This writing challenge is to tell a complete story in 50 words or fewer. Thanks so much to Vivian Kirkfield and her helpers, as well as the generous prize donors for making this contest possible. #50PreciousWords
Learn more here: https://viviankirkfield.com/2022/02/21/sharpen-your-pencils-50preciouswords-is-coming-soon/#more-25379
Here is my nonfiction story about the amazing canopy of the temperate rainforests, told in Haiku. It was a lot of fun to write and revise! (This story placed #32 in the Winner's List in 2022!)
SKY SOIL
47 words
By Natasha Zimmers
Sea fog soaks the land
where mighty maples tower,
dressed in verdant moss.
A secret! Rich dirt
hidden by a mat of plants,
where green touches grey.
Nurturing fungi
and seedlings, catching water,
trapping nutrients.
New cells awaken,
as tendrils twist from branches,
rooting in sky soil.
Photos in the blog post are by Natasha Zimmers
Want to know more about SKY SOIL?
Sky soil isn't really in the sky, but it seems like it, since it's way off the ground!
In the temperate rainforest, moisture soaks the forests, and plants have adapted to take advantage of the opportunities that creates.
Big leaf maples, in particular, support an enormous mass of epiphytes, which are plants that grow on other plants, rather than the forest floor. Ferns and mosses, and even other shrubs or trees grow on the trunks and branches!
As those epiphytes live and die, they trap moisture and dust, and decompose into a layer of soil on the branch itself - Sky Soil!
(Here you can see the licorice ferns are starting to turn yellow. New, bright green ferns will emerge with the fall rains.)
When nutrients are hard to come by in the soil on the forest floor, the trees have a trick.
Root buds awaken on the branches themselves, and roots grow out and into the soil that is waiting right there!
Not only is it a private pantry, but the soil on the branches also has a high concentration of the nitrogen and phosphates that the tree needs.
How many more secrets are hidden in the canopy of the temperate rainforest? Enough for an entire series of poems! There is so much to discover in our wonderful wilds.
Happy exploring!
Natasha
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