In the HTOEC School Weeks program, each kid who comes through is exposed to a talk on aspen groves. While every staff member, like myself, gives his or her own spin on it, we cover the same general facts:
Aspen have an interconnected root system, through which they are able to share nutrients and resources–an entire grove is really one single organism.
Aspen bark has a similar quality to aspirin. Deer that have just given birth chew it for pain relief.
Aspen produce powder on their bark which can be used as sunscreen.
Aspen are efficient energy savers–they “self prune,” by dropping lower branches as they grow toward the sky, devoting resources to new growth.
Aspen are an important source of protein in winter months for elk and deer.
An entire grove will change in the fall from green to yellow, or erupt with catkins in springtime, simultaneously. This is an easy way to tell which trees are a part of the same organism.
Similarly, all the trees in an aspen stand are generally the same height. They can grow up to 70 feet tall.
While these facts are interesting and promote rather profound discussions with the kids about what in their lives is like an aspen grove (the classroom, a family, living in a cabin at High Trails, eating meals together at the HT Lodge) and why (sharing resources, helping each other, growing together, being individuals within a group, interconnectedness), what I find most important to get across is the magic of an aspen grove.
By magic, I mean the transformative and healing potential one finds by spending quiet time within a stand of aspen. Words are often insufficient. Scientific facts just don’t cut it. That’s why physical time in the outdoors is so essential.
Throughout summer camp and with each group I have during School Weeks, I make a point to hike the kids into an aspen grove, where we all lay on the ground and silently look up into the branches of a stand of aspen trees. During this time, I guide them through a simple awareness exercise (Listen to the trees … Listen to your breath … feel your heartbeat in your chest … Notice the colors, the light, the shadows …), then I let them be, to silently absorb for about ten minutes, sometimes longer.
Here, their busy minds slow down. They notice more shades of green than they knew existed, as they watch the heart-shaped leaves quiver in the breeze and see how the Quaking Aspen gets its name. Their thoughts drift like the clouds–the backdrop to their view of these trees. Time slows, and free from the usual goal-oriented, regimented, compartmentalized experience of the day, these kids’ imaginations soar.
A tangible shift occurs as the entire group’s focus quiets and moves within to find that inner connection to the natural world. Most of them, when it is time to go, get up from their places reluctantly, as though they’d discovered something they don’t want to leave behind.
Quietly, I ask them if there is a place back home where they might go to for solitude like this. Some have a tree in the front yard; 
some have a park in their neighborhood, and others may have an aunt or grandparents who live where there is an open space. It makes me sad, remembering my youth of building tree houses and forts, growing up in a neighborhood where there was a forest at the end of the block and a vast church lot behind our house where we watched pheasants being chased by foxes at dusk: most of these kids don’t have that today.
It is my sincere hope that some of these children, when they leave Sanborn, are empowered by their experience in the aspen trees, and inspired to find their own special place–even if it is beneath a manicured tree in the center of a cul-de-sac–and that they realize the significance and cultivate the inclusion of the natural world in their lives.
Taking my own advice, I went outside on Friday to find a patch of earth not covered with snow, and I sat in an aspen grove. I stared up through bare treetops at a blazing royal blue sky. Behind me, the sun appeared between wavering clouds. That familiar sense of calm that can’t be replicated anywhere enveloped me, almost immediately. How had I gone so long without doing this? My breathing slowed. Ravens cawed. I forgot the cold and listened to the wind blowing thickly through the surrounding forest. Gratefully I re-realized, firsthand, how profound an impact this simple exercise has, and how essential it is for the youth of today.
–Jessie Tierney
For some fun and interesting sites where you can learn more about aspen and its uses, visit The Quaking Aspen and Biogeography of Quaking Aspen.
Cool entry…love the activity and it’s ability to do anywhere, even if you don’t live with aspens! Can’t wait to try it and feel relaxed.
OH, JESS…
YOU are magic because in this short essay, I feel the calm, I hear the wind rustling through the branches and I see the forest around me!
In this world of text, computers, television and lives that get encapsulated, you remind me that we are not a stand of aspens in that kind of world. We lose our connection to all around us so easily.
Thank you for the reminder to stay in touch with our whole world:>
Do you plan to keep this site updated? I sure hope so… its great!
We hope to post one or two times a week with stories and information about getting children outside and enjoying nature!
Jess, This reminds me of the time I sat on big red rock in Sedona Arizona and released all my bad energy to the wind around me. This was a firm belief from Rosemary’s mother! I need to do it more often. Thank you for teaching this to children.
Mary Beth, what a beautiful memory of Sedona. There is more and more evidence proving that time in nature is effective in improving mental, physical, behavioral, and emotional health. At Sanborn, we’re focused on these benefits as they relate to children–campers and students who come for camp–but I am confident that they translate to adults as well. Rosemary’s mother was certainly on to something! Thank you for sharing.
Sue, you’re right, it doesn’t have to be a stand of aspen! Even just a walk around the neighborhood with the dogs can have a similar calming effect. I’ve found, however, that the “magic” is more profound when there is no agenda attached.
Robyn! We are connected still; I am grateful for technology in this way: it keeps us in touch with one another. For our own sanity’s sake, however, I truly believe that we need to take moments out of the day–and teach our students and children to do so–to reconnect in a natural setting.
Thanks for sharing, everyone!
Jessie your blog has reminded me of an experience I had in the wilderness that I would love to share. Thank you!
I have also found increased wisdom, clarity and a heightened sense of knowing from being in wilderness settings, when I slow myself down to more closely match their rhythm. A particular experience has stuck with me for years. I was backpacking in the Sierras in Cali and realized that I had left my chacos behind, the day before, at a gorgeous lake where I had done a day hike to. Since this was my own silly mistake I told my hiking buddy that he could stay behind and I would go back to the lake to find them. After an hour or so of walking I was at the lake but I just couldn’t seem to find the exact spot where I had taken off my shoes. I could see it in my head, but could not physically get there. Time was passing faster and faster and I was getting more frustrated with myself, feeling foolish for thinking I could find it alone, for having a poor sense of direction and for forgetting my shoes in the first place. After another hour of wandering aimlessly with increasing frustration, I decided I needed to change my approach. I found a nice big rock to sit on and upon sitting down I saw that there was a smaller quartz rock on top of it. I picked up the quartz, held it in my hands, closed my eyes and took several deep breaths. All of a sudden a thought popped up in my head- look at my camera! I had taken pictures from the spot yesterday. Using the pictures I was able to find the spot, which was literally right in front of me. Err! Within minutes I was walking back with my shoes, to meet my friend and hike out. I wonder how much time and frustration I could have saved if I had sat down with the calm and stillness of the rocks and wilderness in the first place?! Its so easy to get stuck on the pattern of pushing through, doing, and not stopping to hear from within, where most of the answers reside. I thank the aspens, rocks and the wilderness for helping us to sit down and listen!
That really captures my experience working school weeks! You really captured the magic that we feel sitting in an aspen grove and letting kids experience that time of relaxation and peace. It is truly amazing what kind of insights they have after spending some time outside. Thank you for your post!
as usual an informative post, thanks.
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