How to Fall in Love With a Forest

Just saw that PEI naturalist  Gary Schneider is speaking at the Farm Centre Tuesday October 28th at 7pm.  In honour  of Gary's talk, I am posting a poem I wrote when I was sixteen that goes with the wonderful theme of his speech How to Fall in Love With a Forest which he will give for the annual general meeting of Friends of the Farm--Farm Centre.


 In the forest's where my love lies,
mossy dampness, springy breeze
a few leaves are gently rustling
as a squirrel jumps through the trees

Spotted touch- me- nots sway gently
by the icy river's side
water skimmers scatter quickly
watch how easily they glide

A hollowed out old tree trunk
proves a place where I can rest
and admire God's great creation
in the forest I love best.

The poem was written down by the water in the woods at Pondside Park in Stratford. I had been introduced to those woods as a child as part of my early Red Cross summer swimming lessons outdoor program. We would walk in with our instructor and look at the broad-leafed blue beaded lily and the various trees and such. Living nearby, I chose those woods to return to for quiet when I needed reprieve from the busyness at home throughout my childhood years. 

I recall sitting there transfixed by the cool silence the day I wrote my first love poem to the woods!  Amateurish yes--but I was only sixteen. Only sixteen but I had had many experiences by that point, of intuitively knowing that I felt most contemplative and at ease when submersed in nature. Yet it would take well into adulthood for me to untangle the Roman Catholic notion of God from the deep sense of oneness I felt in nature. 

When I think of my own children and their deep and repeatedly professed love of MacPhail Woods in Orwell in particular, I sometimes wonder why that woods, we've taken them to many others? But that is the woods that has captured their hearts. Ours too!! Each of them has said that they wished they could set up a little hut down by the river there to live. Undoubtedly, the fact that they have been going to Orwell since they were babies has helped. Our walks there always unhurried with so much to see, smell and explore. Cross the river on one of the three bridges with no railings--dangle your feet and let the cool stillness center you. Walk ahead of the rest so you can be by yourself. Scale the mossy green and sloping hill, pause and study  ferns and fungi of all sorts. Check out the fallen trees for little fairy havens, squirrel middens and scarlet waxy caps.The colours, smells and textures there are wonderful!! Of course they love it there. What's not to love?

 And just as importantly they love themselves when they are in the woods as well. They feel good about themselves and their world. They feel energized and empowered by their sense of connection to what they see. The high level of multi-sensory stimulation in the natural world is exactly what tactile little kids need. Its what we all need and can't easily be replicated in a classroom or house or even a natural history museum.

 

I am indebted to my parents and my Uncle Gerald for instilling a love of nature in me. The endless hours we spent as children, walking, birdwatching, identifying plants and mushrooms are memories I will always treasure. Although I must admit that I did decide that the walks we took with our family would be shorter and we would always have drinks and snacks on hand for the children. I do recall on many's the occasion feeling an agony over the length of our walks in my childhood; someone always tired and hungry. Yet I have fond memories of picnicking in the Townshend Woodlot.  I recall there being cheese, breton crackers and olives and the adults sharing a bottle of wine. Breton crackers were the new rage in our family then (mid 1980's).  I also recall my mom talking a lot about the pure white Destroying Angel  mushroom. As a child I was worried sick that we would be poisoned if she served out the food without washing her hands first! Of course she knew what she was doing; only I didn't understand that at the time!!

Anyhow, when Chris O sent that Gary is speaking about falling in love with a forest I just thought-- who else but Gary Schneider would have a speech by that title and how absolutely wonderful that he is giving this talk!!

We hope to get out to the woods for a walk mid week when the rain has stopped.  
Best of luck with the talk Gary!!
Jill