Station #2 rare sweetgum

From an excerpt from Underland: A Deep Time Journey, In the chapter titled “The Understory”. Printed in Emergence Magazine

“The fungi and the trees had “forged their duality into a oneness, thereby making a forest,” wrote Simard in a bold summary of her findings. Instead of seeing trees as individual agents competing for resources, she proposed the forest as a “cooperative system,” in which trees “talk” to one another, producing a collaborative intelligence she described as “forest wisdom.” Some older trees even “nurture” smaller trees that they recognize as their “kin,” acting as “mothers.” Seen in the light of Simard’s research, the whole vision of a forest ecology shimmered and shifted—from a fierce free market to something more like a community with a socialist system of resource redistribution.”

Trees and nature have always wound themselves in and out of my art. My attention to them was never about ecology but more about sense of self and place. When I started reading about how trees and plants communicated with each other, it sparked a deeper interest in making sure I (we) pay attention.

In my small, urban world much has changed in 60 years. I have come to appreciate the native plants I loved as a child; milkweed, Queen Anne’s Lace, native impatiens (Jewelweed) with fuzzy seed pods that burst and curl in your hand.

This past year, this new knowledge, has unwrapped my appreciation of having grown up so close to a park full of trees, birds and plants in my nearby Pennypack woods and in this newly discovered wonder- High School Park. When I breathe deeply the dark, humusy scent of the woods I am truly grateful.