Going, going…

Now we are at the very end of the cycle… and the very beginning. All the leaves have dropped from the elderly beech tree that I’ve been following so intently. The branches are covered with buds. But in my yard, 15 miles away, the younger beech trees still hold firmly to their pale dried leaves [...]

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The vision of stillness

Naturalists say you have to sit still in a place for 20 minutes to truly observe. After 20 minutes, the creatures around you will decide you’re not a threat, and carry on with their lives. That’s when the real observation begins. Insects, though, are so small that they don’t wait around for your stillness. I [...]

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Ownership

Bark of an American beech along Long Swamp Creek, Pickens County, Georgia Already I’m calling it “my tree.” As though I could own it. As though anyone could really own a tree, much less one that’s on public land. It’s a human conceit: that, because we have the legal right to commit an act upon [...]

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