I truly enjoyed The Supremes on Hulu. There are many Black actors out there making family friendly films that speak to the heart and community. It made me think of what is fate and what is destiny. Following your heart was the theme and taking every day as a chance at love from your sister-friends and partners, the growing of three women destined to see each other through good times and bad. Set in the south, sycamores, magnolias, cypress and weeping willows seemed to make an appearance as well, sharing how God is the ultimate painter of life. What we do with our time here is important, not hiding behind duty or fear instead of following love, passion, and gifts. I loved this little movie. The theme of birthing and dying within the trees is a gift of the movie that I don’t want to spoil for you, but it made me want to get back to painting my Sacred Trees. Over the years I’ve painted hundreds of trees and disbursed them among family and friends, sailing them off into the wind in a care package headed out into the world. Many are still with me, but I’ve decided making them, each original and different is my gift.
I talk so much about the environment and the ways we can improve our world by replenishing our ailing soil, eating local if possible, creating food forests, creating communities based on food we grow ourselves. I’m not at that stage where I’m a self-sufficient, self sustaining homesteader, but I am growing food and I am teaching what I know to younger people. There’s a theory circling online that the largest, smartest mammals actually let their women go into menopause so they have 25 or so good years of educating the younger ones on how to live. I’ve reached that stage. I’m teaching what I know and I’m blessed that my mother is still teaching me. There’s so much knowledge to pass on and carrying it into the future is necessary for our survival.
But back to my Sacred Trees. I feel my guardians want me to imagine trees and give them space on paper to be revered. Back in the day, my big rain forest poster hanging over my bed declared me a tree hugger from an early age. Wherever I go, I try to plant trees. Some successes, some failures. A tree I planted in Harlem grows tens of feet high now from a scraggly sapling I planted almost twenty years ago. Apples, mulberries, persimmons, dogwood, paw paw, and figs are just some of the trees I’m trying to grow on this land. Science supports my push for food forests. Science supports saving trees from deforestation and monoculture farms. Slowly, governments are changing over monoculture subsidies into soil replenishment and regenerative farming support for farmers. We have to support the farmers on this quest and not reward them with subsidies for monoculture and herbicide and pesticide usage. We have to make it where monoculture is a thing of the past and animals grazing and fertilizing the land is standard. We must step away from the chemicals it takes to farm on a large scale and find more natural solutions to pest control.
I see myself as a bit of a human fae, just spreading green wherever she goes. I have so much to learn and one day I may decide to become a master gardener with classes from the extension service. Or a proper herbalist since my teas, body butters, conditioners and oils seem to make my family happy. I’ve never thought of going full scale by selling them, but I don’t mind sharing a recipe every now and then. One dream I have is spending more time in tropical climates so I can take advantage of the plentiful vegetation that I find tasty and hard to get here in America. Jamaica has fruits that you can only have if you’re in Jamaica. I miss them terribly.
As a Black woman, many see that it’s time for us to stop working so hard for so little recognition. I work for my passions - spreading knowledge and creating meaningful projects. I will do my best to take a back seat to national news, but right now the Okefenokee Nature Preserve is being threatened with mining that will poison it. How on earth mining in such a vital ecosystem is being considered is beyond me, but it’s happening. We have only one more month to expand the borders of the preserve to prevent miners from doing irreparable damage. It’s not worth it. We must start recycling the minerals we have already extracted and stop bleeding Mother Earth dry of her oils and minerals. All it does is cause destruction to habitats already delicate because of climate change.
As I see how this country votes, I see common sense isn’t the priority of many Americans. Many countries face the same pressures. They want to make money off of taking from natural resources and they don’t put the life living on the land into consideration first. Many countries are building farms and tearing down their forests. There’s a way to work better with our environment. But it might not be the most financially appealing way. I’ll do my part by painting my sacred trees and I’ll keep teaching what I know, hoping it will influence others. Tearing down forests is not the way.
I hope I’ve given you things to think about. It’s the wee hours of Sunday morning and I feel sleep coming on. By the time most of you read this a new day will dawn. Do something wonderful with your precious, amazing life. Praise your Higher Power and give thanks for another day of breath. I’m thankful for all of you reading. Be blessed.