So much to admire in this! I totally relate to a sudden grief for a cut tree. I experienced the same thing when I lived briefly in Philadephia after grad school. My living room of my 2nd-floor flat in an old rowhouse faced the street. Light was filtered by the leaves of a beautiful old sycamore that I befriended. One day, returning from work, I arrived home to find my lovely old friend reduced to a pile of sawdust. I burst into tears right there on the sidewalk. I think of that tree often.
When my son was six or seven, our neighbor across the street had to take down an old beech tree in her front yard. The parts hoisted on cables by the tree guys looked like an elephant’s foot or a giant woman’s torso. It was wrenching to lose that arching beauty. My son, who at that time loved to draw bare branching trees, made one of them into a condolence card for our neighbor.
Thank you for recommending Giono’s book. I was one of those who believed it to be true the first time I read it. I’ve had my ecological architecture students watch the film to show them they can make an impact whatever they do. I’ll try to find a before-after forest planting story from permaculture and share it with you. I can’t think of where it is at the moment.
Hey Julie, welcome to The Fiertzeside! I'm so pleased you're here, our missions are so much the same, except in my case it is less building and more messy piles.
I'm also glad you made it to the end of the post. I'd forgotten I'd scheduled it and had meant to proof read, header it better etc. before it went out. I've been afraid to have a look, I feel a bit better now!
It's nice to know I'm not the only one who feels that kind of loss. I love the idea of a condolence card for the loss of a garden tree. When I was a child we had to cut down mature elms due to Dutch Elm disease which hit Britain in the first half of the '70s. Even then it felt such a devastating thing to do.
While researching this series of posts, I came across a story, I think from 1920s India, where a large number of women lost their lives having tied themselves to trees in a copse that was to be removed for development. Horrific it happened, but it shows how strong rooted the human-tree relationship is.
Thank you for commenting Julie, and I look forward to the story you found.
You've preempted my 'woman who planted trees' post, which might not be the next post after all, as it went in a very different direction to that planned. The creative process is fascinating and I quite like that writing sometimes controls me rather than the other way round.
I am a big fan of permaculture design, I'm currently working on a water capture and store system on our land, as drought looks like our biggest problem in the future. I wrote about an inspiring project in Jordan, designed by the person who took over the Research Institute from its founder. It's here if you didn't get to see it. https://thefiertzeside.substack.com/p/all-the-problems-of-the-world
What is it about humans and trees? This week I've found myself reading some philosophical articles on this subject, so fingers-crossed, I may be able to offer a possible answer later in the series.
I’m in! So happy to be here. And I walk alongside you in the fits of rage and tears and near brawls when a tree is felled. Once, a neighbor cut down a grandmother apple tree. We asked why and she plainly said, “Because it didn’t bear fruit anymore.” My husband and I looked at our 65 year old neighbor and bit our tongues.:)
Ouch re. the apple tree. I had a moment like that with the neighbours (above) who were in support of a housing development as they saw the location, this beautiful wild space, as 'untidy'. I was so stunned I could only shake my head in despair.
What a beautiful and generous post. As I was nearing the end and wishing for a copy of the book, there it was ... a gift. Thank you, for your love of trees. I once wrote a poem to all the trees I've known and love with only one line for each ... it amazed me to find the list just kept growing.
This post is so rich with beauty, thought, and generosity, I am keeping it as a role model. Thank you so much!
Role model, wow!! Thank you so much :) To all the trees I've known and love - that sounds beautiful, Joyce, an exquisite form of documentation in its own way. I've started thinking what I would include if I did something similar and one memory then reminds me of another. The process is like a growing tree.
That would be a lovely idea for including with the nature journalling I've started courtesy of Susannah Fisher (Cricklewood Nature Journal). Thanks Joyce!
This touched me so deeply, Safar, thank you! I, too, am gutted by careless and unnecessary deaths of trees. And thank you, too for the pdf of Giono's book!
Inspiring & love that poem! Your post & the fictional version of tree planting made me want to gift you this excellent documentary, which is actually an entire course in making forests, from Aotearoa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VZSJKbzyMc&ab_channel=HappenFilms 🍂 🍁 🍄 🌿 (may the forest be with you)
Hi Bee, welcome to The Fiertzeside! Thank you for the gift! I will add this to our 'reasons for hope' page when I get back to the computer later today. I look forward to watching it. And the forest with you!
First I got no farther than Inversnaid, a poem I love. Now I’m back for the trees. Look how many stories we have with our trees! I’ll add to the collection:
We had a next door neighbor cut down a 60-year oak that shaded half my first house. They were worried about a diseased limb but didn’t call an expert who knew how to preserve the old trees.
At our next house, my daughter had the strange experience at age 3 or 4 of seeing a tree fall across the street while she was on our front porch. (It was badly diseased.) A few years later, camping in a mature forest, she was terrified that a tree would fall any moment. As John said, What is it about humans and trees? It’s like a clue to the ancient character of genetic memory, that some of us count them as cousins and other humans recognize no relation at all.
Hey Tara, the voice of the poem is so strong, you can almost hear him speaking it.
I'm smiling, not because of the fear of falling trees and the felling of trees, but that this theme is reiterated in tomorrow's post which I've just hit the publish button on. Not that it provides any answers, except in relation to the loss of the UK's Sycamore Gap tree earlier this month, I came across an article which proposed that those who feel the loss are experiencing a threat to ontological security.
We have an oldish oak with two trunks, one half appears diseased, and we've been waiting for it to magically heal itself, but with winter coming, we are going to get in an expert, as I haven't been able to identify what is wrong with it. I can feel ontological insecurity at the thought it might have to come down, but fingers-crossed. I live always with hope.
It's hard to understand the neighbor who desires to fell trees. We, too, had a lovely living wall of nature, 5 Yew trees--roughly 25 yrs of age—between our house and hers. Her white stucco house was totally invisible behind these 5 mature trees. One week her gardeners chopped them all down; exposing the blinding white of her walls. My husband and I were in grief for a long time. A year later we planted clumping bamboo, a fast grower, and it's beginning to do the job. But at times I still yearn for those glorious Yew trees.
Hi Jeanine, welcome to The Fiertzeside and your contribution. Bamboos are super useful, but I agree that they are no substitute for aging yews. They are stunning trees. I wonder what motivated them?
So much to admire in this! I totally relate to a sudden grief for a cut tree. I experienced the same thing when I lived briefly in Philadephia after grad school. My living room of my 2nd-floor flat in an old rowhouse faced the street. Light was filtered by the leaves of a beautiful old sycamore that I befriended. One day, returning from work, I arrived home to find my lovely old friend reduced to a pile of sawdust. I burst into tears right there on the sidewalk. I think of that tree often.
When my son was six or seven, our neighbor across the street had to take down an old beech tree in her front yard. The parts hoisted on cables by the tree guys looked like an elephant’s foot or a giant woman’s torso. It was wrenching to lose that arching beauty. My son, who at that time loved to draw bare branching trees, made one of them into a condolence card for our neighbor.
Thank you for recommending Giono’s book. I was one of those who believed it to be true the first time I read it. I’ve had my ecological architecture students watch the film to show them they can make an impact whatever they do. I’ll try to find a before-after forest planting story from permaculture and share it with you. I can’t think of where it is at the moment.
Hey Julie, welcome to The Fiertzeside! I'm so pleased you're here, our missions are so much the same, except in my case it is less building and more messy piles.
I'm also glad you made it to the end of the post. I'd forgotten I'd scheduled it and had meant to proof read, header it better etc. before it went out. I've been afraid to have a look, I feel a bit better now!
It's nice to know I'm not the only one who feels that kind of loss. I love the idea of a condolence card for the loss of a garden tree. When I was a child we had to cut down mature elms due to Dutch Elm disease which hit Britain in the first half of the '70s. Even then it felt such a devastating thing to do.
While researching this series of posts, I came across a story, I think from 1920s India, where a large number of women lost their lives having tied themselves to trees in a copse that was to be removed for development. Horrific it happened, but it shows how strong rooted the human-tree relationship is.
Thank you for commenting Julie, and I look forward to the story you found.
Yes, so glad to connect.
First thought is Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya. https://www.greenbeltmovement.org/wangari-maathai
Couldn't find the specific story (lost in memory banks), but check this out - a whole bunch of stories!! Nature is amazing! https://www.permaculturenews.org/2012/06/28/hope-for-a-new-era-before-after-examples-of-permaculture-earth-restoration-solving-our-problems-from-the-ground-up/
I lose things regularly in the memory banks!
You've preempted my 'woman who planted trees' post, which might not be the next post after all, as it went in a very different direction to that planned. The creative process is fascinating and I quite like that writing sometimes controls me rather than the other way round.
I am a big fan of permaculture design, I'm currently working on a water capture and store system on our land, as drought looks like our biggest problem in the future. I wrote about an inspiring project in Jordan, designed by the person who took over the Research Institute from its founder. It's here if you didn't get to see it. https://thefiertzeside.substack.com/p/all-the-problems-of-the-world
Thank you Julie!
This was excellent, Safar.
What is it about humans and trees?
Thank you so much for the mention. 🙏
What is it about humans and trees? This week I've found myself reading some philosophical articles on this subject, so fingers-crossed, I may be able to offer a possible answer later in the series.
Thank you for the shout out to Kim!
I’m in! So happy to be here. And I walk alongside you in the fits of rage and tears and near brawls when a tree is felled. Once, a neighbor cut down a grandmother apple tree. We asked why and she plainly said, “Because it didn’t bear fruit anymore.” My husband and I looked at our 65 year old neighbor and bit our tongues.:)
Hey Kimberly! Welcome to The Fiertzeside :)
Ouch re. the apple tree. I had a moment like that with the neighbours (above) who were in support of a housing development as they saw the location, this beautiful wild space, as 'untidy'. I was so stunned I could only shake my head in despair.
Happy you're in!
Untidy?! Wow. Humans are so vastly different, I'm often stunned that we are the same species.
What a beautiful and generous post. As I was nearing the end and wishing for a copy of the book, there it was ... a gift. Thank you, for your love of trees. I once wrote a poem to all the trees I've known and love with only one line for each ... it amazed me to find the list just kept growing.
This post is so rich with beauty, thought, and generosity, I am keeping it as a role model. Thank you so much!
Role model, wow!! Thank you so much :) To all the trees I've known and love - that sounds beautiful, Joyce, an exquisite form of documentation in its own way. I've started thinking what I would include if I did something similar and one memory then reminds me of another. The process is like a growing tree.
The tree poem is like a memory book so I encourage your doing something along that line. And love the idea that's like a tree itself, branching out.
That would be a lovely idea for including with the nature journalling I've started courtesy of Susannah Fisher (Cricklewood Nature Journal). Thanks Joyce!
This touched me so deeply, Safar, thank you! I, too, am gutted by careless and unnecessary deaths of trees. And thank you, too for the pdf of Giono's book!
De nada, Jenna! Thank you too for your own magical resources. I'm working along with you in the background! It's great seeing you here :)
Inspiring & love that poem! Your post & the fictional version of tree planting made me want to gift you this excellent documentary, which is actually an entire course in making forests, from Aotearoa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VZSJKbzyMc&ab_channel=HappenFilms 🍂 🍁 🍄 🌿 (may the forest be with you)
Hi Bee, welcome to The Fiertzeside! Thank you for the gift! I will add this to our 'reasons for hope' page when I get back to the computer later today. I look forward to watching it. And the forest with you!
Dream wilder ♥ ☀ ★ 🌳 💜 💚 🌞 Earth film fest! ♡❥ https://vimeo.com/channels/639670 🐝
First I got no farther than Inversnaid, a poem I love. Now I’m back for the trees. Look how many stories we have with our trees! I’ll add to the collection:
We had a next door neighbor cut down a 60-year oak that shaded half my first house. They were worried about a diseased limb but didn’t call an expert who knew how to preserve the old trees.
At our next house, my daughter had the strange experience at age 3 or 4 of seeing a tree fall across the street while she was on our front porch. (It was badly diseased.) A few years later, camping in a mature forest, she was terrified that a tree would fall any moment. As John said, What is it about humans and trees? It’s like a clue to the ancient character of genetic memory, that some of us count them as cousins and other humans recognize no relation at all.
Hey Tara, the voice of the poem is so strong, you can almost hear him speaking it.
I'm smiling, not because of the fear of falling trees and the felling of trees, but that this theme is reiterated in tomorrow's post which I've just hit the publish button on. Not that it provides any answers, except in relation to the loss of the UK's Sycamore Gap tree earlier this month, I came across an article which proposed that those who feel the loss are experiencing a threat to ontological security.
We have an oldish oak with two trunks, one half appears diseased, and we've been waiting for it to magically heal itself, but with winter coming, we are going to get in an expert, as I haven't been able to identify what is wrong with it. I can feel ontological insecurity at the thought it might have to come down, but fingers-crossed. I live always with hope.
It's hard to understand the neighbor who desires to fell trees. We, too, had a lovely living wall of nature, 5 Yew trees--roughly 25 yrs of age—between our house and hers. Her white stucco house was totally invisible behind these 5 mature trees. One week her gardeners chopped them all down; exposing the blinding white of her walls. My husband and I were in grief for a long time. A year later we planted clumping bamboo, a fast grower, and it's beginning to do the job. But at times I still yearn for those glorious Yew trees.
Hi Jeanine, welcome to The Fiertzeside and your contribution. Bamboos are super useful, but I agree that they are no substitute for aging yews. They are stunning trees. I wonder what motivated them?