The Mycorrhizal Network

Have you ever heard the saying….

 “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people”

Shucks darn, I want to surround myself with great minds. One of my closest friends Erin and I were mountain biking, and when I’m not sucking in air trying to keep up with her, she was talking to me about how trees do everything they can to help their seedlings survive. Through fungi, aka the mycorrhizal network, the parent tree can sense what their tree buddies need.

There was a study that even showed trees can recognize their relatives, and they will prioritize and favor sending those trees nutrients for their survival. WOW. They can even tell when their neighboring trees are sick, and will send them nutrients through this network of fungi. If one tree dies, usually their neighbor next door will die too because they were dependent on each other. Trees even form alliances and will warn each other of danger or change. This is all happening right before us, but beneath the surface.

GOSH NATURE IS SO COOL.

If you don’t believe me, look up Suzanne Simard and the mycorrhizal network.

Well, on this snowy morning. It got me thinking about nature’s interconnectedness. Our interconnectedness with nature. My own forest, surrounded by my friends or relatives if you will, how I can too sense when they need a little bit of sugar, a leg up, or when this week, one of my friends dropped by my work office and gave me a present because I needed a pick-me-up. I think he knew I was having a stressful week, I didn’t even have to tell him. 

I think about starting an idea or “seedling”, my sweet pea seed venture this fall and how I am making space for that and trying to give it everything it needs to thrive. I also think about how I too want to make space for people in my life that lift me up.

The forest is just like us, trying to survive and help it’s friends. And I am grateful to be surrounded by one giant network of trees at home and in my life.

Here’s to living on a farm in the forest.

And here’s Erin and I admiring giant trees..