Tree hugging is all about paying respects to the environment and getting dirty in the process. A local farmer told me once that you have to be a bit of an optimist to plant trees due to the fact it takes 20 some years to see the results. But what about people who want to plant forests? P.O.W.E.R wants to make forests- the acronym stands for Protect Our Water and Environmental Resources, North Halton’s leading environmental organisation, so you better believe it when I say make forests. Last Saturday I was grabbing photos of the groups tree plant in an area referred to as Silver Creek.



It was possibly the worst weather for trucking out to the heart of Halton Hill’s rural and secluded escarpment community. Clouds loomed overhead not yet able to decide if they wanted to burst making me fear for my new digital camera. Our directions were sketchy at best since both Lauren and I have never been to this area. Though when we finally saw the simple white sign announcing we had found Sliver Creek things started to lighten up.



I didn’t ask to plant a tree, but as every good reporter knows its best to be an expert in whatever you are writing about. Let’s say I took the hands on approach to discovering what it means to hug a tree. You need things like a shovel bigger then Lauren, a triangle of recycled paper pulp, a bucket of mulch, a baby tree and a pen to cross this off the list of “things to do before I die”. It also helps to wear things like rubber boots and leave things like digital cameras, Euro-Trash fashion and the ipod back at home. The trees don’t care if your cool and I bet the other tree huggers aren’t there for a fashion show.



This was all Lauren’s smart idea, if I can add this because she was the one who lugged all the gear out after me getting my shots of people planting. It only took 10 minutes to do and required very little skill and knowledge, yet it equalled a strange satisfying calm to plop a stick-like baby tree into a freshly dug hole. Maybe, like that farmer once told me, I can come back here and see if the tree grows up to be a big strong super tree so I can lean back and take awe in its glory. There is something to be said about putting stuff in the ground and watching it grow opposed to pulling nasty weeds out and watching them flourish despite the efforts…