by Betsy Barnum

Humans and trees are the only creatures on Earth that live their entire lives upright. Our basic shape is similar- straight up and roundish. It is intuitive that we would have an affinity for trees, respond to them, connect with them. And, as upright beings who are not rooted but can move, it seems fitting that we would think of them as our anchored counterparts, slower in their rhythms than we are, but sharing the spirit of creatures that reach both up and down, connecting heaven and Earth--and that we would be their spirit in motion, as well as their protectors and defenders, knowing their voice and speaking their words in our language.