At home in the woods

[vaneramos]

On the way home from meeting my parents in London for lunch, we stopped at Wellington County Agreement Forest. We lived near it for the first two years of Brenna's life, when I was still married, but we haven't gone back in years. One of the things I like least about not having a car is that I rarely have a chance to visit places like this, bits of wilderness not far from the city. Soon the woods will be full of dogtooth violets and other ephemeral spring wildflowers.

I especially love this particular woods because its dominant species—hemlock, beech, cedar and sugar maple—and steeply rolling terrain remind me of the landscape around my cottage.

I keep fearing that my daughters will start to lose interest in hiking, but they never do. In fact, their enthusiasm grows as they get older, so we walk further and further.

* * * * *

As we hike along, a forest opening appears on our left, where the deep shade of mature hemlocks prevents anything from growing on the forest floor except several beech saplings, their gold leaves blazing in the midst.

MARIAN: Let's go over there. It looks cool.

We leave the main trail.





BRENNA: I like it better where the trail is more closed in like this.

It is a knoll, bounded on all sides by swamp. We explore in separate directions for a few minutes, then come together again and move on from this magical place.

* * * * *





The beech (Fagus americana) is one of my favourite trees because it has lovely silver-grey bark and retains its leaves all winter until the new buds burst. Beechnuts are intriguing, too.

BRENNA: I wonder what this place looks like in the moonlight.





* * * * *

ME: I like walking with you two because you spot things I would miss.

* * * * *

BRENNA: You know how people have little goals they want to reach, like eating a certain kind of food or visiting a particular place?

ME: Like Antarctica?

BRENNA: Yes. My goal is to find the perfect pine cone.

* * * * *





* * * * *

Marian eventually flops down in the dried leaves by the side of the path.

MARIAN: I like the ground.

ME: Are you tired? Do you want to turn back?

MARIAN: I like the ground. The ground feels good.

ME: Will you be pissed off if we keep walking?

MARIAN: No.

We leave her alone on the ground and meet up again ten minutes later.

* * * * *

BRENNA: Even though I didn't grow up here, I feel more at home in the woods.

Me too.





* * * * *

If there is one thing I ever hoped to bequeath to my daughters, it was a love of the forest.

Comments

[robearal.livejournal.com]

I love hemlock trees. They exude an aura of strength and peace. They are the the closest things to Ents in this world.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I would love to show you the mature hemlock that stands in front of the big living room windows between my cottage and the lake. Behind the property is a granite cliff with big hemlocks growing at its base and towering on the crest, and a few fallen ones slowly decaying. It is one of those dark, dangerously verdant places, full of ferns and heaps of rotting leaves, where ents must certainly reside. They're great trees for hugging, too.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

My grandparents (and later my parents) owned a summer cottage on Kirk Lake in Mahopac, NY. During my entire childhood and much of my adulthood, theirs was the last house along the lake for a considerable stretch -- that is, a good half-mile or more of lakefront to the south of the house was undeveloped forest, mostly hemlocks. There were some really impressive trees in that stretch of woods.

The lake was largely surrounded by forest, in fact, and I was always under the impression that it was mostly hemlock; it was not until well into my adult years that I noticed, while out in the canoe one day. that it was only the patch near my parents' place that was predominantly hemlock, and the rest of it was mostly oak and maple.

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

That was beautiful.

I read about you spending time with your girls and it makes all the parts of me that want to be a mommy yearn.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I felt awfully proud of them this afternoon, and happy in their company.

But at this very moment, they have had too much chocolate. ;-)

[stephe.livejournal.com]

This is one of the things I miss most about growing up in New England: you could step out of the front door of my parent's house, walk for about five minutes, and you would be in the middle of the forest. Of course, all of those trees I wandered amidst as a child have been cut down to make room for yet another soul-deadening suburban development. Fortunately, a few years back my parents moved to a house even further out in the countryside, so visiting them gives me an opportunity to commune with the wilderness I don't get here in Michigan. On the other hand, Lake Michigan is a fifteen minute walk from our house, so I suppose there are some compensations.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Southern Ontario only has about 3 per cent of the original forest cover remaining. Fortunately the remainder is subject to serious conservation efforts. Around here we're lucky to have some nicely wooded tracts that follow the contours of glacial moraines, which are too steep and stony for farming. Does New England still have so much wilderness because it was too marginal for farming? The terrain seems to be more comparable to Central Ontario, which is our cottage country, but it's much less densely populated than New England. I have only travelled in Northern Michigan once, when I was about 10, but I had the impression it had much more wilderness than the south.

[stephe.livejournal.com]

There are a number of reasons why northern New England still has a decent level of tree cover. Two of the major industries -- lumbering and maple sugaring -- require a decent level of forestation to be sustainable. Most of the remaining woodland is on mountain (or large hill) slopes, land which is unsuitable for agriculture or dairy farming. There was a period in the 19th century when a lot of trees on the mountainsides were cut down to provide grazing ground for sheep, but sheep herding has been superceeded by dairy farming, which requires flat pastures. More recenbtly, large tracts of land (especially in northern Maine) have been set aside for environmental reasons, which is all to the good.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. I didn't know much of that history. Most of Central Ontario, originally covered with white pine, was clear cut in the 19th Century. Subsequent attempts at agriculture were largely unsuccessful. There is still an 1870s farmstead on Lake Fletcher where I have my cottage, but the land hasn't been worked for about 90 years.

[avad.livejournal.com]

wow the first pic! That tree looks like an apparition!:)
SO wonderful...this hiking with your daughters. Priceless.

B and I an two friends went to a nearby nature preserve/trail yesterday...and it was soo refreshing...just what we needed.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Apparition, that's a good word. It was so bright, standing there beckoning to us. The walk was just what I needed today, too. I was tired, but spending time in the woods refreshed me.

[dakoopst.livejournal.com]

What a beautiful entry, Van. Thank you for sharing.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Stephen.

Now with you in the woods, that would be a different story altogether. ;-)

[ubermunkey.livejournal.com]

ah so beautiful, you, Marian and Brenna, the pics, all of it very moving!

This connection that you have shared with them, this love of hiking and nature, will benefit them for the rest of thier lives.

be well

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Con. I really appreciate your words of encouragement. I don't know if this will make any sense, but you're an inspiration to me when my kids are around. Especially when I start to feel weary about having to be responsible 24 hours a day during our visits. I feel lucky.

You are lucky to have Elli, too. I know you'll have many happy times ahead.

The girls and I wandered through some nostalgic territory today. It reminded me of harder, scarier times, and how much more confident I am now.

[apel.livejournal.com]

This connection that you have shared with them, this love of hiking and nature, will benefit them for the rest of thier lives.
That is so true. It's an incredibly precious thing.

[kwangjse.livejournal.com]

Beautiful entry :)

[apel.livejournal.com]

BRENNA: Yes. My goal is to find the perfect pine cone.
A worthy goal indeed! And somehow very poetic.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

It seemed wonderfully philosophical coming from a 10-year-old!

[art-thirst.livejournal.com]

Exactly what I need this morning... a walk in the woods. :-) (no woods near here though.)