Tree Hugger II

Saturday May 4 2013

I do love this Owyhee desert, but man I miss the mountains and forests.

I miss grabbing onto a monster old growth Jeffrey pine in a forest, putting my nose to the cracks in the bark, smelling the scent of vanilla, feeling the tree's sentience, its roughness, the oldness, feeling the decades (or centuries, if the tree is a lucky one) of seed and sun and snows and storms, feeling the secret forest life its branches have held.

yes, it's a spotted owl

I try to find the time to hug trees, real forest trees, at least once a year. Soon, it will have to be more than once a year, but for now, this mountain and this giant forest pine will suffice for a while.

Tree Hugger!

Thursday April 21 2011

"Tree Hugger" isn't always a friendly moniker. To those who use it derogatorily, I challenge you: have you ever tried it?

Get out into the forest, put your arms around a big old tree (if you can still find one), and give it a hug. Put your nose against its bark and inhale its scent. Feel the tree and its place in the forest, feel its life and all it has seen. Think what the world would be like if all these big old keepers of the forest were gone.

Go on, hug a tree. I dare ya.