Life Underground
Foraging in the woodland behind the house in Vermont where my family is staying, I have been pleasantly surprised to find many species of colorful wildflowers sprouting under a single tree. The colorful wildflowers are the result of a complex web of germination and symbiosis that is occurring underground. Exploring the subterranean world of ephemeral woodland flowers reveals how interdependent the root systems of various plant species are - like social networks!
These woodland flowers (Red Trillium, Trout Lilly, Bloodroot…) live only between the time the ground thaws and the deciduous trees sprout leaves that starve the flowers of sun. An “accurate” sketch of this site must begin below the ground level - from the bottom up. Aboveground it looks simple, but underground it’s complicated.
Solitary time during COVID-19 has pushed me to look below the surface of things. Days are filled with tasks aimed at achieving big ideas-and I feel busier than before. Many friends say the same. What are the big ideas?
If we want 2021 to yield a rejuvenated world, shouldn’t we be busy preparing our fields? Can we learn from the ephemeral wildflowers and build an underground network to support the miracle of rebirth?
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We are grateful for the friendship of Peggy and Sparky Potter, who shared their woodlands and knowledge with us.
This work is complemented with an essay by my husband and fellow forager, Peter Crawley, a writer and environmental sustainability consultant.
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During the COVID quarantine, we find ourselves lost in the woods. This has its benefits. You’ve got to get lost before you can find your way home.
In the woods we see how the flora and fauna behave. They each have their role, and they perform it for the benefit of the whole, like a synchronized forestdance. The ants carry seeds; the bees pollinate; the ephemerals bloom until the deciduous trees leaf; mighty trees fall and fungi convert them to compost to feed the cycle. There is balance and mutuality in the system. And supporting it all is a network of underground roots and mycelium that act as connectors and communicators between actors. There can be miles of mycelium under a single decomposing log, and thousands of interconnecting roots, from minute to massive, under a single living tree. The underground network is foundational to the aboveground performance.
What directions can we take from this forestdance? How do we find home? The root systems remind that humanity is also connected by networks, tangible and intangible, technical and political, that act as control centers of the show. As author Paul Hawken describes in “Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming”, society has millions of organically formed networks, grown and “connected by the heart”. We have seen these networks at work during the pandemic, sewing masks and delivering food when the official system was overwhelmed or incapable. In times of need, humans prove as dutiful as ants navigating great danger to feed the colony. Humans are also as wise and ruthless as mushrooms, decomposing old structures to sustain the new.
It is springtime in the woods. The ephemeral wildflowers rise-up from the finally unfrozen ground. Their bugle-shaped blossoms incite a riot of color in colonies across the forest floor. A cry to wake-up! (They know the window of opportunity is short.)
The Native Americans understood woodland ephemerals. They used tinctures of Blood Root to treat respiratory ailments, and teas made from Red Trillium to induce birth. Drink-up and take strength! (That’s the forest talking.) It is our moment to mid-wife a movement, from bottom up; our time to follow our better nature to a better balanced and fair political system.
Wake-up your network! It is the season of blessed unrest.