We all have at one time in our life experienced a tree in one way or another.
We climbed trees with our friends seeing who could climb the highest, built a tree house that was our refuge, walked through a cool dense forest in the springtime, plucked a plump red apple off a tree, speculated on what kind of a tree we would be.
On a hot summer evening, did you run to a tree for safe base when you played tag?
Just as the rings of a tree embody the stories of the tree, so too we carry the stories of trees. These stories inspire us to renew our sense of wonder. They connect us to one another through shared experiences as they deepen our understanding to our connection with nature.
Visiting the willow was my reason for joining my uncle and cousin on their spring/summer fishing trek to the Washington Park Lagoon.
Three blocks from our house was my grandmother’s flower garden where they dug up the worms for bait.
I packed a picnic lunch because they never ever caught any fish.
While they baited the hooks at the water’s edge I climbed into the welcoming embrace of the sturdy weeping willow branch that extend out over the surface of the lagoon. With my back against the trunk and my feet dangling over the branches just inches from the water’s surface, I sang and cloud surfed and danced my whispered dreams. I skipped across the water with dragonflies, floated on the surface with willow leaves, inhaled spring and exhaled summer into the last autumn sunset.
“Elderflora: A Modern History of Ancient Trees” by Jared Farmer
Sunday, October 23 2022 – 1:00pm
Event Speaker: Jared Farmer
Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History
Upper Gallery, Widener Visitor Center Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania 100 E. Northwestern Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118
Please join us on Sunday, October 23, 1:00–3:00 pm, for the official book launch of Elderflora: A Modern History of Ancient Trees, by prize-winning author and historian Jared Farmer.
Humans have always revered long-lived trees. But as Jared Farmer reveals in Elderflora, our veneration took a modern turn in the eighteenth century, when naturalists embarked on a quest to locate and precisely date the oldest living things on earth.
Moving from the ancient past to the present and traveling the world from India to Australia to Mexico to Wales, Farmer introduces readers to some of the most cherished remaining big old trees in existence while taking a deep dive into the botany of longevity and the discipline of tree-ring science. It is his hope that we can all channel our shared respect for these trees into collective action to preserve them for future generations.
A presentation by the author will be followed by Q&A and time for book signing. Advance registration is required, and space is limited.
SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY: All event registrants will receive complimentary admission to the Morris Arboretum on October 23 to spend time before or after the launch event to explore the grounds. Please visit www.morrisarboretum.org for hours.
I was lucky enough to grow up on a big lake outside Battle Creek Michigan. Our house faced sunset and my dad and I enjoyed watching sunsets and changes in weather together.
One of the most beautiful things about living on Goguac Lake (an old Indian name), was the amazing tree cover. The whole area had beautiful tall, mature trees that had been there for a long, long, time. In the summer there when it was hot and steamy, as we drove up to the house the air temperature was at least ten degrees cooler up by the house, thanks to the trees. We were very aware of what a gift it was to live where we did under those big, beautiful trees.
I looked up at a tree on the full moon one night, and just stared at the top of the tree for maybe ten minutes, the branches seemed to wave back and forth and transform, I then felt my stomach expand, and a cord of energy formed from my stomach to the tree and I suddenly felt a massive, but slow pulse beating through my body, I intuitively knew I was feeling the pulse of the trees life force and then a kind of voice boomed through my body and spoke the words love..peace..harmony..in to my mind. It was such a profound spiritual moment that I felt the desire to just fall to my knees and say a prayer of thanks, I just felt completely in awe..I had never experienced connecting with a tree before, and have tried many times since, but unable to do it again!
Treewhispers 