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Hey, thanks for being a part
of the conversation. This is Forest Stories.

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I am the Poet in the Forest, a children's series that I pinned

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out in the nineteen nineties. Now, none of it would be possible if

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it wasn't for this forest right here
in South Arlotte, North Carolina. I

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talk about it so much that I
thought maybe it's time that you get to

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know what has inspired me for thirty
years. Thanks for being a part of

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the conversation. Welcome back to the
forest. The rain barrel. I laugh

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at this because in my love for
this forest, I wanted to use natural

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rain, the gift from the sky, to help feed the soil of these

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trees, as well as everything else
that grew with it. I didn't want

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it just to be something that basically
plunged itself down this hill, a ninety

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five foot drop from the street to
the creek that leads to the lake.

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I didn't want that. I wanted
rain barrels, but I didn't want the

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kind of rain barrel that you picked
up at home depot or Low's. I

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know, as an artist, I'll
create many rain barrels, maybe even sell

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them, so that people grasp the
idea of the importance of a rain barrel.

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So I hired somebody in Ohio to
be my potter. I would come

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up with the design and they would
do everything they needed to do to make

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it one hundred percent outdoor proof.
Such a beautiful thing, this rain barrel

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is, and it sits right here
in the forest even today, twelve years

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later, there's no dimming of the
lights. It's as bright as you can

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always believe. It's a very navy, deep blue with a gigantic sun on

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it, made in the colors of
yellow, orange, red, whatever it

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was going to take to show that
the sunshine is every day the rain barrel.

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Did it take off? Did it
sell? No? But it still

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sits in the forest, and I
half in wonder if it will last longer

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than me. And when the day
comes, when I'm no longer here and

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I've transitioned, what will the next
person see? Will they understand the story

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of the rain barrel? Hey,
thanks for being a part of the conversation.