The Best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago.. the Second Best time is Today.
If you planted it 30 years ago, today you can sit in the trees shade, you can harvest the trees, fruit, or the trees nuts, you can harvest the trees lumber.
We are all children of the Forest.
The Great Earth Forest..
Russians call it the TAIGA
Humans are arboreal creatures.. we descended according to some from the trees. The trees are our refuge, our safe haven, when the Mongols swept into Russia, they moved on the Steppes. But they could not conquer the forest, for their armies disappeared into the forests. The cossacks kept fleeing ahead of the Tax collector, uprooting their villages and fleeing further out of reach into the vast forest
We breathe out Carbon Dioxide, the Trees Breathe in our Breath and then Breathe out fresh Oxygen.. .which we breathe in… It is called the great cycle. We are one with the trees. In Native American beliefs we call Trees our ancestors.. and we bury our dead among the trees, as our bodies decompose their atoms and nutrients become food to the trees, and become part of the trees, so indeed the trees ARE our ancestors.. we are one with the trees. Our atoms cannot be destroyed, they recycle and are reused becoming part of the infinite dance of existence, we are one with our planet and the plants upon her and the animals are our brothers and sisters, that is why I am a vegetarian, for these lesser souled animals, share our breathe of life, they share eyes, they share pain, they share blood, they love their children, (well most do) they defend themselves, they crave freedom, they hate being confined. Yes they do have emotions, yell at your dog, does it not cringe ? If it had no emotions how could it cringe? How could it wave its tail in joy ? How could its hair not bristle in warning?
And do not dogs risk their lives for their human partners ? Do they not save our lives ?
We have taken the wolf, and made him into our dog species, selecting traits desirable to us, and yet all dogs and wolves and other canine species are cross fertile. And for those that say breeding in animals is only for procreation have NOT witnessed their dogs well.
Trees convert sunlight energy to cooling leaves, cities with many trees are much cooler than cities that have cut all their trees. Trees give us the lumber to build our shelters.. Trees give us their stored energy for our fireplaces and fuel… and their ashes, return nutrients to our environment. Trees are renewable. Trees atoms cannot be destroyed, when we burn them, their energy is released, and their water content, and what is left is their carbon and other elements that are returned to the soil…
There are reasons why we have something called the TREE OF LIFE, that is planted, grown, and is self renewing, and some trees defend themselves, by crowding out competitors, by communicating with other trees.
Tolkien called it the March of the Ents.. Once as a youth I fell into a tree, sort of and listened to them.. Beware doing that, they are so slow… that if you try to slow yourself down to their speed your heart slows.. slows to almost imperceptibility.
Remember the story of Rip Van Winkle who fell asleep with his head resting upon a tree.
Tree rings in my parents sauna told me about infinity as I grew up, counting the tree rings, on the cut cedar logs. There are fruitful years, and drought years, and branches and knots, and they tell us a story…
Carbon dating, has been used to identify ages of archeology sites, and so has tree ring dating, and ice layer and rock layer dating..
I cherish our heritage in the trees. and am horrified when they are wantonly destroyed. But one must also understand some trees life cycles require fire, and burning to release their seeds. Fire is natural… snuffing out every little fire, only provides fuel for even greater fires.
oh my sorry, I meant only to write the tree quote…
Dedicated to the Arbor Day Movement.
infinitybisected 