Pioneer trees
Published: Wed, 06/10/15
Yesterday I described how the glaciers shaped the Scandinavian landscape. Even though the Ice age ended well over 10,000 years ago the effect of the ice are still visible everywhere. One example are the huge rocks distributed randomly over the countryside, left behind by the receding ice field.
Once land has been covered with a massive sheet of frozen water for thousands of years it is going to be pretty sterile when the ice finally does melt. Yet life returned and southern Sweden is now heavily forested.
So how can a land recover in the aftermath of an ice age or some other catastrophe that seems to have extinguished all life? The answer is trees. Not just any trees either. What are required are species that are classified as ‘pioneer trees’. In northern climates the two species most likely to colonise a devastated land are Birch and Rowan. The Birch being the mother tree, ‘the greenest of trees in springtime’ as the rune rhyme goes. The Rowan being associated with Thor. Thor being the mortal enemy of the Frost Giants it is not surprising that his tree should be the first to reclaim Joten territory.
I have examples for you to see here http://iceandfire.org/sweden15.html#trees
A full forest is a complex web of different plants, micro organisms, especially various forms of fungi, and various animals. Each organism, large or small, depends upon the other living creatures to maintain the conditions in which all can flourish. Most trees, planted alone simply will not survive. For some reason the Birch and Rowan can. As they get established they bring nutrients up from the soil, drop leaves and other organic material which decays. Thus is created the circumstances for less ambitious trees to take root and flourish. Once the land is ready for a mature forest to take root the Birch and Rowan’s are usually absent. However you will still find them at the higher altitudes in the case of the Rowan. Or for the Birch the areas with relatively poor soil. The places where the more demanding trees are never going to survive in any numbers.
Some years back the theme of Druid camp one year was the trees of the Ogham. (a system Druids use which is not a million miles from runes). In the course of learning about the trees significant to Druids I realised that in many ways people are the same. Some people are natural pioneers, willing to move into areas that seem inhospitable and incapable of sustaining life. Yet with determination and continued effort pioneers seem to create something out of nothing. Later that something will be built upon into some community or organisation that the members just take for granted. The pioneer is never really comfortable in established situations and will always find a place on the outside where there is space to dream and grow in their own way. Rather like the lonely Rowan trees growing at just a slightly higher altitude than the other trees seem to be comfortable with.
For the past 20 or so years teaching Stav has needed that pioneer approach. There is still a long way to go yet but that is okay, for me, being mainstream has never appealed much anyway. So it still isn’t too late to be one of the first to discover more about Stav. Stav Camp is your best opportunity. If you can’t make the actual event you can still support it and receive video recordings of the teaching and training that takes place. http://www.stavcamp.org
regards
Graham