The Social Lives of Trees

[Diana]

We have a beautiful, unique, and huge mulberry tree in our back yard. From end to end on the plane parallel with the ground, its branches span around 80ft. It has such a quality of character, a distinctness or selfhood. I've watched that tree blow in the wind, be covered in snow (its giant branches are lovely highlighted in white), grow its leaves and fill our yard with a bountiful canopy of shade, lose its leaves in the fall, be visited by squirrels and birds and deer, and otherwise crown our space with her presence. And then i consider how enormous its own root system must be, mirroring to a degree the crown above. And about May/June it spends a few weeks gifting us an infinite amount of delicious mulberries. I would love to blend consciousness with it.

After having listened to that podcast I can't help but wonder if it is a mother tree in the local network.

Beautiful.

It may not be a "mother tree" in the sense the podcast talked about, but to me, all trees are mothers, as they house and protect so may creatures, and give life to other creatures with their leaves and fruits; and this says nothing of their presence, of which you speak. I think you do blend consciousness with your mulberry tree—it's just that you may be expecting words, when it is feeling that is shared.