A tree’s trunk serves as its foundation.
Beginning as a fragile stem, it supports the tree from the time of two tiny leaves, until its crown is cloaked with thousands.
Both foundation and conduit, the trunk serves to pipe water up from the roots to support growth among the limbs and canopy.
So, too, it caries sugars produced during long summer days to other parts of the tree for storage.
Seeds and fruits feed from this rich life-blood of sap flowing through the trunk and branches.
Growing both taller and wider each year, a tree’s trunk records its history.
Growth rings record each year of the tree’s life, both lush and lean.
We can read a tree’s age, and possibly see some of what has happened across its lifetime.
A trunk offers safety and sustenance to many creatures.
Crevices form in its flesh. A whole web of life spins itself into being among squirrels and birds, serpents, insects, mice, mistletoe, lichen and moss.
Like an epic Yggdrasil, every tree links Earth and sky; above with below; past with future.
Words and Photos by Woodland Gnome 2014