Green and White

Green and White

Furled green lichen

Clinging to gnarled birch twig

Now pressed in fresh snow

In Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book, Braiding Sweetgrass, she poses a color question to her professor in her botany studies. Why is it that you see yellow and purple flowers blooming together? What is the biological need for that other than they just look beautiful together. I highly recommend that you read it to learn what she discovers, but the question remains, why do certain colors in nature appear together?

My favorite color combination has to be the various greens when covered with snow. I could just be terribly biased because I love snow, but I do think there’s something healing with that soothing combination of white and green. The conifers all have differing shades of green and then there is my absolute favorite, the lichen greens and snow.

In the summer, the puffy mosses and tree and rock clinging lichen always lift my spirits. When I see them poking out of the snow here and there, they are little reminders that what seems to have disappeared, actually hasn’t, they’re still hiding under that snow, just you wait and see!

I was so fortunate to be able to spend a few days in northern Minnesota just when the snow hit. Last year’s dismal no-snow winter was looking as if it might repeat itself, so to be able to sit up here while the snow fell, then blew all around was truly magical. As I listened to the wind howl I scrolled constantly through my phone looking for updates on the fires in California. I could only desperately pray their burning winds would ease up and provide some respite.

The climate news is dire indeed. I mourn the constant inaction and inattention to the natural world that sustains us. What steps can I take to protect this one precious planet we call home?

My daughter Sofia and I decided that our contribution to this project is one of sharing our love of these wild spaces with others in hopes that they too will love and protect them. We’re working on our next children’s book about winter. What kind of world will we have if our children cannot feel the cold on their cheeks and snowflakes melting on their tongues?

With deep gratitude for the winter we have and the natural world that begs us to pay attention, I commit to sharing my love for these green and white moments and hope others will join us.