Elyse Pomeranz describes her ways of communicating with trees through heart-perception, imagination and art. 

Jen Costa, of Elder Moon School of Herbal medicine, leads us through the process of making medicine from the bark of healing trees.

When I first moved to Champlain Valley Cohousing in Charlotte Vermont, I was shown a large oak tree out in the forest land owned by the community. We walked through the thick forest of young trees and underbrush that had grown around a tree they called the Mother Oak, shading her from the sun and taking nutrients from the soil. I was stunned by her majestic presence 

Thank you for your instruction to stand strong, to be exposed and seen in all your irregularities. My strength is to be like you in these ways.

We offer gratitude to the Life-giving Trees. You whose green breath sustains our breath. You who have created the atmosphere in which organic beings can thrive.  Thank you, trees for the music you make with the wind, for the way you gentle the rain into the earth, for your sheltering, protection and inspiration.

I spent my childhood summers in the north woods of Maine, where the tall white pines whispered with every breeze. My family nestled in tents with other camping families amidst these fragrant evergreens and called it home for the season. The woodlands held secrets, wild blueberries, warm sunlight, and pines~ sticky with resin that we chewed as a kind of wild gum.