In 2018, I heard the trees speak. They told me to go on a journey to visit 10 trees around the world, to listen and learn from their wisdom. I listened to the call of the trees. I quit my job in New York. I travelled to 9 trees around the world, from the birch to the banyan, from the bodhi to the baruzeiro. I didn’t make it to my 10th tree, the baobab, because of the pandemic. But I found my 10th tree, the beech tree, in the town in the UK where I moved to for six months before the lockdowns began, the town which has now become my home. (Not all of the trees begin with b, by the way, there is the eucalyptus, the olive, oak, the giant sequoia, and the collective of trees in the Amazon basin in Ecuador.)
Ahh, how glad I am to read these words. I’ve wondered similar things, along the Saltwater journey. I’m looking forward to following along with your words here, Olivia. Perhaps it’s time for another Podcast episode :)
Beautifully written - and what a fascinating project. I’m looking forward to following and reading. I started on Substack on January and have enjoyed the discipline of a weekly piece. It serves mainly as a diary that may form a writing project later. In the meantime, I’m working on a project focused on the South Downs, which sounds like it may be your part of the world. Very much looking forward to reading more of your work.
Very interesting - I like hearing about your time in Ecuador. I decided not to go to the Sleeping Tree sound exhibition - even though I'm local to it - because I prefer to remember my real experiences of rainforests. It sounds good though. ( 'The Sleeping Tree' reminds me of 'Sleeping With Trees' that Plant Listening are doing: https://www.plantlistening.com/sleeping-with-trees). Looking forward to hearing more :)
Loved reading this and congrats to setting out on the Substack journey (I’m actually about to set off on my own substack adventure)! Confident these words will reach the right publisher soon enough.
I did a course on nature communication with my friend Saskia at Ecofluency (www.ecofluency.org) and really enjoyed it and have started recently again to go out into nature with the intention of talking to the trees in particular but also any other spirits that I feel called to communicate with! The one clear piece of communication that once came through from an oak tree was “Wear lipstick” 🤩 I took its advice. Keep up the writing 🌿
Ahh, how glad I am to read these words. I’ve wondered similar things, along the Saltwater journey. I’m looking forward to following along with your words here, Olivia. Perhaps it’s time for another Podcast episode :)
Beautifully written - and what a fascinating project. I’m looking forward to following and reading. I started on Substack on January and have enjoyed the discipline of a weekly piece. It serves mainly as a diary that may form a writing project later. In the meantime, I’m working on a project focused on the South Downs, which sounds like it may be your part of the world. Very much looking forward to reading more of your work.
Beautiful, Olivia. Thanks for sharing and excited to read more. B x
Very interesting - I like hearing about your time in Ecuador. I decided not to go to the Sleeping Tree sound exhibition - even though I'm local to it - because I prefer to remember my real experiences of rainforests. It sounds good though. ( 'The Sleeping Tree' reminds me of 'Sleeping With Trees' that Plant Listening are doing: https://www.plantlistening.com/sleeping-with-trees). Looking forward to hearing more :)
Loved reading this and congrats to setting out on the Substack journey (I’m actually about to set off on my own substack adventure)! Confident these words will reach the right publisher soon enough.
I did a course on nature communication with my friend Saskia at Ecofluency (www.ecofluency.org) and really enjoyed it and have started recently again to go out into nature with the intention of talking to the trees in particular but also any other spirits that I feel called to communicate with! The one clear piece of communication that once came through from an oak tree was “Wear lipstick” 🤩 I took its advice. Keep up the writing 🌿