Thank you for visiting my literary site.
Make yourself comfortable and enjoy the ride. I blog about books.
If you believe in the power of books to transform lives, you are in the right place. Join me in my reading adventures. To avoid confusion let me clarify that I do NOT have Instagram or Facebook. This is my only site. I publish between two and four posts per month.
"The Universe
is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.”
Eden
Phillpotts
Deer are
intriguing to me.
I remember
being drawn to the fleeting gaze of a deer, perceiving in her gentle eyes the radiance
of her friendly nature and intelligence. My curiosity was satisfied by Geoffroy
Delorme’s Deer Man, a unique book
that surpassed all my expectations and became an all-time favorite.
During his childhood Geoffroy Delorme had a
disappointing experience at school, so the decision was made to homeschool him.
This period of his life afforded him the time and space he needed to explore
his interests in the natural world. He
devoured books by Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall and other naturalists. He also learned
as much as he could about the forests in Normandy, France, where he lived.
He researched the kinds of foods in the forest
that could nourish his body, gleaning information about the rich variety of
plants and trees.
Geoffroy
bonded with the forest when he was a kid.
When he was nineteen years old, he decided to
immerse himself in those forests, living close to the roe deer. As they foraged
for food in the same areas, the deer were very curious about his presence.
What was a human being doing there? The interest was mutual, and their
interactions evolved into friendships.
Geoffroy got to know each deer as a unique
individual; complex relationships developed as they cooperated with each other,
living side by side for seven years.
Roe deer have the ability to tell the
difference between good and evil, or between those who wish them well and those
who wish to do them harm.
Geoffroy Delorme learned as much as he could
from the deer. He adopted their sleeping
habits and gained insights from them about the ways he could support his own
nutrition; similarly, Geoffroy was able to guide the deer to safety at times,
when hunters tried to attack them. Surviving in the forest was not an easy
feat. Winter is harsh, and Geoffroy shares the details on how he was able to
endure the season. It is also made harder by the way humans destroy the
forests, threatening the sources of food needed to survive and thrive.
“Adaptation to the natural environment is a
long process that demands patience. Your metabolism changes. Your mind changes.
Your reflexes change. Everything changes, but slowly.”
It was human encroachment what pushed him out
of the forest after seven years of living in the forests in France. His need to
speak up for the deer and the forest compelled him to write Deer Man.
“The
forest brings us food and medicine. Without it, our landscapes would be nothing
but desolation, and life would be reduced to the most total silence. It is the
forest that purifies the atmosphere and allows us to breathe the oxygen indispensable
to all living creatures”.
The experience of living side by side with his
deer friends taught him a lot about himself, and he dedicated this book to
Chevy:
“To Chevy, my best friend.
You taught
me to live, to feel, to love,
To believe
that everything was possible,
And to
become myself.”
I cried many
times with Deer Man and I’m sure
other readers cried too. This book warms the heart and educates the mind. Inspiring and mesmerizing, Deer Man will hopefully instill in peoples’ consciousness the wisdom
to guide themselves toward respectful empathic
choices, to genuinely honor life
through their own humane behaviors. Jane Goodall makes it clear in one line: “Read this book and enter into another
world.”
You can learn more about Geoffroy Delorme’s forest
experiences by checking this fascinating conversation at the Greystone Books
site.
“Trees
offer us the solution to nearly every problem facing humanity today, from
defending against drug resistance to halting global temperature rise, and they
are eager to share those answers. They do so even when we can’t or won’t hear
them. We once knew how to listen. It is a skill we must remember.”
Diana
Beresford-Kroeger
Gifted with
an incredible memory since a very young age, soaking up the nectar of ancient
Celtic wisdom, Diana grew up with a love for the natural world and an
unquenchable curiosity to learn as much as she could about it.
How can I communicate the marvel of diving
into To Speak for the Trees?
If you feel rejuvenated and cheerful when you
immerse yourself in a forest, reading her words will be a unique experience, a
wellspring of inspiration and an invitation to learn more about trees and the
boreal forest.
Her book illuminates our spirit with hope, but
not the kind of hope based on empty words; it is the invigorating energy
underpinned by scientific knowledge and creative ideas to work together to
become part of the solution to the environmental crisis.
Did you know that pine trees produce an
atmospheric aerosol called pinene? The pinene molecules are easily absorbed by
the skin and the lungs, and they have shown to boost the human immune system
and to uplift the mood.
“The beneficial effects of a twenty-minute
pine forest walk will remain in the immune system’s memory for about thirty
days.”
The Druidic physicians considered the
evergreen pine essential to health, and they prescribed walking in pine forests
to support the health of the respiratory system. They called it “forest
bathing”.
Diana migrated to Canada from Ireland when her
research prospects were limited. In Canada she endured new challenges.
She was always motivated to learn about the
natural world and to share her knowledge and research. As a courageous
independent thinker, however, she was treated with derision and underestimated.
Tired of the biases against her, she left the academic system in the 1980s and
embarked on a new path of research. She
explains it well in these words: “I had the whole of my scientific
education, a baseline of knowledge and technique against which I could measure
and make sense of the things I observed. I had the freedom of being loosed from
institutions, the room to be myself and chased what caught my curiosity without
external interference. “
Her honest reflections resonate on many levels:
“I had the solitude and desperation of
existence on the margins, scary and sometimes painful emotions that have the
power to strip you down until you’re just your raw essence and nothing more. I
had my painter’s eye for beauty, which could draw me to a discovery just as
surely as the orderly thinking achieved by reason. And I had the ancient
knowledge of Lisheens and the view it had given me of nature as the sacred
source of everything that’s needed to sustain ourselves and the planet.”
Her love for trees led her to save several species.
Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a botanist, medical biochemist, activist and author
of various books. Her research and work strive to influence the way we interact
with Nature.
She had settled with her husband in Ontario, Canada,
on a 160-acre area of land, where they planted trees and a vegetable garden; a
place they care for in partnership with nature, without the use of pesticides.
Diana
Beresford-Kroeger plays a vital role in the preservation of the boreal forest. She
empowers each and every one of us to do our part to support the health of the
planet and our own survival.
“From my childhood in Lisheens, I’d been
taught to freely share anything I was able to, especially my knowledge, and to
always look for ways to improve the world around me.I’d never had the money to engage in the type
of philanthropy favored by the Marias of the world. Instead, I gave back
through something called philanthropy of the mind, using my scientific
knowledge and all the energy I could muster to advocate for any worthy cause
that came through my door and to spread awareness of the issues nearest to my
heart.”
Diana’s scientific knowledge and ancient Celtic wisdom were augmented by
the teachings she absorbed from the indigenous people of Canada. To Speak
for the Trees unleashes the power of the mysterious world of trees.
The first part of the book is about her
childhood, youth, work and experiences interacting with Nature. The last few
chapters focus on various species of trees with interesting facts about them. (Some
of the trees included are elderberry, birch, blackhorn, aspen, oak and many
others).
Her
enthusiasm to understand the natural world is an endless endeavor that creates
ripples of transformation to support the planet and our survival.
She never gives up.
“There is never a day spent outside that
you don’t learn something. It might be something small, but that small thing
might also be a key to something very big. The discovery of those small things
and of the ways they connect to one another and ripple through the whole web of
life—that is one of the true beauties of nature. That is what I sought to
understand and cultivate.”
If I asked you to explain a way in which
trees support the health of the oceans, what would you say?
You will probably mention that forests absorb
a quarter of the amount of carbon dioxide generated by human beings. This is
how forests help to curb the acidification of oceans caused by the burning of fossil fuels. After
reading To Speak for the Trees, I should also tell you about a beneficial effect of Mother Trees I had never heard of before.
When the leaves of these trees fall in the
autumn, they contain high amounts of fulvic acid. As the leaves decompose in
the ground, the fulvic acid dissolves in the soil. Fulvic acid is rich in iron,
and when this form of iron is flushed out into the oceans through rivers and other
waterways, it helps to feed the phytoplankton, supporting the health of the
ocean ecosystems.
Everything in the planet is connected. Hence,
the effects of Mother Trees extend into the oceans. This is why when those
trees are cut down, fish die; ocean ecosystems are disrupted.
When Diana shares her childhood years, she
also offers interesting information about the Celts and their history.
The Celts were woodland people; their culture
was born from the deciduous rainforests that covered much of the country in the
past. In the penal years, the British
subjugated the Celts and destroyed these ancient forests with the purpose of
severing the ties of the Celts with the roots of their culture and language.
“During
the penal times, the Irish were not allowed to own trees or even certain
seeds—they were only allowed to grow potatoes for food.”
How can we listen to the trees?
Some people
are more attuned to trees than others. Celtic cultures believed in the
sentience of trees; many ancient cultures did too.
I
already wrote about ways through which trees communicate. However, I had never
read anything about infrasound or silent sound from trees until I read To
Speak for the Trees. These are sounds below the range of human hearing.
They travel great distances, and they are also produced by elephants to communicate.
How are trees related to these infrasounds? I
wonder about it. Science does not know, but some research is emerging about
sounds and plants:
The title of this post is not about a metaphor. It refers to "Luna and Me", the true story of a woman called Julia Butterfly Hill who saved the life of a one thousand -year -old Redwood tree by living in it for two years.
Julia volunteered to sit in Luna for 3-4 weeks in December 1997 with the support of her ground team, but she ended up staying for two years. During this time she endured personal fears, intimidation from loggers, fierce storms, frostbite and many more challenges.
Julia became a powerful voice for sustainable forestry and the integrity of the planet.
The illustrations of this book are delightful and as inspiring as the story itself.
This book was printed on paper from responsible, FSC-certified sources. Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw is the author and illustrator of "Luna and Me" and this is what she said about the story:
"This is a story of strength, endurance, teamwork, commitment and love. Luna still stands today as a beacon of hope for the ancient forests."
I find these trees intriguing. They date back to the time of dinosaurs and are the largest living organisms on earth.
Their roots hug the roots of other Redwood trees to stand strong.
Here's an interesting video...
You can learn more about these forests by visiting sanctuaryforest.org.
