We're continuing our countdown of favourite ways that trees benefit our health and our communities.
#5. Children's Love of Trees
To a child fortunate enough to grow up with trees, it brings to their young lives a sense of wonder like no other they experience.
“If I walk under you, I feel cooler.
I see animals and birds moving through your branches. I’m in awe of the light twinkling through the leaves so that it almost dances. When the breeze comes and passes through the leaves there is a peaceful sound. There are so many different types of trees and each one is different and has its own story. "It is so tall and strong and yet bends back and forward when the winds are stronger. It is sometimes climbable and when I see a branch that is low enough, I find a place where I can sit and not be seen while I watch the world go by. Sometimes there are flowers and fruit I can collect and eat. Trees live year after year and become like family I can come and see again and again. "I am sad when they die or are cut down. I don’t understand why? I watch them through the window as they live outside in the cold and heat, in the rain and snow, and they don’t complain. Some drop their leaves for the winter and then grow them again in the spring. Your branches which fall I carry with me and pretend they are friends. I throw your old wood into the stream and wonder as it floats and bounces but does not sink. "One day I hope to build a house with your wood that my friends and I will call home. And one day I will be trusted to build fires and be fascinated as the colours and light flash and the smoke rises and then slowly becomes a glowing ember of your presence. "Trees show me wonder – and so I’ve come to feel joy. The joy of knowing you, of being with you today, of wanting to look up into you and sit beneath you – the gift that you are.” 🌳 by Martin Ford