Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest

by Suzanne Simard

Haha

the Monashee Mountains

Al.

Rascal,

Nakusp,

Mabel Lake.

tacot rouillé.

rusty jalopy, rust bucket, rusted hulk

Ted

Simile

Women

Women

Women

Haha

I’d been protected by the powerful grip of forest mud,

I was born to the wild. I come from the wild. I can’t tell if my blood is in the trees or if the trees are in my blood.

my family had logged trees for generations and yet seedlings had always taken root.

Mabel Lake in the Monashee Mountain Range

Simard Mountain,

Napoleon and Maria,

Henry—my

Wi...

Ad...

Jack,

Ellen June,

Jiggs,

Haha - how likely is that

“Tabernac!”

Question

Uncle Jack, half his fingers missing from chain saw accidents,

Haha - me too; dirt and worms

Wilfred and Henry Simard

Huppel,

Shuswap...

Splatsin ...

brilliant-yellow and snow-white fungal threads coating the collage of detritus,

Simile

Simile

Haha

Shuswap River

The fine roots in the humus layer had become as dense as a hay bale.

Simile

the cake of rhizomes.

Maybe beach sand is so pale because storms quench it of the blood of bugs and the guts of fungi.

They looked made of blood.

Simile

Roots the size of my dad’s forearm jutted in all directions,

Every root looked tenacious in its unique way, though their common job was to graft the trees to the earth.

boulders

Similes

Simile

Simile

Haha