I live in a tree house.
When we built our home in Suffield, we cleared just enough land for the house and the septic field. All the rest is forest, a typical New England mix of maple, oak, birch, beech and pine. I wake each morning looking out into the tree canopy. I love watching the leaves turn in autumn. Winter is my favorite season, bare branches covered in snow or glittering after an ice storm. Winter is also when we can really enjoy the birds and squirrels. I can tell that spring is near when the pink maple blossoms come out, followed by the oaks. In May, the hill where we live is a tapestry of every shade of green as leaves start to appear. In the summer everything is green, cool and quiet. Our road becomes a magical tree tunnel – my favorite place. I feel my mood improve as soon as I drive in.
I grew up in post-WWII tract housing in Northern California – hundreds of identical homes on small lots, each with one California Sycamore in the front yard. The sycamore seed balls were ammo for our equivalent of snowball fights, and also ended up in hundreds of school crafts projects. The golden hills around my community were dotted with California live oaks – a unique leafy evergreen, and very easy to climb. My friends and I spent a lot of our free time climbing around in those trees.
Hilltop Farm has amazing trees too, these hundreds of years old, and not easy to climb. I sit in the oak grove next to the Hilltop Creamery and imagine all the generations of people who lived their lives under those trees.
There are many protected forests in Suffield that we can all enjoy. Sunrise Park is a treasure, and the Suffield Land Conservancy maintains more than 20 woodland properties that welcome walkers. I hope you will check out their website at suffieldlandconservancy.org.
So that’s my tree story. I hope you will tell us about a tree that you love. If you have a story to tell, please send it to trees forsuffield@gmail.com with “A Tree I Love” in the subject line.
I would also suggest that you check out the Trees for Suffield Initiative at suffieldct.gov/things-to-do/trees-for-suffield. The Suffield Tree Committee, the Town of Suffield and the Suffield Garden Club, working together established the initiative as a way to provide residents with a tree canopy for generations to come. They host tree-centered activities and are raising funds to plant new trees and care for existing ones. Get Your Camera! They will be hosting a four-seasons photo contest with a deadline of March 31, 2024.