Introducing the Trees

MadreMajote, the website, is my bid to protect a handful of Majote trees.

(Brosimum alicastrum)

In January I visited La Manzanilla on the Pacific Coast of Mexico between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta. At the back of the nearby village of Los Ingenios, beside the bullring, is a property I bought more than a dozen years ago to protect the Majote trees growing on it. I wanted to see how things stand since hurricane Patricia blew through in 2015 with the strongest winds yet seen in the world. Once there were four mature trees with their above ground roots snaking across 300 square meters beside a dried stream bed. Their positioning was a tree house builder's dream yet my goal was to leave the property free of distraction and let the trees continue their slow growth.

Can it be true, I pondered, the trees predated Columbus? Have they assisted people and animals through lean times providing food and medicine? Might they do so at some future time? It seemed the only certainty was I could put my name on a document to own this bit of the natural world where parrots nested high in the sky.

I now live a 5 hour drive away. Yet, with the assistance of modern technology I can hold the trees close and I hope, better protect them from encroachment.

I remember the happy peaceful feeling of standing in the middle of those four giants. The feeling returns as I look at some of my recent photographs. Is it the sense of being in splendid isolation? I think not. Now, I recognize tendrils of connection between me and other tree lovers are not unlike the beautiful roots of the Majote snaking across the ground. The trees connect to each other and to us at whatever distance. My wish for this website is to find and nourish others with a dream to protect trees. It seems with you reading this now, it has begun.

Morgana

The hurricane blew down one of the trees. At the entrance to the property a perfect doorway is framed by the position of the fallen tree.

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