Awareness, Appreciation, Action

As I sit at my computer and reflect on the last fourteen months at Sylvalchemy Grove for my blog, it's raining outside.  I like to tell my students when it rains that it is just earth getting a drink.  In fact, some of my favorite days of field teaching have been in the rain!  My favorite places to teach outdoor education have been when the classes take place rain or shine.  At Princeton Adult School, I maintain that same philosophy.  You can sign up for my classes here: princetonadultschool.org

Fourteen months since my gorgeous wife, Da, and I moved onto this land, and I'm still planting trees at the homestead. Pawpaws, hazelnuts, oaks, persimmons, figs, mulberries; one tree at a time.

Most people can describe every fixture in their house down to the light switches. Ask them to name one tree in their own yard, and they go quiet.

That gap isn't a knowledge problem. It's a proximity problem. The tree has been standing right outside the window the whole time.

I've spent twenty-eight years teaching people to look up instead of past, starting long before I had the letters after my name, and this land taught me the same lesson all over again, starting from invasives, one clearing at a time.

Here's the practice, in three words. Awareness first: walk outside and really see what's already there, the bark, the lean, the shape against the sky. Appreciation second: learn why that one tree matters, who eats from it, who nests in it, what it's survived. Action third: do one small thing for it. Add wood chips around the base because that improves the fungal amount in the soil.  Add a plant that can form a relationship with the tree like a marigold that attracts beneficial insects.  Leave a dandelion growing because it is a dynamic nutrient accumulator.  And there is so many more!  You’ll have to get my new book coming out in 2027, Sylvlachemy: The Arboreal Transformation Waiting Right Outside Your Door to find out!

None of that requires ten acres or a forest. It requires believing you belong to the land you're already standing on, instead of just owning it. That belief is the whole hinge Sylvalchemy turns on.

So tell me: what's one tree in your yard you could name right now, if I asked? I'll go first in the comments.  Bonus points for the Latin name!  Lol

Again, the upcoming book that I have been writing is called Sylvalchemy: The Arboreal Transformation Waiting Right Outside Your Door is coming soon!

So go put on a rain jacket or grab an umbrella and GET OUTSIDE TODAY!!!