Golden Larch Forest

Lightning sparks earth to sky.  Thunder cracks, dynamite exploding across the ridge. Wind shakes the evergreens. Tinderbox branches erupt.  Kindling scorched to flame. Seed cones pop, spewing seeds.

Rains come. Snows come. Sun melts the long shadows. Spring returns to the mountain. Larch seedlings poke through the ash blanket. 

Golden phoenix rising, a new forest born from the ashes.

A forest in my hand...

Towering, majestic ponderosas with cinnamon-red bark, pose overhead with twisted, turned branches reaching skyward. I feel humbled by the immensity of the trees sculpted like mammoth bonsais in the mountain basin. Lodged between the giant roots,and feathered out through the pine needles, I gather the fallen seed.

At high noon, I cradle a forest of dormant seed in the palm of my hand- a sacred offering to return to the earth.

Gathering Pine Seed

Ponderosa pine cones burst in the summer heat, expelling seeds from sienna-colored cones on heavy branches. Seeds glide to earth on parchment-hued wings floating on a gentle breeze. Blustering storm winds fling seed far afield from the mother tree.

The winged seed spins round and round on a miniature propeller nose diving down to earth. Each seed glides into a soft landing amid deep beds of long ponderosa pine needles or onto parched summer soil.

A single seed becomes a giant.