You’re heard me talk about thinking like a cow. How about we try to think like a tree. Quietly. Slowly. Gently. Taking over the world with majesty and pride.
My favorite tree is a very tall fir that is right out my back door in our yard. It's withstood many a storm and has been tended to carefully through the years to make sure that continues to happen. It shades us from the hot late afternoon sun and drips pitch all over everything but I love it anyway. People have threatened to cut it and I've resisted them mightily. I'll never let that happen!
Lovely. trees are my favourite thing. How wonderful that a tree gave your mother support. It's a touching story. My favourite tree is a pōhutukawa. I wrote a book about it: The Pōhutukawa Journal.
I loved this tribute to trees as I love them so very much...yes, I'm a tree hugger and it appears so are many others here. :) How can we not love them? They give us so much..life itself actually. My very favorite tree in the whole world is our Little Leaf Linden that we planted right out our front door 35 years ago. It is the most beautiful, straight, tall tree you can imagine. It's graceful branches sway in the wind like angel's wings..its bark is a gorgeous silvery, grey with patches of lichen and moss. And without fail, it blooms every July with pale yellow blossoms that attract every kind of pollinator from miles around. There are so many bees on it then that is just hums with life. The best part of this tree...besides providing wildlife with homes and food and us with it's delicious shade and beauty? It's leaves are heart shaped..like a gift of love.
Good morning Christina! What a stunning tribute to your little (heart shaped) leaf linden. I love that it is heaving with bees in July! Flowering trees are the very best! Thank you so much for being a part of our forest!
M & I built this house here in Japan in 2008. There was nothing on the proerty, and the ground was the stuff that builders find to fill the ground with, i.e. full of rocks and concrete pieces of all sizes. We immediately set to work to enhance the soil, and it has taken years to deal with the rocks. Anyway, over the years, we have planted 12 trees on our very tiny piece of land. A couple of them had to be cut down, and one didn’t make it, but the rest are thriving.
I’m not sure which is my favorite. I love the lemonade lemon tree because when they’re ready (in December!), the lemons are so sweet you can just peel and eat them as they are. The kaki tree (Japanese persimmon) is doing quite well this year, so they should be delicious around the end of October.
The persimmon we raised from a seed, so it is special. The others we purchased when they were tiny. They’re all family now. We are the first to care for them. I wonder who will come after us. I just hope that whoever it is will want to keep these wonderful trees. Our neighbor on one side hates insects, so, to not have to cut the grass, they’ve put in plastic grass. The other neighbor cut down all the bushes and trees in his yard after his father died. He never goes outside until the weeds are 2-feet high and he has no choice but to cut them down (which is good because we have snakes in the area). I wonder why people don’t want trees. They provide shade and fresh air and a safe place for sparrows and other birds.
We’ve been having temps in the high 90s (38-40C) for the past week or so, so trees are even more of a blessing now. The sun is starting to go down, so it’s time for me to go out and give everything a good watering.
My silver maple in our yard is well over 53 years old and I have taken very good care of it. One of the tree surgeons who came to see it said it was a magnificent tree. But my neighbor called me "A terrible woman" because I refuse to cut it down. What happened was, a twig --and no exaggeration, a twig--landed on her power line--no damage, no outtage but she was all in a tizzy.
I love that trees narrate our history in their own way, marking who passed by and what impression they left on the landscape. Pollarded willows along rivers, dense hedgerows which have been 'laid' to thicken them and make them impenetrable to animals. Here in north Queensland, along many creeks and rivers you can see the trace of the Kanaka communities who came to Australia from the south Pacific to harvest the sugarcane. They planted all kinds of fruit trees, but especially bananas, and many of them are still flourishing. I should think all of these will still be quietly growing and producing long after we're gone.
I think they probably found some things quite familiar here; we have lots of banana trees and the climate is similar. There are still many Kanaka families here.
We have a mix of trees in the woods behind our house. Some are 50-60 feet tall. Some are shorter now due to a severe wind storm 5 yrs ago.
I read a very interesting book recently that your tree-loving followers might enjoy. It is about 12 trees in the world and their stories of how they are woven into human history.
I have always loved trees. when I sold my house and moved to a little condo a few years ago, one reason I knew it was the right decision was because there was ginkgo tree growing out front, my very favorite kind of tree, and when I woke up on my first morning here, there was a beautiful spider's web with a jeweled web spun to welcome me.
Just the most perfect welcome for you. Ginkos are such slow growing trees. I swear the one at the farm has not grown an inch fence being planted years ago.
Such wonderful writing about trees and how crucial they are to both humans and the planet. We have a very special White Oak right off the back deck that shades the porch and house and can be seen through the big window of the Great Room where I often sit. We call it our Fertility Tree as it has a large baby bump partway up it's trunk. It is beautiful and gives us large acorns that I used to collect and feed to the pigs. And 20 of our 25 acres are forested, so we are very fortunate. I'm excited about your next three weeks of travel. And excited to see pictures of the Farmy. And good on you for traveling light! I challenge myself to do the same whenever I travel.
There is no work maintaining it except for keeping a path of sorts cleared around the boundaries of our land. We do have to be careful of fires, but when it is very dry the county implements a burn ban that forbids outside burning of any kind. This June was very wet here, but we haven't seen rain in over two weeks and there is very little chance of it in the next weeks.
We didn't have many trees on the prairies of southern Alberta. (There are many gorgeous trees in Northern Alberta) So, we were taught to respect the few we had. I recall a tree started to grow in a ditch by the side of the road. The municipality would mow that ditch a couple of times a year. My dad wrote to his local Member of Parliament requesting that they not mow that part of the ditch in order to save this one precious tree. It worked. The tree lived! I have a palm tree in my yard here in Spain. I love it very much.
How truly delightful that your Dad went to all those lengths to save a tree and it worked!! What a great story.,my godmother has a big palm tree at her house by the sea. It is a glorious sight!
Having a tree to eat under feels so - tropical and maybe Italian. Eating outside is the very best - throw in a beloved tree and some cousies! Pure joy. Sorry my comment is late - finally catching up!
My favorite tree is a very tall fir that is right out my back door in our yard. It's withstood many a storm and has been tended to carefully through the years to make sure that continues to happen. It shades us from the hot late afternoon sun and drips pitch all over everything but I love it anyway. People have threatened to cut it and I've resisted them mightily. I'll never let that happen!
Keeping a tree safe is a lifelong mission. I actually love the scent of hot fir trees in the summer. Good for you being its protector.
Lovely. trees are my favourite thing. How wonderful that a tree gave your mother support. It's a touching story. My favourite tree is a pōhutukawa. I wrote a book about it: The Pōhutukawa Journal.
Good morning from California Juliet! I do love those pōhutukawa too - and so do the bees!’
I loved this tribute to trees as I love them so very much...yes, I'm a tree hugger and it appears so are many others here. :) How can we not love them? They give us so much..life itself actually. My very favorite tree in the whole world is our Little Leaf Linden that we planted right out our front door 35 years ago. It is the most beautiful, straight, tall tree you can imagine. It's graceful branches sway in the wind like angel's wings..its bark is a gorgeous silvery, grey with patches of lichen and moss. And without fail, it blooms every July with pale yellow blossoms that attract every kind of pollinator from miles around. There are so many bees on it then that is just hums with life. The best part of this tree...besides providing wildlife with homes and food and us with it's delicious shade and beauty? It's leaves are heart shaped..like a gift of love.
Good morning Christina! What a stunning tribute to your little (heart shaped) leaf linden. I love that it is heaving with bees in July! Flowering trees are the very best! Thank you so much for being a part of our forest!
Hi, Cecilia (long comment ahead!).
M & I built this house here in Japan in 2008. There was nothing on the proerty, and the ground was the stuff that builders find to fill the ground with, i.e. full of rocks and concrete pieces of all sizes. We immediately set to work to enhance the soil, and it has taken years to deal with the rocks. Anyway, over the years, we have planted 12 trees on our very tiny piece of land. A couple of them had to be cut down, and one didn’t make it, but the rest are thriving.
I’m not sure which is my favorite. I love the lemonade lemon tree because when they’re ready (in December!), the lemons are so sweet you can just peel and eat them as they are. The kaki tree (Japanese persimmon) is doing quite well this year, so they should be delicious around the end of October.
The persimmon we raised from a seed, so it is special. The others we purchased when they were tiny. They’re all family now. We are the first to care for them. I wonder who will come after us. I just hope that whoever it is will want to keep these wonderful trees. Our neighbor on one side hates insects, so, to not have to cut the grass, they’ve put in plastic grass. The other neighbor cut down all the bushes and trees in his yard after his father died. He never goes outside until the weeds are 2-feet high and he has no choice but to cut them down (which is good because we have snakes in the area). I wonder why people don’t want trees. They provide shade and fresh air and a safe place for sparrows and other birds.
We’ve been having temps in the high 90s (38-40C) for the past week or so, so trees are even more of a blessing now. The sun is starting to go down, so it’s time for me to go out and give everything a good watering.
Have a good trip, Cecilia!
My silver maple in our yard is well over 53 years old and I have taken very good care of it. One of the tree surgeons who came to see it said it was a magnificent tree. But my neighbor called me "A terrible woman" because I refuse to cut it down. What happened was, a twig --and no exaggeration, a twig--landed on her power line--no damage, no outtage but she was all in a tizzy.
Those people. I don’t understand tree choppers at all. Maples are such lovely trees. Fast growing. Heaps of shade and gorgeous leaves.
I used to imagine myself a mighty oak; I loved them so
When I was smaller, and people were taller the largest tree I knew was the elm tree. Oh to be one of them! Oh to see one again!
I love that you saw yourself as a tree. There is something truly magic about that.
I love that trees narrate our history in their own way, marking who passed by and what impression they left on the landscape. Pollarded willows along rivers, dense hedgerows which have been 'laid' to thicken them and make them impenetrable to animals. Here in north Queensland, along many creeks and rivers you can see the trace of the Kanaka communities who came to Australia from the south Pacific to harvest the sugarcane. They planted all kinds of fruit trees, but especially bananas, and many of them are still flourishing. I should think all of these will still be quietly growing and producing long after we're gone.
What a wonderful thought. The people leaving behind trees. And banana trees. They must have been homesick for them?
I think they probably found some things quite familiar here; we have lots of banana trees and the climate is similar. There are still many Kanaka families here.
We have a mix of trees in the woods behind our house. Some are 50-60 feet tall. Some are shorter now due to a severe wind storm 5 yrs ago.
I read a very interesting book recently that your tree-loving followers might enjoy. It is about 12 trees in the world and their stories of how they are woven into human history.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/176443901-twelve-trees
Oh - that sounds like an excellent book Jim! Thank you for the recommendation. I will find it for sure.
💚🌈💦🌱🌳🤍
🌷🌸🙏
I have always loved trees. when I sold my house and moved to a little condo a few years ago, one reason I knew it was the right decision was because there was ginkgo tree growing out front, my very favorite kind of tree, and when I woke up on my first morning here, there was a beautiful spider's web with a jeweled web spun to welcome me.
Just the most perfect welcome for you. Ginkos are such slow growing trees. I swear the one at the farm has not grown an inch fence being planted years ago.
I love olive trees. Beautiful piece, Cecilia.
Those real old olive trees. Yes! They are such biblical trees.
Beautiful
Good morning David! 🎄🎋
Such wonderful writing about trees and how crucial they are to both humans and the planet. We have a very special White Oak right off the back deck that shades the porch and house and can be seen through the big window of the Great Room where I often sit. We call it our Fertility Tree as it has a large baby bump partway up it's trunk. It is beautiful and gives us large acorns that I used to collect and feed to the pigs. And 20 of our 25 acres are forested, so we are very fortunate. I'm excited about your next three weeks of travel. And excited to see pictures of the Farmy. And good on you for traveling light! I challenge myself to do the same whenever I travel.
I am very impressed with your 20 acres of forest. How much work is in maintaining it? Do you have a risk of fire there?
There is no work maintaining it except for keeping a path of sorts cleared around the boundaries of our land. We do have to be careful of fires, but when it is very dry the county implements a burn ban that forbids outside burning of any kind. This June was very wet here, but we haven't seen rain in over two weeks and there is very little chance of it in the next weeks.
The mid summer dryness! I hope your gardens are doing ok.
We didn't have many trees on the prairies of southern Alberta. (There are many gorgeous trees in Northern Alberta) So, we were taught to respect the few we had. I recall a tree started to grow in a ditch by the side of the road. The municipality would mow that ditch a couple of times a year. My dad wrote to his local Member of Parliament requesting that they not mow that part of the ditch in order to save this one precious tree. It worked. The tree lived! I have a palm tree in my yard here in Spain. I love it very much.
How truly delightful that your Dad went to all those lengths to save a tree and it worked!! What a great story.,my godmother has a big palm tree at her house by the sea. It is a glorious sight!
So much wisdom here about caring for trees - watering the drip line, respecting their leaves as blankets, and planting thoughtfully.
Your Fellowship Forest sounds like a beautiful legacy.
My grandmother had a favorite old Immortelle tree that was our gathering spot for cousins.
I remember sitting beneath it and feeling loved and well-fed with home-cooked meals :)
Safe travels, Cecilia.
Having a tree to eat under feels so - tropical and maybe Italian. Eating outside is the very best - throw in a beloved tree and some cousies! Pure joy. Sorry my comment is late - finally catching up!
you are just on time Cecilia.
I am so happy you made it without any issues..
Yes ~ me too. I never had time to get nervous / no lines at all.
Wise words!
Morning Mad!