Witness Post: Ella Saltmarshe on Oak Trees

Turner’s Oak (Quercus X turneri) at Kew Gardens, London

Witness Post: Ella Saltmarshe on Oak Trees

There is more to an oak than meets the eye. – A thread woven into the story of our kind.

“Of the Oak” is an invitation to witness the trees as living monuments of connection, a keystone in the web of life. Majestic, yet unassuming, the oak reaches its branches skyward and roots deep into the soil, sustaining life. [1]

By peering through the oak’s layers, we uncover a vibrancy that flows through and beyond its physical body. The pulse of nutrients through its phloem and xylem echoes our own heartbeat. This rhythmic journey, from crown to soil, from head to toe, culminates in rivers of carbon, interwoven with the mycelial bridge that connects land and sky. In this underground network, we see that no self is isolated; all are porous, enmeshed, entangled.

Tracy & Margaret in shade provided by Turner’s Oak (Quercus X turneri)

The oak’s meaning stretches far beyond bark and bough. Its limbs embrace whole ecosystems, providing shelter and food for more than 2,300 species of other plants and animals. From lichens anchored to bark, to birds building nests overhead, butterflies fluttering through the leaves to fungi weaving the soil below—countless companions of the oak adapt, flourish, and coexist in a mutual rhythm of growth and revival.

In acknowledging this plant complexity, we confront our own “plant blindness,” our tendency to overlook the aliveness of plants because they move to a rhythm that seems slower than ours.

This shift in perspective reveals a framework of reciprocity, where all beings exist in cycles of giving and receiving, of sacrifice and reciprocity. As our connection to the Earth frays, this work stands as an invitation to extend our imagination to include the vastness of trees. In turn, we also open ourselves to a deeper relationship with the living world.

For over a million years, oak trees have taken root in Britain’s soil, in America’s soil, in the earth’s soil. Their story is etched into the fabric of the land. As ice ages came and went, they withdrew and returned, reclaiming ground alongside animals and, eventually, humans. Yet today, these rooted beings stand at a threshold. What once seemed eternal now leans toward fragility, its fate entwined with our capacity to care. As we gather in its shade, as we honor it’s presence, we are called to become part of its story—to ensure it is not only remembered, but continued for longer than we both may live.

Marshmallow Laser Feast, 2025

[1] Mitchell, R.J. et al Oak-associated biodiversity in the UK (OakEcology)

https://doi.org/10.5285/22b3d41e-7c35-4c51-9e55-0f47bb845202