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Speaker 1: Hey, when it comes to podcasts listening, are you like me?

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I mean, it's like television surfing. You're like all over

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the place looking for that one thing that you can

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add to your moment of now. Be it forest stories,

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be it rockstar stories, talking with a chef, whatever you're

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looking for. That's what ero dot net is all about.

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Arrooe dot net. The searching is over. It's all in

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one place. Enjoy the exploration. Hey, thanks for being a

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part of the conversation. Welcome to Forest Stories, a series

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of short winded adventures within a collection of skyscraping trees,

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stuck feet first and Georgia Clay right here in Carolina.

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It's been a huge part of my daily journey for

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over thirty three years. I Am the Poet in the Forest,

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a children's series written and recorded in the nineteen nineties.

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It's grown into multiple podcasts that now reach around the world,

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and none of it would be possible without this forest

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right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina, at the base

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of Heartbreak Hills. It's a sign that reads Rainbow Forest. Well,

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it's time you get to meet what's inspired several generations

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long before the paved paths decorated with colorful homes colonized

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around this beautiful lake, slow moving stream, flatland swamps and

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array of natural animals. There were families and business owners

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who are said to have raced into this area for

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the beauty of the land, wild roses, migratory birds, and

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wild grapevines. Those before me either forgot to write about

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it or it's buried somewhere inside their family tree. Hey,

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thanks for being a part of the conversation.

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Speaker 2: Welcome back to the forest. Interesting thing out here inside

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these trees. Today a fall day, the sun is out,

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but there's still that brisk fall temperature that's reminding you

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that even more changes on the way. And I think

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one of the biggest changes this morning was seeing these

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dead moles on the path. You know, moles, the little

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fuzzy creatures that dig into the ground. Pisses off a

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lot of people. But what a better way and natural

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way to air rate your forest than to let moles

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have their way. But to see a large number of

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holes lane dead, it's almost like did somebody come by

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and poison the soil? I mean, why all of a

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sudden would there be a change, Because moles can go

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underground to keep nice and warm, not to step outside

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their world and fall flat on their sides. So very

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interesting when you start seeing dead animals inside a collection

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of trees. Now, one of the things that I have

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become pretty good at is identifying the several scents that

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come with a force, not common sense. I'm talking about

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what you smell, and that scent has included that of death.

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It can be a dead deer. Oh god, oh, when

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we had that dead deer in the backside of the

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forest because somebody took an arrow and shot it right

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through their neck. You have no idea what that did

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to me is that scent went from my nose to

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my soul. And knowing that that deer was killed on

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my property from an arrow that was shot from several

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feet away, and the scent, the stench, and we had

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to drag it. We had to drag it completely out

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of that area with that smell and to basically figure

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out what we were going to do. And you still

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have to honor that body of that animal, because that's

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just what I was trained in Native American spirituality. You know,

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just you know, get rid of the body, you get

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to honor it. Thank you so much for being here.

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For everything that you probably did, and you probably gave

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me so many smiles along the way, and then you

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honor them and you know proper you know, a proper

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burial and everything that takes place. And I've done that

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with so many animals, including these moles. Yes, I pick

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them up because I'm going to take them home into

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my area of the forest and I'm going to give

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them back to Mother Earth. It's just the way that

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I am. And some people are going to think that

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I'm insane, but you know what, you no, I'm caring

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for everything that is, my community of trees, shrubs, streams,

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the lake, this beautiful sunshine even on a fall day.

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And it's just very interesting though, to be able to

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when you're walking, instead of looking out into your own

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world and getting lost in your own head and heart,

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you see what's going on in the real world, and

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that is there are animals that are transitioning right in

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front of you. Did you see them? Now? Do I

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think that all people should do this inside their areas,

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be it a city park, be it in a downtown area,

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where wild animals still pop up in humanized places, I'm

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not sure that's so true. And the reason why is

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because you've got to be able to respect what it

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is that you're trying to do. If you're just removing

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the carcass of an animal that once was, what do

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you do and how are you doing it? You're just

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going to throw it in the trash can or are

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you going to really kind of give it back to

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Mother Earth who provided for this animal and what did

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this animal do? Well? Obviously, like we're talking about the moles,

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you can't air rate a forest floor greater than these

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moles doing their thing. And yes they can be a

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pain in the butt to those that have moles in

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their front yard. You know, I just kind of giggle

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that kind of stuff off. It's the human ego who

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wants to live a home depot front cover of a

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magazine picture. But you know, it's one of those things

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that I do invite you to read into the chapters

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of A Gentleman by the name of Ted Andrews. Animals

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speak is very, very, very important and if you can

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just go and study the creatures and the creations that

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live inside your areas of all things natural, it will

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help you understand why you should respect the dead animal

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that you just located, maybe in your front yard. Don't

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just throw it away, give it back to the earth,

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allow them to become part of the sands of the future.

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Thank you so much for being a part of the conversation.