Since a child, I have believed that trees hold stories in them, that their bark and leaves and branches have seen history go by, heard rumors and lies and tall tales, and that these living listeners hide all of this historical luggage, somewhere inside.
Photography by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel.
The book Wise Trees by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel is evidence of the storytelling that I have always believed in and have been waiting to read and see.
A hardcover copy of Wise Trees is $24.37 from Amazon.
Tane Mahuta “Lord of the Forest” is New Zealand’s largest known living kauri tree, and estimated to be around 2,000 years old.
“Chankiri tree” (The Killing Tree), in Choeung Ek Killing Fields, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Some are uplifting recounts of sacred, ancient trees such as a massive camphor in Japan dating back 2,000 years, and other trees are the focus of religious ceremonies, including the Hanuman Temple Pipal tree in India where the tree is prayed to daily and offered devotions.
In the Redwood Forest in Stafford, CA, Luna is a 200-foot coastal redwood that has been living in Humboldt County for more than 1,000 years.
Every tree in Wise Trees was carefully chosen to help us become aware and appreciate and honor the role that trees have played and how they have influenced and created countless cultures and lives.
Sixth grade school children from the Colegio Motolinia de Antequera, on a class field trip, gather for a class portrait under the Motezuma Cypress Tree, “El Arbol del Tule,” in the town of Santa Maria del Tule in Oaxaca, Mexico.
I am not totally sure of the answer but I do feel that we are partners on this planet—and Wise Trees helps tell the story of how and where trees and humanity come together.