Trees give shade, give fruit, give beauty, give life. National Arbor Day is a traditional way to celebrate the many gifts of trees – shelter, beauty, clean air, soil conservation, habitat for wild animals, and the great cooling effects of shade and consumption of CO2.
Signs of climate change – melting ice caps, rising sea levels, the increasing number of severe weather events – only make our love of trees more intense. Across the country, tree-lovers celebrate Arbor Day according to the local climate. Nebraska, home of the National Arbor Day Foundation, celebrates on the last Friday of April. On the Pacific Coast, though, we are preparing beds for summer vegetables as early as February.
Join us at Green Gulch Zen Center and Organic Farm for a gathering of earth stewards to plant native trees on Sunday, February 23, 2014. (February 9, the originally scheduled date, will be given to a memorial for Myogen Steve Stucky, who had been abbot of SF Zen Center.)
SCHEDULE
12:00 Lunch (organic, largely farm-grown, vegetarian, and delicious)
1:00 Green Sangha conversation
2:00 Ceremony and Tree planting
4:30 Refreshments
5:00 Meditation in the Zendo
6:00 Homeward
Bring layers for changeable weather, hat and other sun protection, long pants and boots or other strong shoes, gardening gloves if you have (extras on hand), water bottle if you wish (no throw-away plastic bottles!). To reserve your spot, call (510) 532-6574 or write