“As summer open out in the Northern Hemisphere, we can clearly see the two levels or layers on Earth : The Old that is becoming increasingly dystopian and the New which is returning to the original template for Sacred Earth or New Earth.
At the moment, there is large scale air pollution in New York City and the East Coast of the USA, and large scale flooding in South Eastern Ukraine as a result of the destruction of a dam near Kherson. Nature is showing us where we need to do better and create a New Reality and a New Earth.
As New Earth Humans and Angelic Humans, we can work with our Angelic families and with the Elementals of Nature to bring balance back to the Earth. Remember the balance that you are, and that you can hold that balance in your heart.
Work With the Sylphs (Air) and Undines (water) to bring balance and healing to the planet. Hold Peace and Love and Harmony in your Heart so that it may create these energies on the Earth.
May Peace prevail on Earth. From the Fire may the Phoenix Arise! May all things be reborn to a higher frequency! From the Water may there be cleansing and the return of Love!
May the New Earth be born in the Hearts of Humanity and on the Earth. Much love and safety to all my Light Family in the affected areas of USA and Ukraine” ~ Celia Fenn
Dane Licina loves spending time in the forest. He combines his love of hiking with his love for carving. He finds storm fallen timber on his hikes and carve spoons, axing them out in the woods and carving later with special knives. He decorates them with a technique called kolrosing. Lines are cut in with the tip of a knife and filled in with finely ground coffee and sealed with linseed oil. His favourite choice of wood would be wild cherry.
“Here’s one for those who love colour more. I took this one back in December. I was hiking up to my cherry stash when the low sun appeared through the trees. Always so welcomed during the cold months in the woods”.
Honey dipper and coffee scoop combo set with one of his favorite designs, gajeta falkusa, traditional fishing boat used by fishermen from the town of Komiža on the Adriatic island of Vis
Kolrosing time. He draws all the designs freehand, then he cuts the lines with the tip of a knife, oil with food grade flaxseed (linseed) oil and fill in with finely ground coffee.
Teaching his son {who is nearly 12} some skills that you can’t learn in school. How to find dry wood, process it and build a fire.
On a cold winter day on the mountain Dane will axe a bunch of spoons outside on the spot but carve them back home.
Whether a standing snag or a rotting log, dead trees play an essential role in sustaining life around them. It’s important for anyone who cares about the planet’s health to understand why a fallen tree found in nature is so essential to maintaining the delicate balance of the ecosystem around it.
Tree Lifespans The lifespan of North American trees varies greatly depending on their species and circumstances.
For example, the grey birch has a lifespan of only 30-50 years and is among those with the shortest lifespans. On the other hand, Great Basin bristlecone pines can live for thousands of years. In fact, the oldest living individual organism in the world is a Great Basin bristlecone pine still living in the White Mountains of California that is over 5,000 years old! The exact location is protected.
While trees can live for tens, or hundreds, or thousands of years because they continually produce new tissues and adapt to their surroundings, the reality is that most succumb far earlier due to injury and disease (and sometimes both).
What is Tree Decay? Decay is simply the process of rotting or decomposition.
The terms tree decay and tree decomposition can be used interchangeably to describe a biological process where wood’s cellulose and lignin convert to carbon dioxide and water, and the remaining nutrients are simply released into the soil.
Conditions that Cause Tree Decay
Wounds Tree wounds occur when a tree is injured, and they can limit the tree’s ability to take in water or food properly and protect itself from infection, infestation, or disease.
The two basic types of tree wounding are stubs and scars.
Stubs A stub is created when tree branches or tops break off or die. They can stick out from the stem and prevent the wound from closing and healing or leave a giant hole, both of which invite decay.
Storms with intense winds commonly knock tree branches off and cause stubbing.
Scars When bark is removed or dies off, scars can leave the inside of the tree exposed to decay.
Animals and humans can cause tree scarring. Bucks rub their scent on trees to attract does during the mating season. Black bears shimmy up against trees to remove their winter coats and communicate with other bears by leaving their scent-marks along trunks. If you have ever seen someone’s “Harry loves Sally” declaration carved into a trunk, this is yet another form of tree scarring that leaves a tree more prone to decay.
Wherever wood is cracked open, insects like sugar maple borers or bark beetles can come in and weaken the tree further. Birds like sapsuckers and woodpeckers also drill into wound sites and deepen cavities.
Root Damage When roots don’t get enough oxygen or the right amount of water or break off, this sets the stage for decay to begin underground or on another part of the tree linked to the affected roots.
What Does Tree Decomposition Look Like?
Many fungi, like the Armillaria, make their way onto decaying wood and other organic matter using microscopic spores that can drift in the air for long distances.
Fungi will often inhabit a tree, living within them their whole life, only becoming active later, when the tree becomes old or stressed. Other fungi form symbiotic relationships with trees, like the fly agaric, the classic white-spotted red toadstool, that grows around the roots of birch or pine and protects them against parasitic species.
However, most often when we see a fungus on the side of a tree it spells some level of trouble for the tree, like heart rot in an aspen.
Fungi can commonly spread by extending their networks of microscopic branches (called hyphae). As fungi spread their hyphae along a dying or dead tree, it releases enzymes that break down wood and, at the same time, allows the fungus to feed on it. Mushrooms later pop up from the hyphae as the fruiting bodies of the fungus.
As decay advances, more organisms come along to assist, such as bacteria and invertebrates, including slugs, beetles, woodlice, and millipedes. Organisms that feed on decaying organic matter are called detritivores. As these creatures feed on the wood, they open it up to increased moisture, causing it to get wetter, which helps it fall apart and decompose even faster. Mold also grows on wood – another example of a detritivore.
Once rotten wood starts mixing in with the soil, springtails and earthworms show up to feast on it. Fungi convert the wood’s cellulose and lignin into softer tissues that then decompose as the fungi’s fruiting bodies die.
Other Signs of Tree Decomposition Live trees can also rot from the inside out, making signs of decay trickier to spot. Besides the signs of wounding mentioned earlier to look out for, here are some tips for spotting a tree that might be rotting internally:
White, Brown, or Soft Rot There are three types of tree rot brought on by fungi: white rot, brown rot, and soft rot. Each causes the wood of a tree to appear differently and can often be observed in sticks and logs on the ground.
For example, white rot is present when wood appears lighter in color because the fungi feed on the lignin. It can also look fibrous since cellulose remains intact longer. The paper industry occasionally uses this natural, sustainable phenomenon to brighten sheets of paper by introducing white-rot fungi that feed on the lignin of wood chips before it’s processed into pulp, a process referred as biobleaching.
Likewise, brown rot can make wood look crumbly and browner in color when greater amounts of lignin are left behind.
Not as much is known about soft rot, but it occurs when a fungus uses enzymes and nitrogen in the soil to break down cellulose. It can appear similar to brown rot since it also does not target lignin and causes wood to take on a crumby, cubic appearance. Soft rotting logs are often partially buried in soil, giving fungus access to nitrogen from the soil.
Development of Fungi and Mushrooms There are an awful lot of fungi and mushroom varieties that feed on wood.
Soft or Brittle Wood When a tree is in a weakened state, soft wood can easily fall apart, and brittle bark or branches tend to crack or tear off easily.
Discoloured Leaves Out-of-season, off-color leaves can be a sign of many things, including water or nutrient shortages, fungal or insect infestation, or mechanical damage to the branch, trunk or roots. In all cases, it is a sign of stress, and could lead to decay.
The Rate of Decomposition Since trees are woody, their fibers are tougher to break down than non-woody plants, so they take longer to decompose.
There are countless factors that can determine the rate at which a tree decomposes. It may be affected by tree characteristics (species, age), climate (temperature, precipitation), and other circumstances. The tougher the species of tree, the longer the decay process. The wetter its surroundings, the faster a tree can rot. If surroundings are dry, fewer fungi and insects are active to break down wood, so the process can take far longer.
How a Fallen Tree Provides Life
Nutrients and Food Sources The nutrients a tree used to build itself during its lifetime are spread into the soil and make it richer for other plants around it to use. These nutrients are essential for small trees to grow and replace the dead ones.
Fallen trees also sustain the many detritivores that feed on the decaying wood, like fungi and beetles, earthworms, etc. This means that other animals that prey on those detritivores also benefit, like the robber fly that eats beetles. In turn, the predators of those predators can also find food (like birds and bats) and so on.
More Light and Space. The space left by a fallen tree allows more light to reach the forest floor as well as space for other vegetation to take root and flourish. If a tree falls and takes others down with it, this helps the plants around it even further.
Shelter Hollow logs are used by bears and smaller animals like foxes for making their dens. Also, a great variety of detritivores make their home in decaying wood, like millipedes and slugs.
LEAF PEOPLE: These are people who come into your life just for a season. You can’t depend on them because they are weak. They only come to take what they want, but if the wind comes they will leave.
You need to be careful of these people because they love you when things are okay, but when the wind comes they will leave you.
BRANCH PEOPLE: They are strong, but you need to be careful with them too. They break away when life becomes tough and they can’t handle too much weight. They may stay with you in some seasons, but they will go when it becomes harder.
ROOT PEOPLE: These people are very important because they don’t do things to be seen. They are supportive even if you go through a difficult time they will water you and they are not moved by your position they just love you like that …
It’s not all people you meet or are your friends, that will stay with you.
Only the root type of people will stay no matter the season.
I spend a lot of my day looking down, as I think many of us do. We look down at phones, computer screens, and books. We direct our gaze toward the sidewalk as we rush to our next destination, smile at dogs walking by our feet, or stop to observe the wildflowers on our path. Even on beautiful hikes through the forest, I’ve caught myself fixating on the ground as my feet navigate rocks and roots, trying not to trip. It’s easy to go a whole day without really looking up. But when I do, I’m always impressed by what I see.
Day and night, the sky offers a constant, everchanging gift. The clouds shift into all sorts of shapes, some bright and buoyant, others dark and looming. The sun colors all around it with shades of pink, red, purple, and orange as it rises and sets. The moon changes each day — sometimes it’s barely visible, a tiny stroke of light, other times it shows up full, bright, and round. The stars glow like little lights left on to help us find our way home.
When I’m really caught up — in a thought, emotion, or situation — I like to remind myself to look up. However the sky has chosen to appear, looking up always offers a reminder that there’s more to this world than me and my own problems. The three pieces in this Weekend Reader draw inspiration from that same sky, reminding us that we all exist under this vast and wonderful canopy. May they remind you, when your head hangs down, to simply look up.
The struggle of the Shipibo community of Santa Clara de Uchunya against territorial dispossession and oil palm expansion
In the Peruvian Amazon, the Shipibo-Konibo community of Santa Clara de Uchunya are challenging the dispossession and devastation of their ancestral forests and rivers, which have affected their traditional livelihoods, way of life and wellbeing. This is due to the aggressive expansion of a palm oil plantation currently operated by Ocho Sur P S.A.C (previously operated by Plantaciones de Pucallpa S.A.C, a former member of the Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and an international, US-financed agribusiness group known in Peru as the ‘Melka Group’).
Since 2015, the community has been taking action to confront land rights violations, agribusiness-led deforestation, and threats and violence against community leaders who protect their territory. They have secured several victories and restricted the expansion of the plantations, but they continue to strive for the full restitution and remediation of their lands.
Eight years after its arrival in the community’s territory, the palm oil company’s continuing presence drives fierce competition for control over lands between groups of land-traffickers and settlers, leading to a spiral of deforestation and violence. By 2020, over 16,000 hectares of the community’s forests – an area three times the size of Bermuda – had been destroyed. Despite suspension orders from the Ministry of Agriculture, RSPO and Peruvian Environmental Regulator (OEFA), as well as widespread condemnation from civil society and Peruvian Government forest and agricultural ministries, the company continues its operations with apparent impunity.
In late 2020, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary protection measures to the community’s leaders due to the constant hostile environment they face. Regulator OEFA ordered Ocho Sur P to immediately suspend its industrial oil palm operations, pay a US$ 2.48 million fine and undertake remediation measures.
The case reveals broader issues that expose the weaknesses in Peru’s legal and policy framework that regulate forest governance and Indigenous land tenure, as well as the State’s capacity to address these issues. Despite over 20 years of the community petitioning the authorities to comply with their obligation to title the entirety of their ancestral territory, the State has only recognised around 1,700 hectares, enabling the land dispossession and massive forest destruction which has taken place over the past decade.
In 2016, the community filed a lawsuit against the invasion and illegal trafficking of their traditional lands, and demanding their restitution and remediation. They are currently waiting for the Constitutional Court’s ruling. While the struggle of Santa Clara de Uchunya is remarkable, the injustices the community are resisting are in fact emblematic for hundreds of Indigenous communities across the Peruvian Amazon, whose applications for collective land titles remain unrecognised by the State.
In addition to highlighting formidable barriers to access to justice for Amazonian communities challenging land dispossession, deforestation and corporate impunity, the case of Santa Clara de Uchunya further reveals serious loopholes and ambiguities in Peru’s regulatory framework governing the conversion of primary forest to agricultural use and the relationship between national and regional government agencies. These lessons should be heeded by those international donors and agencies seeking to support Peru’s national forest protection strategies which commit the country to becoming carbon neutral by 2050, reducing emissions by 40% by 2030, and guaranteeing recognition and respect of Indigenous land rights.
Santa Clara is challenging the Peruvian State not only to recognise the harms inflicted on Indigenous communities by agribusiness-led land dispossession and deforestation, but also actively support community-led forms of forest protection, for instance by supporting and promoting territorial monitoring carried out by Indigenous communities and organisations and their administration of Indigenous justice. Such shifts are crucial if Peru is to meet its current climate change commitments and halt the further destruction of the Amazon forest.
Ayahuasca Healers in the Peruvian Amazon.
The Shipibo are well known for their shamanic healing traditions and their vast knowledge of plant and trees medicines of the rainforest. The Shipibo have a particularly strong relationship with ayahuasca and many consider the Shipibo to be the most highly skilled ayahuasca healers in the Peruvian Amazon.
Ethnobotanical plant medicines such as ayahuasca are now increasingly being focused on by modern researchers as having considerable potential for treating a wide range of conditions. Clinical research is also shedding light on the neuropsychological effects of these plants and the implications for improved cognitive function and integrative thinking that can help people deal with daily life issues in more effective and creative ways.
However, as western science attempts to begin to understand ayahuasca and its healing properties, Shipibo healers carry knowledge that has been passed through hundreds, possibly thousands of years of experience working with this sacred medicine. Shipibo healers undergo training for a minimum of ten years in order to be able to safely, responsibly, and effectively carry out deep healing with ayahuasca and many other plants of the Amazon.
This healing fundamentally recognises the full spectrum of human health, and the fact that we are both physical and energetic beings. Shipibo healing addresses issues on the physical, emotional, psychological (predominantly the subconscious), psychic, energetic and spiritual (soul) levels of being. They focus on addressing the root source of disorder and disease, which typically originates through unresolved traumatic experiences, both personal and trans-generational.
If you’re lost in the woods, ask a tree for directions! Author writes about the ‘extraordinary powers’ of plants
HOW TO READ A TREE by Tristan Gooley (Amazon £16, 312pp)
We all know that trees are a good thing — so good, in fact, that the UK Government has pledged to plant 30,000 hectares of them every year.
Trees provide a home for wildlife, cool our cities in summer and help reduce flooding when there’s heavy rain. They also remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into oxygen.
But if you want a deeper understanding of the wonder of trees, then Tristan Gooley is the man for you. He is such a die-hard enthusiast that when he is feeling stressed by Christmas shopping, he goes to stand next to some trees, rather than finding somewhere for a nice cup of tea like the rest of us.
New York Times–bestselling author Tristan Gooley opens our eyes to the secret language of trees—and the natural wonders they reveal all around us. Trees are keen to tell us so much. They’ll tell us about the land, the water, the people, the animals, the weather, and time. And they will tell us about their lives, the good bits and bad. Trees tell a story, but only to those who know how to read it.
Usually photographed in an Indiana Jones-style hat, he calls himself a ‘natural navigator’ and his motto is: ‘Nature is always making a map for us. Everything outdoors is a clue and a sign.’
Trees, he says, offer all sorts of pointers if you know how to read them. Want to find your way out of a dense forest? Then use them as a navigational aid.
The clues are in their height: if you’re in the centre you’ll be surrounded by towering trees like oaks, which grow slowly and produce thick trunks and high canopies. To move out of the forest, look for trees which are noticeably shorter.
These ‘pioneer’ trees such as birches, willows and alders will be found on the fringes of a forest where they act as a wind buffer. They are rapid growers but their slimmer trunks also limit their eventual height.
You can also use trees as a kind of compass. They grow towards the light so they produce more branches on their southern side. As a tree grows, it will shed many of these branches; and when a tree loses a branch, it uses resin or gum to form a seal at the junction with the trunk, creating something that looks rather like an eye.
When you see lots of ‘eyes’ on a tree trunk you have a marker showing you which way south is.
If you want to hear particularly good birdsong, head for holly, blackthorn or hawthorn that have spines; small birds make their home in these because they offer protection from larger predators.
Want to locate a river? Look out for a ribbon of pale, broadleaf trees like willows, alders and ashes, which typically grow by water.
Here’s an arboreal brain-teaser. You pass a tree and see that someone has carved their initials in the bark. If you return five years later, will those initials have grown out of reach?
Rather surprisingly, although the tree itself will have grown, the graffiti will still be at the same height. Once bark has appeared, that part of the tree will get fatter but not taller, so anything scratched in the bark will stay exactly where it was.
To estimate the age of a tree, look at its girth rather than height. As trees get older their height starts to lessen, but their trunk keeps getting fatter (rather like most of us).
As a rough guide, a healthy tree will add 2.5cm a year to its circumference, so a tree with a 2.5 metre girth is about a century old.
We tend to admire trees most when they are in full leaf, but Gooley writes that one of the most exciting times to examine a tree is early in the year.
Look closely at it then and you will see flashes of pinks, reds and browns in an apparently bare tree; these are the first signs that the buds are swelling. Buds are a marvel of nature — last year’s energy all packaged up in a bundle which is primed to go off in springtime and release all those fresh green leaves.
Gooley is the sort of man whose idea of a fun day out is tramping up and down hills looking at tree roots.
How To Read A Tree is so packed with information that it’s a book best dipped into rather than read in one go, but it will undoubtedly leave you with a deeper appreciation of trees.
Understanding them, Gooley writes, is to possess ‘extraordinary powers’. Your country walks will never be quite the same again.
Like snowflakes, no two trees are exactly the same. Every difference reveals the epic story this tree has lived—if we stop to look closely.
About the author (2023) TRISTAN GOOLEY has led expeditions on five continents, climbed mountains in three, and is the only living person to have both flown and sailed solo across the Atlantic. His more than two decades of pioneering outdoor experience include research among tribal peoples in some of the remotest regions on Earth.
Tristan set up his natural navigation school in 2008 and is the author of award-winning and internationally bestselling books, including The Natural Navigator (2010) The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs (US) / The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs (UK 2014), How to Read Water (2016) and The Secret World of Weather (2021) and How to Read a Tree (2023), some of the world’s only books covering natural navigation.
Tristan has given talks across the world and appeared on TV and radio programmes in the UK and internationally, including The Today Programme, Night Waves, Countryfile, BBC Stargazing Live, Country Tracks, Ramblings, Open Country, Shipwrecks, The One Show, Winter on the Farm and All Roads Lead Home.
He is Vice Chairman of the independent travel company, Trailfinders.
Raynor Winn ~ ‘An important book and a pleasure to read.’
Isabella Tree ~ ‘Tristan Gooley has done trees the greatest service. In this gentle, enchanting book he leads us into their language – how to spot their natural tendencies and individual foibles, recognise their responses to stress and ingenious strategies to survive. And with these insights he arouses an even deeper affection and concern for trees – our friends and allies, with whose fate our own is inextricably bound.’
Wanderlust ~ ‘This book will add a new dimension to your countryside stroll.’
Peter Gibbs, Chair BBC Gardeners’ Question Time ~ ‘It was a lightbulb moment! I thought I knew my local woods – I walk there almost every day. But it’s a thrill to see it through fresh eyes, to develop a much deeper understanding.’
Peter Thomas, Emeritus Reader in Plant Ecology at Keele University, author of Trees ~ ‘Wherever you are – city or wilderness – if you want to understand the secrets of trees you pass, this is the book to read…Tristan has the rare gift of explaining the most complex ideas with humour and deep insight.’
John Lewis-Stempel ~ ‘You will never look at a tree in the same way again after reading this mesmerising book. Gooley drops learning as lighty as blossom falls in spring.’
Plant a Tree ~ the future forest company Q&A: How To Read A Tree with Tristan Gooley, 5 April 2023by Amy Richardson
Q. Can you tell us how the idea for your new book How to Read a Tree came about? Trees have appeared in all my books so far and proved some of the most popular sections. In my earlier books, I kept the focus fairly narrow: how can trees help us navigate – how can they make a compass or a map for us. But over the years I have collected hundreds of other signs and this book was a chance to celebrate and share those clues.
Q. What do you hope people will learn from the book? There are so many individual gems that I hope readers will have fun with – how to sense water through the veins of a leaf, as just one example – but my overriding hope is that readers see a whole new world. Trees go from background to fascinating foreground as soon as we appreciate that every small pattern, from roots to leaves, has meaning.
Q. You’re a very experienced naturalist, did you have to conduct new research for this book, and did you learn anything you didn’t know beforehand? I only appreciated a few years ago that the word ‘author’ has the same roots as the word, ‘authority’ – obvious in hindsight, I know, but so are so many things!
I was commissioned to write this book thanks to a bank of knowledge built over decades, but one of the joys for me in writing any new book is the sense of philosophical exploration. I view each book I write is an invitation to take a strong level of knowledge up to whole new level. A few years ago, I thought I understood the science behind the different tree shapes we see. I really do now, and readers will do too. No two trees look alike and there is a good reason for every single difference we see.
Q. Do you believe it is important for people to connect with trees, and why? I believe everybody knows, even if it is buried, that trees are vital to our planet and to humanity. But there is a difference between knowing that as a vague concept and feeling a true connection with trees. I think the easiest, fastest and most enjoyable way to build that connection is to understand the things we see. If every colour, texture and shape we see in every part of a tree has meaning, we find ourselves noticing more and this leads to a connection.
Q. What do you perceive to be the biggest threat to trees currently? Like most people, I’m concerned by the economic pressures in some parts of the world to deforest, notably South America. But my one biggest fear is a pathogen that isn’t species-fussy. Just imagine ash dieback that didn’t just attack ash trees? (Actually don’t, unless you are a scientist looking for future solutions.)
Q. The UK has one of the lowest levels of woodland cover in Europe. With that in mind, what are your thoughts on what we are doing here at The Future Forest Company? Nature is strongest when there is a rich and varied ecosystem with lots of different species coexisting in the same space. And this feeds into to my feeling about tree planting in the UK. I really like that this is a growing area and that it isn’t dominated by one public or private organisation. Diversity in this area leads to slightly different approaches and my gut tells me that will lead to a more positive result than if one organisation called all the shots. I look forward to learning more about how The Future Forest Company fits into this positive ecosystem.
Q. Can you give us a top tip from the book? Notice how the seasons appear at different times within each tree. Spring comes earlier to low branches on tall trees than it does to the tops of those same trees. Autumn appears first high up on the southern side of tall trees.
You can find How To Read A Tree new by Tristan Gooley in bookshops– out 13th April 2023.
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