Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky...

[Dee]

We have been talking about this for a while, so let's do it.

This Topic here is dedicated to our shared love of Trees.

Photographs, stories, art, poetry, science... anything to do with these beautiful treasures of our world.

[NurseRatched]

Yes! Lovely...

Can the poem "Tree Woman" come over here, please? It's so special.

Minnesota in the fall; I have many memories of the lake season winding down. We would close up my grandparent's cabin and the trees would start transforming...

[NurseRatched]

Starting off with everyone's favorite...
White birch (paper birch)



White birch is easy to identify with its distinctive, white, papery bark. The sycamore tree also has white bark, but it does not sluff off in thin, paper-like furls like the white birch. The sycamore also has large hand-shaped leaves versus the white birch’s smaller, oval-shaped leaves with a pointed tip. The birch leaf is also irregularly toothed. These grow almost exclusively in northern climates.

White birch survival uses:

*Sweet drinkable sap that does not need purification
*Containers can be fashioned from the bark (and even canoes – hence the name “canoe birch”)
*It’s papery bark makes some of the finest fire starting tender on the planet, which will light even when damp because of its resinous quality
*A fine tea can be made from the small twigs at the end of a branch or by shaving the bark from new growth. Toss a palmful of these elements into boiling water for a fresh, wintergreen-flavored tea
*The tinder fungus (chaga) grows almost exclusively on the white birch tree. The fungus is one of the only natural materials I know of that will take the spark from flint and steel. A piece of tinder fungus along with flint and pyrite to create sparks were even found on Otzi, the “iceman” who was uncovered in the Austrian Alps several years ago.
*Pine tar can be extracted from the bark of the white birch by heating it over a fire. Pine tar makes an excellent natural adhesive which natives used for all kinds of purposes including securing stone points on arrows.

[Dee]

A great start, Mz NR!




Gloria Loughman's lovely patchwork, discovered by Mz Moonchime.






Rebecca Vincent's beautiful etching, the pride and joy of our dining room...





A picture by Canadian Contemporary Landscape Artist Painter Melissa McKinnon Mz Lori has introduced us to.

[NurseRatched]

Dee:

Rebecca Vincent's beautiful etching, the pride and joy of our dining room...

Thrilled that it brings you joy, especially after the painstaking task of "hanging it just right". It's gorgeous!

The Melissa McKinnon is so spectacular in all its colorful glory!

[Dee]

I didn't realise that the North American white (or paper) birch trees are different species from the European and Asian silver birch. White birch trees grow a few meters taller (20m+) and their trunks are double the thickness of the much slimmer silver birch.

How fascinating, all the different uses of these trees!

A few more interesting tidbits:


A pair of Finnish traditional shoes woven from strips of birch bark

The Silver Birch is Finland's national tree. Leafy, fragrant boughs of silver birch are used to gently beat oneself in the Finnish sauna culture.

In Sweden, the bark of birch trees was ground up and used to make bark bread, a form of famine food!

Use in medicine:

Spoiler:

Silver birch is used in traditional medicine as a diuretic and is reputed to be useful in the treatment of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, gout, kidney stones, nephritis, cystitis, digestive disturbances and respiratory diseases. For these purposes, a decoction of the bark or leaves is generally used. Externally silver birch is used to promote healing, relieve pain and treat inflammations and infections of the skin such as eczema and psoriasis.

[Dee]

Silver birch:

[Dee]

These two songs I have taught to so many children along the years, but I've never heard them sung together as partner songs, they work really well!



And how is this little version with kids singing sampled into a groovy electronic backing track?

[NurseRatched]

Well, we're learning things already. Thanks for bringing that info; I had no idea! I often wonder what potential curative or restorative medicines we are ignoring in nature; I know there are cultures and naturopathic treatments that embrace alternatives to manufactured drugs. I don't know much about them. Western/modern medicine doesn't do a great job of integrating!

If I could go to Finland, I would happily beat myself on the back with whatever they handed me

The children's version is adorable, their sweet little voices! The crazy background track is a bit much! LOL

[Dee]

I like it! Especially when the fiddles join in!

[Dee]

[Dee]

Angel Oak is a Southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) located in Angel Oak Park on Johns Island near Charleston, South Carolina. The tree is estimated to be 400-500 years old. It stands 20 m tall, measures 8.5 m in circumference.

The oak derives its name from the estate of Justus Angel and his wife, Martha Waight Tucker Angel. Since 1991 The City of Charleston has owned the tree and surrounding park.

Local folklore tells stories of ghosts of former slaves appearing as angels around the tree.

Spoiler:

Despite the claims that the Angel Oak is the oldest tree east of the Mississippi River, bald cypress trees throughout North and South Carolina are significantly older. One example in North Carolina is over 1,600 years old.

Next time, Lori?