The Trees And Other Plants Ignore COVID Or Maybe Revel In An Altered World

Birch

Do the trees know what's happening?  There are reports of wild animals exploring human spaces lately since people aren't around.  There are reports that the air is cleaner than it's been for a long time.

Even if the trees don't know about COVID-19, they must sense that things are different, just as the animals do.  My recent post on the book The Overstory  goes into the idea of how trees sense things and communicate with each other goes into the idea more deeply.  I recommend it.

This post stems from starting to spend more time in the yard, raking leaves, collecting branches, checking on what's out there.

Birch

Cottonwood

Shelf Mushrooms 

S 

Spruce

The last snow/ice was gone yesterday

From Alaska Public Media:

“The forest and nature are the therapist, and I will help guide us in having an experience,” Kruger said.
To have this experience, you don’t need to be in an altered state or believe in any particular doctrine or ideology. You just have to be fully in the moment — out here with a tangle of blueberry bushes and a thick canopy of hemlock trees and spruce.
There’s science to back this up. Outdoor mindfulness can lead to lower blood pressure and less stress hormones, among other benefits. In Japan there are even dedicated trails for spending therapeutic time outside. It’s part of the national public health system.
The Japanese expression for this translates to “forest bathing.” But it’s a practice you can do fully clothed, bundled up in a jacket, gloves and a hat.