The Dragon Tree

In 1995 I was at the after function for the BEARS Annual Motorcycling meet at Ruapuna. (I was Editor of the BEARS Central MC Racing club News letter) and attended The after function/prize giving which was held in a function room off the edge of the Christchurch Airport.
On the edge of the car park was an old weeping willow tree and as I sat looking at it The Willow took on the form of around Ten Dragon like creatures (I will add a photo of the painting I did in 1998)
I looked really hard at it and watched as they sniffed high as if tasting and then took big mouthfulls of invisible air and chewed it like cows chewing their cud.
I shook my head and decided the 2 glasses of wine Id had were obviously too much for me after a long day at the track and headed for the ute. Once inside I looked again, watching amazed at what they were doing, their arms cloaked with the long tendrils of the swaying willow they sniffed and gulped and appeared to be eating,some looked half asleep, others more alert.
I looked at them each in turn and whilst looking at the biggest of them it turned its face and stared right at me. Naturally I freaked out and quickly looked at the floor, the radio, the door handles... and questioned my mental state all at once, then got a grip of myself and cautiously looked up at the tree again.
The big Dragon was chewing his cud and looking at me with an 'I cant really be bothered with you' kind of look so feeling brave I spoke aloud towards 'him' "Well say something then" I said,and Im not kidding you a male voice started telepathically telling me about the state of the Planet and HOW we humans can SAVE the Planet and save ourselves from certain extinction at the same time.
I hear a lot these days about groups who gather at great cost to discuss how we can stop global warming and right the planet and the answer is so simple its been overlooked. Is a big problem with a simple fix.
The Dragon told me about the water tables and about the trees and the job they do, the role they play.
Deciduous Trees sleep during winter to regain their energy, to wake in the spring to eat the lighter toxins from the atmosphere. They eat all night long during Spring and Summer and They sleep during the day to conserve water loss.
They drop their leaves to feed the earth beneath them in the Autumn and sleep during winter.
Evergreen trees eat a denser concentration of toxins and they eat 24/7 all their lives long at a very slow revolution.
He said they are all struggling to cope with the toxic atmosphere, that there are not enough of them to cope with our pollution and that all we humans need to do to restore the planet to a sustainable balance is to Replant the Planet.
He said we can have our cars and our factories and our standard of living, we just need to replant and in doing so we will flood the atmosphere with oxygen and the whole world will become happier because of it. That the global depression is caused by lack of pure oxygen. The Trees eat our by products and give us back Oxygen. Its a win win situation. This is a longer story condensed.
He said we are being unrealistic having large families when the earth cannot support the Billions of people it contains.
I have struggled with this 'Burning Bush Story'. I feared telling it and being seen as insane, a whacko, someone who needs binding up in a straight jacket and dosed with pink pills.
I took an art course at UCOL in 1998 thinking if I got the paperwork saying I was good then under the guise of the Artist I could tell my story under artistic license and you might accept it as the truth it is.
I started Planet Replant in 1998 after being pressured by Winz to find a job or they would find me one.
I was rearing 5 children single handed and home schooling them most of the time so didnt want to be sent to a mindless job and have my children home alone without me, so I decided to spend one DPB payment ($350) on a trailer load of trees, and with my childrens blessing, took the risk.
I went to the Albert street market in Palmerstion North and in 4 hours sold $750 worth of trees and still had half the trailer load left.
Towards the end of that year I met Ben Harrison from Harrisons Trees in Palmerston North and I found I was able to buy a large selection of my stock from him.
Im mentioning Ben here because in the naming of Planet Replant we came up with the same name on the same day but whilst in different parts of the Manawatu.
By paying cash and picking the stock and collecting it myself I was able to get the maximum discount on the stock and as I never took a wage from the business was able to sell the trees at huge price difference to the Garden Centres. I dont think Planet Replant was popular with the local Garden Centres but I did note a drop in their pricing on a huge range of stock.
Since moving back to the Rangitikei I was fortunate to be able to purchase the old petrol station in Ohingaiti from where I have recently started selling plants again and will be expanding the business into an Op shop as a sideline and I hope that the public will donate their unwanted goods for me to sell on and fund my Community Food Tree Dream.
This time round Im aiming to be able to take a wage eventually and have the business be my day job.
At present Im selling Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays from around 2 till 7 pm. Iv found no one stops before 3-4 pm so this gives me time to tend my garden and the plants Im growing myself from cuttings off my Mother Bushes that Planet Replant has supplied. This way there will be no middle man and I can keep my prices low even whilst making an income and giving trees away and money to other tree trusts .
Planet Replant is my life. I have 4 Grandchildren now and Im doing this for them and for yours so they know someone gave a damb about the Planet we leave them.
I think now that if Billions of people believe the burning bush stories of the bible and the visions of others along the way then surely this one wont be so hard to believe. No one called Moses a mental case.
Also, if the vision I saw of the Dragons in the Tree was just an Hallucination, then Why do I still see them now? When Im on task they are smiling at me and when I drift off they turn their backs.
I want them to be smiling at me.

Yours Truely and Sincerely,

SharonNz