Virginia Pines are agents of change. Like all trees, virginia pines, Pinus virginiana, are alchemists, transforming ingredients such as water, carbon dioxide, and the energy of the sun, into food (carbohydrates) for the planet. But first the energy becomes trunk, root, and leaves, or in this case, needles. During this remarkable transformation the trees release oxygen. […]
The Bent Twig Trail: Snowy Woods
Snow makes the woods more lovely. This week the Bent Twig Trail is touched by the extra blanket of loveliness. Certainly the snow added a cleanliness to the landscape. Piling on the the wooden bridges and draping the downed trees in light, the snow conceals the litter of leaves on the forest floor and the […]
Tales from the Bent Twig Trail: The Heart of Winter
The Heart of Winter by Wren Smith The heart of winter beats beneath my frozen feet and beneath the crunching earth. It beats beneath my hearing, beneath my seeing. The heart of winter beats in the sleeping wooly bears. In their curved coats of black and brown down in crevices under the logs, like banned question marks. The […]
Tales from the Bent Twig Trail: Woodland Ornaments
Walks in the woods can be gifts that keep on giving. I often find clues in one season that help me make discoveries in another. For instance, just a few months ago I came across this low growing vine with heart shaped leaves, most of which were arranged in several whorls of three around the […]
Tales from the Bent Twig Trail: Imaginings
There’s something about the starkness of the winter landscape — the muted colors, the openness of the forest, the negative spaces created by the bare branches of trees that sets my imagination on a whirling dance. Maybe it’s because I’m a lover of greenness, and the lack of it makes my mind play games with […]