who has worked in the Virginia area for many years. Knowledge is invaluable for interpreting rainfall, forest growth economics, and interpreting fires history and when forests were planted or otherwise got started. The procedure takes time for polishing and microscopic interpretations and estimates but can be very valuable in court cases, historic site interpretations and forest investments in "good-growin'" land.
• The Writers' Camp - Week long programs are conducted by expert writers. Ask for programs. Environmental writers emphasized. Procedures for working up the history of Virginia counties, especially for planning units, are available. Special units are held for writers primarily working on the Internet.
• The Memorial Group - A long list of resources is available and this text is being prepared to feature each of the services offered. Cooperation with existing enterprises is sought (as with other Groups.) Groups.)
• The Tours Group - Rich with history, the area offers local tours that favor well-known sites but provide special access to environmental,occupational, and cultural insights.
• The Old Spot - GPSence offers access to techniques for precise location of sites (e.g., survey corners, historic buildings, early-American artifact discoveries) using modern GIS and GPS technology
• The Arborists - offer approximate tree aging services (as above) of town trees and landscape units
• Viewscapes - offers a quantified index of landscape beauty and a means for approaching changes in such landscapes over time. It provides a means to establish a quantified basis for statements about changes in the visual environment. It offers a picture-point service for comparisons over time, including panorama images.
• Ecorods - Devices used to measure the biological activity of soils. These provide a way to monitor change from the earliest time of placement or in wilderness environments and to describe the changes taking place or caused by specific events or influences. The product is sold and analyses delivered.
• NatureSeen - Progressively over time improved records are built of animals present and those lost. The record grows. You are invited to participate by sending in your observations.
• Prospectors - The staff of this group take "ancient" very seriously and reckon time in millions of years. They conduct tours and show the history of the region with emphasis on changes since the Pleistocene. Write for information of regular and special tours and programs.
• The Codgers (or Geezers) - Even if not very old, you need to join this group that communicates via the Internet. They send stories, tell jokes, show pictures, have a conference and offer local insights for the way things were...and might become.
• Floats - Submit your poems to this enterprise. They have a special section favoring poems by Geezers and about the past. The cost of having your poem published on the Internet is low and the form is a valuable way for us all to understand the joy, spirit, and yearning of others of the rural community.
• RuraLives - There has to be more to life than a brief death notice in the newspaper, or even a long paid-for obituary. We have to have a place for telling about the full, creative, often struggling lives of rural people. Now we have a cost effective one. You are invited to write a biography or autobiography and place it on our storage devices. The charges are modest. Only very minor editing is done and all are screened for profanity and unacceptable references. This is a private work and thus we do not discuss " freedom of speech" issues here. We also arrange for writers to assist you for reasonable fees if that is your wish.
• Regional History Books - We have a select list of regional books related to rural history. We gain a small commission from all books purchased and that, like other funds, goes to build Rural System and its contributions to its various members and the community.
• The Sittin' on the Porch Gang - a play, a program, a talltale event, a contest "ReMemory, "for Memory Points (see below), a rocking chair sales bunch, a source of smart sayings, a promoter of oral history… and getting such histories dusted off and given meaning … the basement group for all of the above… and more. They develop a list for The Products Group, a set of market products called "Pantry Products." with energy conservation, emergency needs, and good smells and memories being part of the decision mix.
• Memory and Inquirer Points - We don't know what they are yet, but we're working on it. Suggestions?

If it is true that in making an economic decision, something of value must be sacrificed in order to gain the object of choice, and if benefits are things of value, then memories may be a special type of benefit. They may have what economists call existence value. People buy recreational experiences and events. As a result, and following that, they have memories. Pictures, notes, souveniers and stories (all bought at some price) help maintain or retain those memories. They are ever present, thus existing, and cal be called up when needed, like appreciative knowledge of the existence of a federal wilderness.

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