It was inevitable. I was born in Nottinghamshire, UK, and grew up in the midst of forests, and the famous one, Sherwood Forest wasn’t that far away. Migration to Australia brought a different experience of forests, and I have explored several. The writings of John Muir, Robert Frost, Wendell Berry, Judith Wright, Noel Davis, Mary Oliver, and many more, inspired my interest in trees. I worked in horticultural work and farming for a time, and learned so much about how trees are really our family, our life-line, our lungs. I am happy in a forest, which we generally call the bush. In fact I’d say I was a Nemopholist – a haunter of forests.
There’s a famous quote by John Muir that I love: “The clearest way into the universe is through a forest.” I think he’s right!
Forests have something special going on, they form habitat for many creatures, they are a special climate zone, they reduce salinity, and redistribute water, provide shade, timber and many by-products. The trees in a forest also communicate. Dr. Suzanne Simard of the university of Columia studies a type of fungi that forms underground networks between trees.
Older trees or “mother trees” are hubs in this fungal network. The trees communicate across species too, from Acacia to Eucalypt. Signals between trees can now be plotted, especially defence signals, through the build up and movement of enzymes. Tree communication is not a new thing, but study has now begun to show concrete evidence of it. The trees work to protect each other, help each other, feed each other, and look after young trees. So the forest is a series of interconnected families, a set of special relationships.
The forest thrives when there are enough mother trees and when the trees are interconencted. We too thrive when we belong to supportive hubs, and are nurtured by networks that protect, share, and feed us. The fungal network equivalent for us is love, empathy, and compassion, a special climate zone, a vital ecology. With love we thrive, we grow, we bloom, and we develop capacity to give out to others. The human forest needs an ecology of love, else the erosion to loss of community will be devastating.
Gandhi put it well when he said: “What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and one another.”
If we do to ourselves as the trees do to themselves, well, we’d be thriving and not just surviving.
For the article that underpins tree communication here, go to Do Trees Communicate With Each Other? Its a wonderful read.
Paul,
pvcann.com
parallax 
That’s pretty cool that you grew up in Notthinghamshire near Sherwood Forest. I can see where you get your affinities.
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It was cool, and yes it was and is an affinity, nicely stated, thank you.
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Pingback: Tree Talk — parallax – VIRTUAL BORSCHT
Thank you for that.
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so true …
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🙂
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Great John Muir quote!
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Thank you
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Wow, that article puts a whole new spin on logging for sure. It definitely supports an argument for selective logging! I will be observing the trees a little differently the next time I am in the woods! Thanks for sharing the link.
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It sure does awaken us to the deeper life of trees- trees asa we’ve never seen them before.
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Yes, I love that nature never ceases to amaze me. So, much we can learn from it.
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Yes.
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I recently read this work by Suzanne Simard and found it amazing that finally science is finding proof for what many of us felt instinctively and has been in ancient wisdom passed down for generations. Yes the bush is certainly my healing place also. Thank you wonderful article
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Yes it is really exciting news, and yes our healing place.
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Cheers
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Tnank you! 😉
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Great post, My Friend! Thanks so much for sharing this!!
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Thank you, kind words, appreciated.
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I love the forest, lovely post
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Thank you for reading, appreciate your kind thoughts.
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Beautiful.
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Thank you.
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Trees are so under-appreciated by humans. Most of us have lost the ability to sense wisdom. I’m called a weirdo for hugging trees. 🙂
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Sad, I do that too, but haven’t been called that. I have been told that indigenous Americans get a restorative by hugging saplings, and a close friend who is sceptic has tried it and verified the positive feelings. Keep hugging won’t you.
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