On Saturday I did two workshops (same content) for the state youth
retreat for the New York Conference of my denomination. The subject was
the spirituality of bonsai/contemplation of nature. I had a total of 25
high school youth in both workshops. I brought along about a dozen or
so trees and had them set up in the room. The room was open so the
adult advisors often came in during the day and looked at the trees.
The response was very good. Several of the youth said they would like
to learn more. I had a handout and asked each one where they were from
and recommended a club that they could contact. I'm hoping the club
that meets in Rochester will have a few new members, including a couple
of adults. Bill Valvanis may get a few new customers/students out of
this.
At one point a woman stuck her head in the door and asked if the trees
were for sale. I told her that I could sell her one of Anita's trees
that I brought, but it would end up in divorce! This puzzles me--why
it is that people always ask if my trees are for sale? Have others who
have done workshops or demos and brought along a few of their trees
found the same thing?
The response overall was one of wonder. Not that my trees are the best
around, although I brought my best trees for this. One woman said she
could feel the peace as she entered the room. Another told me that she
had come to the retreat really stressed, and that looking at the trees
for a few minutes helped her relax so she could enjoy the weekend.
This is a good example of how you can go to the work of getting trees
ready for display, planning the display, and all of that, without
entering trees into a competition. Display does not equal competition.
I'll post a few pictures when I can.
Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37
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