Early morning walk.
I grabbed my phone in search of a new podcast to listen to. Usually I go for health or nutrition podcasts, but this time my attention switched to nature. Browsing through the different options, I decided to go with one called The Wild, a podcast about nature from the Pacific Northwest. And what I learned was so healing.
Did you know that trees communicate with each other? If a deer or any other animal starts eating a tree leaves, that tree sends signals to other trees either through the root system or through a change in scent that a predador is nearby. Who knew harmless deer were predators to the trees? The leaves then release certain chemicals that make its leaves poisonous, and the deer moves on to other trees.
This communication between plants goes all the day down to the fungi that grow underneath the tree’s shade helping each other with important nutrients.
Trees are also protective of each other, especially their own seedlings. The mother tree provides all kinds of important nutrients to the growing trees to the point of sacrifice. If the mother tree gets cut down, in a last effort to provide for her young trees, the mother tree releases carbon and other important nutrients into the soil and to her seedlings.
The scientists interviewed for this particular podcast explained how they have learned from trees the importance of slowing down, of communication, and of socializing by being there for each other.
When the podcast finished, instead of moving on to the next episode I decided to pay closer attention to the trees around me. Tall cottonwoods, small junipers, conifers, flowering plums, sycamore, and so many other trees I don’t recognize graced my surroundings. On that note, did you know that the bosque of the Rio Grande in New Mexico is the largest continuous cottonwood gallery forest in the world? It extends 200 miles from Santa Fe all the way to the Bosque Del Apache, a beautiful wildlife refuge south of Albuquerque.
I was in awe of all these trees around me. I’ve always noticed their beautiful leaves, and appreciated all they provide for my feathery friends, but who knew how much is happening underground? Passing by a house on the way home, I noticed a tree that had been recently cut down. I looked at the trees around it and wondered if that was the mother tree and if it was, how she released all her wealth of nutrients to the trees around her. It touched my heart and warmed my soul. Made me think of my own mother.
How amazing are the trees God created. The varieties are incredible. Some tall, some short. Some bear edible fruit, others provide shade or perfect trunks for climbing and exploring. Some have large leaves, others have needles. Birds call them home and feast on bugs sheltered inside the trunks, or on the sap bleeding onto its leaves. They give us shade during hot sunny days and protect us from rain. Trees can help us feel calm and content. Trees also release phytoncides, amazing chemicals that not only protect them from disease, but also increase the quantity and activity of our own natural killer cells, strengthening our immune system. And now I learned a little bit of all that’s going on under the surface, lessons that touch my heart and my soul. How beautiful this world beneath my feet.