Forests

A man with black hair and a beard, wearing a puffy orange jacket with black trim, uses a pink-handled knife to scrape at the shiny bark of a very large yellow birch tree trunk, which is twice his girth.

This article was first published by the Halifax Examiner on December 27, 2024.

It’s a bone-chilling morning near the top of Nuttby Mountain in the Cobequid Hills of northern Nova Scotia. About a dozen people have assembled for a late autumn walk in the woods, or more specifically, for lessons in forest health and human health on the lovely piece of woodland that belongs to their host and guide, David Heatley.

Before heading into the forest, the group gathers around a small campfire, and they exchange thoughts on the toll that post tropical storm Fiona took on this landscape two years ago. The wind-thrown trees are still evident all over these hills.

Heatley speaks about the losses of special forest places, and how these can cause grief. But, he adds philosophically, this is also the life and death cycle in the forest, which never ends.

And with that, Heatley leads the group into the 34 acres of woods he stewards. He takes them to what he calls his “special place,” and starts to list its many sensory gifts.

So begins the lesson on “forest bathing.”

Forest bathing is a concept recognized decades ago in Japan, and while it has many meanings and applications, in short, it is “the simple and therapeutic act of spending time in a forest.”

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A wooden sign with the words "Pictou County Forest School" burned into it around a circle with 3 trees inside it, hangs from a white wooden post over a wooden barrel on the dirt roadside that seems to have had some recent clearing. There is what looks like a buck deer skull with antlers on the barrle and another wooden sign saying "Idle Free Zone Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions."

This article originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner in May 2023. As I’ve noted in recent posts on my website, because multi-billionaire Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta platforms are blocking (censoring) media in Canada, this means articles published by media outlets cannot be posted or shared on any Meta platforms – not Facebook and not Instagram. This bullying by Meta is harmful to independent media, and in my view, harming democracy – instead of fact-checked articles, social media feeds are now full of meaningless memes, unending ads, and lots of opinion based on nothing but, well, opinion. For this reason, I am now posting some of my Halifax Examiner articles on my website, so they will not be blocked and can be read and shared on Meta platforms.

We can hear the children making their way through the woods well before they reach the grove of hemlock trees, this place they call “Base Camp One.” They sound happy, excited, their voices a chorus of youthful exuberance, as they head to school for another day of adventure, learning, and fun in the forest.

Welcome to the Pictou County Forest School.

In what looks like a woods setting sits a weathered grey stump sculpted into what looks like it is meant to be a bear, and the bear is holding a weathered grey wooden sign that says "Welcome to Forest School."

Much of what is created and used at the Pictou County Forest School is of natural materials, like this welcome sign. (Credit: Joan Baxter)

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