Resiliency
Today, I share a beautiful story of resiliency starring White Mulberry. To set the scene, White Mulberry, originally introduced from China by hopeful folks looking to get rich in the silk trade (they failed), has now naturalized across the continent.
Now the story begins with a seed in the soil. The seed was not planted by human hands, it arrived by way of Mother Nature’s mechanics, which does include us sometimes, tho not this time. The seed, finding the spot in the soil cozy and stable, rooted down and began to grow. It happened to be along a fence line that separated two yards in Winooski, VT, a lucky spot indeed, for by pure chance the seed grew just beyond the blades of the mower.
By the time I moved into the house upon the yard with the fence line, the seed had grown to a tree that was producing seeds of its own, hidden in delicious mulberry fruits! During the height of fruiting season, mid-July to mid-August here in northern VT, I would visit the tree almost daily with my son. We went to admire the arching branches cloaked in leaves of various forms, to hear the visiting birds sing their songs, we went to feast on the fruit.
I love exploring the world with my son, and his enthusiasm for the Mulberry tree brought me so much joy. We ate the berries raw, cooked them into muffins, heated them to compote mixed with mint and lemon juice. Yum! We met robins, sparrows and squirrels at the Mulberry tree, all of us there for our own reasons, all of us belonging. We called our neighbors to gather in the shade and join us. This tree brought so much life to the neighborhood.
I use the past tense, brought, because the tree no longer stands tall. It has been reduced to a stump, cut down by my landlord who could not see, did not know, the life that was there. I was struck by how upset I got when the tree was felled. I hadn’t realized just how much joy that tree truly brought me. How much I came to depend on it for fruit, and that sought-after feeling of peace from being a part of the world. I don’t know what compelled my landlord to do it. As with any senseless act, I keep asking myself “why?” There is a hole now, where there once was food, habitat, shelter, life.
Ah, but no, I needn’t say life was there, for life is there! The other day, I came to the stump, wishing to grieve my lost friend, and you wouldn’t believe what I saw, a few small, slender stalks of growth extending from the stump, this tree is still alive!
The technical term for these stalks is, suckers. Though the trunk and crown were cut down, the root system of the tree is still alive, and life cannot help but push to survive. In order for the roots to continue living they need the energy that is photosynthesized by the leaves, and so the roots push up slender new growth. White Mulberry is not the only tree that has the ability to grow suckers when the tree is cut or damaged. It is a sign that Mother Nature, in her infinite wisdom, has given us beings tools to re-grow from even the most gnarly injuries. Trees like White Mulberry, Hackberry, Tree-of-Heaven, Willows, Staghorn Sumac, Norway Maple, and more, share with us this gift of resiliency.
And so, if you’re having a day, harness the power of White Mulberry. You are resilient, you got this, you can come back from anything.