20150404-172739.jpgNearly eighteen years ago me and my family dug up the roots we had so carefully planted in the countryside of England and moved to Norway.

It was so fun! We moved into an artists collective with a panoramic view of the Oslo fjord. The kids played up in the attic with the other artist kids, the adults hanging out with the other arty people. To start with I didn’t miss England in the least. I didn’t miss the language or the people. I didn’t miss all my friends or even my mum and dad.

But after some months there was something that I did miss. I swear to you the first thing I missed when I moved to Norway were the English trees. The giant beech tree, with its grey bark like elephant hide. The spreading oak with its tens of thousands of shiny acorns each sitting in its own dainty cup. In the winter I missed the spiky holly and in the spring I missed the hawthorn. Its blossom lining the hedges like scented snow. I really missed the English trees.
Norway 308

Its not like there are no trees in Norway. Check it out – the whole place is one gigantic forest. BUT they were totally the wrong kind of trees. When I was a girl they started planting fir trees in long long endless lines across my country. If you’ve trod in one of those arid spots you’ll know its less a forest than a sad prison.

My Dad told me – ‘You see those trees, they’re foreigners! They have shallow roots, they make the earth acid. They don’t belong here. They should go back where they bloody well came from!’ Well Ok he didn’t actually say that last thing but the fact is, like it or not, I was, and I’m not proud of it… But I was a Tree Racist. I despised needle trees one and all.

Until one day. I was sitting outside. We had moved out into a log cabin. The garden was a little forest, emerald moss studded with white wood anenomies and flowing beside us the black Sørkedals river. It was then I saw her. In all her grandeur and poise. Her branches, each one just a tiny bit wider than the one above, she held them curving upwards, like a graceful ballerina. For the first time I had fallen in love with a Norwegian tree. And its just gone on from there really. (See Trees)

It took a long time for me to see the Rowan. Crazily I thought it was some kind of weed. There is one in my garden and I was going to cut it down! Then, mainly due to my Finnish friend, the Finns have a deep history with trees, (we all do, but they sometimes remember it). She told me that the Rowan is a holy tree. A feminine tree, women used to give their girls a coming of age ceremony with Rowan in the forest.

In Norway its been a protector. They would put a sprig over their doors or the barn door to protect the brown eyed cows. The 90 year old man we walked with on the Pilgrims way would crunch a berry and offer it to the kids. ‘These kept us healthy during the war.’ He said.’So many vitamins.’ Since then its beauty has revealed itself to me, and when I tried to steep the leaves as a tea, I couldn’t believe the taste. Its like Almonds. Why don’t we all know this?

Its looking very much like I’m going to die here now. I mean hopefully not right now. But my roots are growing year by year. And when I do, I hope my children will take a little sapling. Perhaps a tiny rowan or a birch. And plant it over my body. A body I’ve spent years feeding, full of nutrition. And then that little tree will start to grow its roots down into me.

I will turn into a tree. My feet will turn into roots, exploring down into the earth. My red blood will become translucent sap. My soft, pale skin will turn into hard, shiny bark. My trunk will become the trunk of the tree. My arms will spread out into many many branches and twigs. My crown will become the much larger crown of the tree. As I reach up, my leaves will turn sunlight into sugar. I will become a tree, a meeting of Heaven and Earth.

2015-03-30 13.06.55

Birch Mari Jerstad in Karasjok.

 

47 thoughts on “Roots”

  2. tinyurl.com

    If some one needs to be updated with most up-to-date technologies afterward he must be
    go to see this website and be up to date every day.

  3. Costa Mesa CA

    I know this site offers quality depending articles and additional stuff, is there any other
    site which provides these stuff in quality?

  4. coupons for quest bars

    I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great.
    I do not know who you are but certainly you are going
    to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!

  7. quest bars Cheap bulk

    Hi, I do believe this is an excellent web
    site. I stumbledupon it 😉 I’m going to come back once again since i have saved as a favorite it.
    Money and freedom is the greatest way to change, may you be rich and continue to help others.

  9. krogerfeedback.com

    Does your website have a contact page? I’m having problems locating it but,
    I’d like to send you an e-mail. I’ve got some creative ideas for your blog you might
    be interested in hearing. Either way, great blog and I look forward to seeing it expand over time.

  11. Sandra

    Hi my name is Sandra and I just wanted to drop you a quick note here instead of calling you. I discovered your Roots | Story Teller – Georgiana Keable page and noticed you could have a lot more hits. I have found that the key to running a successful website is making sure the visitors you are getting are interested in your subject matter. There is a company that you can get targeted traffic from and they let you try the service for free for 7 days. I managed to get over 300 targeted visitors to day to my website. Check it out here: http://tgi.link/dcf2

  12. Plenty of Fish Dating Site of Free Dating

    An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a co-worker who had been conducting a little
    homework on this. And he in fact ordered me dinner simply because I
    discovered it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this….

    Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for
    spending time to discuss this subject here on your website.

  14. Plenty of Fish Dating Site of Free Dating

    This design is wicked! You obviously know how to keep a
    reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start
    my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Excellent job. I really enjoyed what you had to say,
    and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!

  16. appdata minecraft

    We stumbled over here different web address and thought I should check things out.
    I like what I see so now i’m following you. Look forward
    to looking over your web page repeatedly.

  18. where to buy Quest bars in store

    Hi, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one
    and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam remarks?
    If so how do you prevent it, any plugin or anything you can advise?
    I get so much lately it’s driving me crazy so any help
    is very much appreciated.

  20. descargar facebook

    Sweet blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo
    News. Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News?
    I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there!

    Thanks

  21. Zamir

    I already rcreoded the video response for this ^^ But I can’t post it, the web page always freezes. I’m guessing this is just a temporary problem so I’ll try again tomorow but still, if anyone knows a way I can still post it today, please, help me

  22. sdorttuii plmnr

    When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get several e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service? Thanks a lot!

  25. Bajar Facebook

    Hey there! I know this is kinda off topic however I’d figured I’d
    ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing
    a blog post or vice-versa? My website goes over a lot of the same topics as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other.
    If you might be interested feel free to send me
    an email. I look forward to hearing from you!
    Excellent blog by the way!

  26. bajar facebook

    Howdy very cool web site!! Guy .. Beautiful ..
    Wonderful .. I’ll bookmark your blog and take the feeds
    also? I am glad to seek out a lot of useful
    information here within the submit, we’d like develop more strategies in this regard,
    thanks for sharing. . . . . .

  31. bastcilkdoptb

    Great write-up, I’m regular visitor of one’s web site, maintain up the excellent operate, and It is going to be a regular visitor for a long time.

  33. krogerfeedback.com ___

    Wow, amazing blog format! How lengthy have you been blogging for?
    you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is fantastic, as well as the content!

  35. Pingback: Google

  36. Pingback: coffee bean flavors

  37. Pingback: Business Registration China Customs

  38. Pingback: Translation Company

  39. Pingback: ขวดพลาสติก

  40. Pingback: paintless dent repair training

  41. Pingback: directory

  42. Pingback: try here

  43. Pingback: find more

  44. Pingback: procrastination hypnotherapy

  45. Pingback: cheap hotels

  46. Pingback: کاراگاه در ایران

  47. Pingback: free download book of ra

Comments are closed.