Tine Ward

“Finding the Mother Tree - Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest” by Suzanne Simard - how reading this book consolidated my belief in a long-held vision

I ordered “Finding the Mother Tree”  by Suzanne Simard at the end of last year, after noticing a recommendation by Jason Hickel, whose book The Divide, helped to set in context so many of the development questions I have been contemplating for years. I didn’t know anything about it but I really loved the title. 

It wasn’t due for release here in the United States until May 2021, and I didn’t give it much thought until it appeared in my mailbox a couple of weeks ago.  As I unwrapped the book and looked at the jacket cover, I was really surprised to discover that the author was a professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. My eldest daughter Francesca had studied at UBC and received her Bachelor of Science in Conservation of Natural Resources from the Faculty of Forestry in 2019. Apparently Dr. Simard had also been one of Francesca’s professors. How did I not know anything about this incredible woman and her life’s work - The Mother Tree Project? However, one thing I have learned is that you bring into your life the things and people that you need at the exact moment you need to learn from them. 

Me in the forests of British Columbia - September 2019

Me in the forests of British Columbia - September 2019

Now, having finished Dr. Simard’s brilliant book I feel an abiding sense of calm and appreciation that I found my way to this book at all. A  deeply compelling personal story is interwoven with a precise scientific exploration into the intricate workings of the forest.  The wisdom of what the trees can teach us in understanding how a uniquely intelligent network of underground root and fungi systems, known as mycellin, that is so integral to their health and productivity, can be applied to all of our lives. 

I first had the idea for Rockflower in 2007, during a working session at The Clinton Global Initiative called Filling the Financing Gap.  As the panel described the need for more long term, high risk investment funds in developing economies, I knew that I would start one of these funds and that it would be for women and girls. 

This was quite a bold move, given that I had studied English Literature at university and it would be an understatement to say that Maths was not my best subject in school. However, the feeling was unshakable and so I continued to listen around how this might evolve. The vision was very clear though, it would be a holistic framework based around five keys and it would be global, not restricted to one geographical area. 

It proved to be extremely difficult to raise money to support this holistic vision. Many times I was told to focus on just one of the five keys, as all five were too large a concept, no one would get behind funding that. Or that I should limit it to one geographical area, after all the world was a big place. 

Now after reading Dr. Simard’s book, I see the perfect blueprint for the vision I have held onto for so many years, of a “five stages of growth” funding system. I called it a “seed to canopy” funding model and drew diagrams of seeds and roots and tried to make sense of what it all meant. I was certain of one thing, and that was to get more money into the hands of women and girls living on the margins whose lives would be radically altered by having access to investment for their own dreams and visions.  

I couldn't see the whole picture yet and I certainly couldn't articulate it, but I had to keep going.  I wanted a system that was fully contained in one ecosystem, but again was told to stay in my “capital lane”. If you are an early stage funder, you should perfect that, not try to reach across lanes into the other areas of growth. But my argument always was and still is, if you spend all of that time building up trust and relationships, why when the time is right to scale would you then not be in a position to support further growth. 

You see, you start at the roots and you keep feeding, confident that the exact level of nutrients will be delivered in a timely manner. I have written over twenty decks in the last six years, all with variations on the theme of seeds, bushes, flowers, trees, canopies, trying to weave in my two principles of mothering and gardening and wondering how to get it all to make sense.  

I am a mother to four children, Rex - 18, Isabella - 20, Lulu - 22 and Francesca - 24. My conventional mothering skills are limited -  I am a pretty mediocre cook and I would rather read a book, any book, than go to the supermarket. But I do know how to “mother”, in the broader sense. I know what each one of them needs at any given time, and for that they call me Tsumommy or Tsumami - like a tsunami that comes in with all its might and passion and force. 

Dr. Simard details how each Mother Tree connects to her kin, by knowing exactly what nutrients they need, but she also feeds the other species in the forests. She gives what she has to give through the “logic of mothering”. I have always known that my children’s lives are not more important than any other child’s life in any other part of the world. 

I started Rockflower because I wanted to be part of a different economic paradigm, one that values the “currency of mind” above all else. Having heard the phrase “currency of mind” during a meditation almost seven years ago, it has become the guiding principle of Rockflower’s work. It places the value of ideas and relationships above all else.  I now see it is the network, the currency that runs throughout the fund, connected by central hubs and nodes, just as the forests use the mycellin network to carry the wisdom and strength of the forest to their entire ecosystem. 

Whilst we are still at the seed stage of the “seed to canopy” fund, we have worked with 48 partners, and seeded 58 projects. By the end of this year we will have given out over $500,000 in small grants to fund the root system of Rockflower’s network. Last year we set up the Partner Advisory Council with 12 members from diverse backgrounds and skill sets. The connective tissue is growing stronger and this month we launched a pilot project with one of our newest partners - El Origen Foundation, Colombia with our oldest partner, Community Services Program, Pakistan - Bridging the Digital Divide. 

Reading Dr. Simard’s book has given me the gift of being able to relax and take a minute to breathe knowing that the blueprint is already there, the story has been written, and that the wisdom of the forest and the Mother Trees will guide me. 

AN EXCERPT FROM “FINDING THE MOTHER TREE” by Suzanne Simard 

The old trees were the mothers of the forest. 

The hubs were the mother trees. 

Well, mother and father trees, since each Douglas fir tree male pollen cones and female seed cones. 

But … it felt like mothering to me. With the elders tending to the young. Yes, that’s it. Mother trees, Mother Trees connect the forest. 

This Mother tree was the central hub that the saplings and seedlings nested around with threads of different fungal species, of different colors and weights, linking them, layer upon layer in a strong complex web. I pulled out a pencil and notebook. I made a map: Mother Trees, saplings, seedlings, Lines sketched between them. Emerging from my drawing was  a pattern like a neural network, like the neurons in our brains, with some nodes more highly linked than others. 

Holy smokes. 

If the mycorrhizal network is a facsimile of a neural network, the molecules moving among trees were like neurotransmitters. The signals between the trees could be as sharp as the electrochemical impulse between neurons, the brain chemistry that allows us to think and communicate. Is it possible that the trees are as perceptive of their neighbors as we are of our own thoughts and moods? Even more, are the social interactions between trees as influential on their shared reality as that of two people engaged in conversation? Can trees discern as quickly as we can? Can they continuously gauge, adjust, and regulate based on their signals and interactions, just as we do? …. 

Maybe I was onto something: both neural networks and mycorrhizal networks transmit information models across synapses. … maybe from both networks emerge connection, communication and cohesion. .. It was already widely accepted that plants use their neural-like physiology to perceive their environment. Their leaves, stems and roots sense and comprehend their surroundings, then alter their physiology - their growth, ability to forage for nutrients, photosynthetic rates and close rates of stomata for saving water. The fungal hyphae too perceive their environment and alter their architecture and physiology. Like parents and children, my girls and Don, and me, adapting to change, aligning to learn new things, figuring out how to endure. I’d be home tonight. Mothering. 

The latin verb intelligere means to comprehend or perceive. 

Intelligence. 

The mycorrhizal networks could have the signature of intelligence. 

At the hub of the neural network in the forest were the Mother Trees, as central to the lives of the smaller trees as I was to Hannah and Nava’s well-being” 



Reasons to Be Cheerful: Part Three

Growing up in England during the 1970s I often find myself remembering songs from that era when things get a bit bleak. Over the last few days, I keep thinking of the title of a song from Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part Three and here is why.  

Rockflower exists to provide a platform for those living at the farthest edges of society to bring their ideas and innovations to fruition. We help fund, guide and nurture those ideas to their greatest potential but more importantly, we believe that it is possible, and can be done. 

At a time when the world is grinding to a halt, due to the spread of the coronavirus, I look to the resilience and longevity of our partners who face adversity on a daily basis, to keep smiling and finding reasons to be cheerful. 

I look to the resilience and longevity of our partners who face adversity on a daily basis, to keep smiling and finding reasons to be cheerful. 

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In particular today I think of the work of FOWACE, a partner since 2018, who we first supported in assisting 300 widows grow vegetables after the loss of their husbands in the Ebola crisis. These women experienced first-hand the terror and devastation wrought by an epidemic such as Ebola.  During the crisis, the women of Liberia improvised and innovated. They did not have access to protective gear, face masks, plastic gloves or even in some cases soap and yet they found alternative ways to stop the spread of that deadly disease, plastic bags for gloves and medicinal plants to use as antiseptics. 

Perhaps what is more significant is not only what they did during the crisis but what they did in the aftermath.  Having lost not only their husbands and several members of their families but also in many cases, a source of income, life looked extremely dire. However, they proceeded to combine their collective wills and reskilled, refocused and found a new way to feed their children. 

Wherever you are in the world right now, and to whatever extent you are dealing with this pandemic, try to look a little down the road and think about what moves you are putting in place right now to ensure that there will be a reservoir of hope in the future. Keep funding those at the margins, because they are the ones who have the greatest capacity for vision and determination.  They lead in finding a way through to the other side – because they have always done so. 

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Mother's Day 2019

Mother Earth is the greatest expression of the potential for a regenerative and reparative economy. The skill of mothering is in knowing just how far you can stretch to accommodate your children’s needs before recognizing that you are beyond your limit. Humanity has indeed pushed Mother Earth to her limit, and we need to apologize and make reparations before it is too late.  

Rockflower was founded on the premise that we need a new economic paradigm – one based on the logic of mothering. You do not need to be a woman or a mother to practice the art of mothering, but you must understand and carry out it’s basic tenets. Tolerance, compassion, empathy and a nuanced approach to risk and reward. 

Rockflower works with those who weed, nurture, till and fertilize agents of change, who will reimagine a new earth, one of shared abundance and prosperity.

At the center of the Rockflower Wheel is the word “integrity”.  By focussing on this central principle of wholeness and truth, and propelling that dynamism and energy outwards for the increase and exponential reward of others, our partners engage with all five principles of trust, compassion, clarity, equality and dignity, in order to proceed through the five keys and systems to ensure the desired outcomes. 

This Mother’s Day, we would like to recognize the extraordinary work of all of our partners, for their continued resolve, patience and determination to birth a new inclusive economy. However, by choosing to highlight the appropriately named Mamas for Burundi, we honor an organization working against the backdrop of 30 years of conflict, who are continually redrawing the lines to find new ways in addressing the screaming inequity of poverty and violence. 

Mamas for Burundi shares the holistic Five Key approach of Rockflower in seeking interconnected and multi-layered approaches to ensure progress for future generations. They work on traditional approaches to education, reading and writing proficiency at grade level, whilst exploring new approaches to vocational training. They tackle the dire consequences of child marriage, unwanted pregnancies and an archaic approach to women’s health and wellbeing with modern approaches to contraception and a reassessment of rights. Above all they recognize that in order to achieve long lasting socio-economic recovery, the foundation must be the inclusion of female leadership in all civic and government positions. To develop a culture of peace and stability, women and mothers must be at the forefront of change. To address solutions to climate change, you must start by asking those most adversely affected by it – those in need of food, water and shelter for their families. 

On May 12th, 2019, and every day forward, we celebrate all who understand that it will be through the radical acceptance of the art of mothering, that we will see the practical realization of an economy that feeds and nurtures every individual human being in the knowledge that everyone deserves that kind of Mother Love. 

International Women's Day 2019

Photo by: Cristina de Vigo

Photo by: Cristina de Vigo

One of the most widely shared articles over the last few weeks has been David Brooks’ piece in The New York Times, A Nation of Weavers. He describes the climate of disintegration of the social fabric here in the US, and how to be a “weaver” rather than a “ripper”. Connection, or at least the prospect of it, is what gets most of us out of bed in the morning. 

My first thought when I read Brooks’ article was of 21 women in Astillero, Nicaragua - Las Tejedoras, which quite literally means “The Weavers”.  Rockflower was introduced to Las Tejedoras by one of our social enterprise partners, Casa Congo, whose mission is to “empower communities with skills and resources for sustainable development”. Our part has been to support these women in their vision for expansion and growth. Casa Congo works to introduce the whole community to regenerative models of conservation on offer to the rest of the world by building with bamboo, designing water and sanitation systems and protecting the natural environment.

Las Tejedoras, formed as a group 12 years ago, with the goal to recycle plastic bags and trash, weaving them into wallets, bags and other items for sale. They have since collected over 400,000 plastic bags discarded on the streets and beaches of Astillero. Their slogan, “Una Bolsa Menos, Una Tortuga Mas” translates to “One Less Bag, One More Turtle.”  

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They took what was garbage and weaved their way to a sustainable business model. But, the model centered around one key ingredient – shared intent. Knowing that in order for this to succeed, they needed to work as a team. The women didn’t try to do it alone, they did it as a group, they understood intuitively that the real value of their endeavor lay in the shared commitment, the connection. 

In a country like Nicaragua where the patriarchy is alive and well, how does a group like Las Tejedoras succeed? They quite literally “weave” – their goods, their lives, their commitment, their intent so that all benefit from the shared social fabric. Their early attempts to start this business were met with resistance from the local community, in particular the men. However through perseverance and determination, they have established themselves as successful social entrepreneurs, expanding their business to include a juice and smoothie bar which opened in December 2017

Rockflower exists to find, fund and support grassroots community-based organizations and social entrepreneurs improving the lives of women and girls all over the world. 

We operate on a philosophy of radical idealism, practically realized. Radical idealism is the catalyst to drive all other concepts, ideas and principles that define Rockflower, resulting in the practical application of funds to projects and programs. 

The United Nations' theme for International Women’s Day 2019 is “Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change”. Rockflower is grateful to work with a diverse group of individuals and organizations all over world, who get up every day with this concept at the forefront of their minds. We work with extraordinary women who have defied the odds and press forward with their vision for a more just and equal world. 

Yet, in a fund devoted to improving the lives of women and girls, it is extremely encouraging to know that some of our most ardent partners and collaborators are men. The founding team of Sol, Luca, Tomaso and Nick from Casa Congo, Siddique from Community Programs Pakistan, Dancan from Jiwo Paro, Dr. Chris and Somto Ugwu from SIRP, and Twisi from Footsteps Africa to name just a few. If we are to truly “Think Equal, Build Smart and Innovate for Change”, we must do so with a truly balanced and integrated approach.

Las Tejedoras and the small fishing community of Astillero demonstrates this in ways, large and small. They work to conserve the environment and provide a future for their children. Like so many at the sharp end of climate change, they have no choice, because their lives and that of their children, quite literally depend on it. 

Women and in particular mothers understand the regenerative effect of connectivity. 

When we talk of connection and connectivity we think of sources of power and energy, electricity, the internet, off grid solar, but in fact the greatest source of connective power is the power of ideas and how that translates to our relationships with each other. We call this the Currency of Mind™.

Rockflower uses the Currency of Mind™ as the ultimate source of power and connection. This is based on the premise that the mind is the most valuable and powerful means of exchange that exists. Everything of value starts with an idea created in someone's mind. When you share an idea it increases, it expands and takes on energy – becomes currency. 

Let us celebrate International Women’s Day 2019 with respect and appreciation for this currency that will provide opportunities for every single thread of humanity to be valued in order to weave a more just and equitable world.