320231089246420

hershel

eucalyptus grove

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus Eucalyptus globulus When I was attending woodworking school in Northern California in the mid 1980’s I’d pass a grove of eucalyptus trees on my way to class each day. I still remember the trees’ wonderful aroma in the fog and rain and the way they shed their blueish bark in long strips. Recently my …

Eucalyptus Read More »

Piñón

Some of the mezuzahs I make come to you with the bark attached and others arrive bark free. But why? In the winter, when the tree is dormant, there is no activity in the cambium, an area one cell thick right below the bark. The sap is not yet rising.  But during the rest of …

Piñón Read More »

My Mulberry Tree

As a very young child, I adopted a sapling and named it George. It is not uncommon for children and adults to form close relationships with trees. We think of them as people, not to take away their “treeness” but to have them as our relatives and equals. The mulberry tree in this story never …

My Mulberry Tree Read More »