Two crows are speaking their gentle Morse Code language high in a gypsy-moth-beheaded Maple as I go by. They always sound contented while making these vocalizations, like an affectionate couple sharing a story about a weird neighbor (I’m sure Bernd Heinrich knows what they really mean). I’m walking Joshua’s Trust’s Pond Lot trail in late March and feeling pretty content myself. A year ago April was frozen and the future felt far from secure, remember? Then like a furnace the Northern Hemisphere rumbled to life. Despite the pandemic Spring came as usual. A lot of people released from self-made prisons rediscovered the land they live on, rediscovered its continually created beauty. That same vitality is firing up beneath me right now, a burst from below driving regrowth. Beneath the surface, fungi and roots exchange season’s greetings and the whole green world gears up, ready to extend spring warmth to fauna, even to us humans. L’Chaim.
Applying that earth energy, Skunk Cabbage makes its own heat. That little purple point will drive itself upward, even melting snowpack, the temperature inside it running 20 degrees warmer than outside. Beetles find shelter there on cold nights. They are the earliest of pollinators, attracted by the dead animal stink of the plant. Somebody has to do it, right? By the time you read this the kettle holes of the Pond Lot and Bradley/Buchanan Woods will be filled with the honks of wood frogs, the whisper of warbler wings, and a tangy whiff of hemlocks. Wetlands are precious. This is a great Joshua’s Trust wildlife walk anytime; choose contiguous Echo Woods if your ability leans toward level and easy, or for the extensive carpet of Princess Pine.
This eastern Connecticut natural world wouldn’t miss a beat if the human race disappeared. That knowledge is a comfort (Maybe I’m the crow’s weird neighbor?). Luckily the earth is full of dynamic, creative people inventing solutions for the ecological damage that has been done, or spreading enlightenment and enthusiasm for the chore. I appreciate those energetic scientists and engineers. And the virologists who made my vaccines possible.
Today I thank these aloof Pond Lot pines for the air I breathe. Join me? Seriously – come out here yourself, listen to the peepers, and lay your loving hand on some bark. Let’s include the rhizomes, and even the skunk cabbage, for its determination if not for its fragrance and beauty. Salute the sun, the rain, (liquid H2O!), and thank the earth for spinning – and for wobbling: the universe ‘wisely’ sacrifices accuracy in favor of adaptability.
In April 2020 I started my addition to this blog with “Hope”; I still have some, believe it or not. Thanks for reading these and for supporting Joshua’s Trust.
George Jacobi