I am a forest dweller. I grew up between the dusty pine and oak forests of the mountain west and the spiky Joshua trees of the high desert.

I've wandered in the temperate rain forests of the Pacific Northwest, in the swampy stands of Wisconsin, the rhododendron mazes of West Virginia, and through the tinder dry woods of the Rocky Mountains. 

Now I live among the deciduous hardwoods along the south shore of Lake Erie.

All of these Tall Standing People bridge the sky and earth to bring medicine and food to the Mushroom People, the Bird People, the Tree Dwellers, Water Dwellers, and the Earth Dwellers.

The interconnection between trees and all species in a forest is vast. The tree roots connect with the communication networks of mushroom mycelia. Mother trees nurture the smaller trees around them. The different kinds of trees share information regardless of species. A forest is a living breathing being. 

Building relationships with trees takes time and an openness to knowing without knowing. It requires the attention of all of the senses to fully experience trees. Touch the bark. Smell the leaves, flowers, and inner bark. Taste the fruit. Watch the colors through the seasons. The shapes, the patterns, the spirit.

I will tell a story of my relationship with these trees and offer ways to develop relationship each month. But it takes a little work. Just like any other relationship. I encourage you to try these things out shaped by your own personality, your own approach to getting to know someone.

Some ideas to get you thinking about how to develop your approach:

• find different places you can go to visit trees (arboretums, parks, botanical gardens, cemeteries, street trees, forests)

• make a winter twig collection

• take photos of the same tree(s) at different times of year

• start a tree journal where you can take notes and press leaves and flowers into your pages, choose from the categories below to get ideas for your journal

Journal category ideas:

• Tree Names: 

• Scientific (Latin):

• Tree Family:

• Description (botanical description, defining features, dimensions):

• Habitat and Region(s) Found:

• Part(s) Used:

• Energetics:

• Taste(s):

• Vital or Herbal Actions:

• Tissues or Organs Affected:

• Used for:

• Suggested Methods of Delivery:

• Doses:

• Safety (contraindications, warnings, potential drug or supplement interactions):

• Scientific Knowledge (how it might work, chemical constituents, nutrients, etc.):

• Folklore:

• Uses historically and now (such as carpentry, textiles, cultural uses):

• Emotional, Spiritual, and Ceremonial Uses:

For now, I'll leave you with this poem.

LOST

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

–David Wagoner