In the spring of 2023, my spouse Anna Ruth Hershberger and I planted 6500 trees on the north side of Goshen Indiana. A JoinTrees grant from Mennonite Men helped with purchasing and planting these native seedlings. After our tree planting it did not rain for 3 weeks and the temperature hit 90 degrees many days during that time period. Talk about stress.
We were blessed to have a faith community, friends and family during this time. Clay Bottom Farms let us borrow their tractor. A good friend lent us a trailer which we could load a 300 gallon tote of water on. Five evenings a week we watered. Volunteers from our church's youth group, a next door neighbor, family, friends, ages ranging from 8 years old to 79 all helping us. Thanks to this group and Steve Thomas, who I consider to be my tree mentor, the tree seedlings made it through the drought with 90+ percent of them surviving.
Photo: Anna Ruth Hershberger and Darren Miller and daughter Iona, Steve Thomas with Mennonite Men, and forester Michael Denman.
When I was a teenager growing up on a farm in central Illinois my father's hobby for those years seemed to be planting trees. Our family planted trees on our farm, at church, at a cemetery and at the local elementary school where my father served on the board. My job was to water them week after week after week. Did I enjoy this job? Not really. At this stage of life I wanted to get done as soon as possible and sneak away to play baseball. However watering and working with trees as a youth did plant a seed in me that grew into a love for nature and a love for planting trees as an adult.
My professional career for the last 30 plus years has been supplying stains and varnishes to the cabinet and furniture industry. I worked closely with Amish communities mainly in Indiana but also in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois. People often ask, "Can you build furniture?" The answer is no. I cannot build it, but I can make it look beautiful. However, to build beautiful furniture, trees need to be cut down for lumber to make furniture. This industry has provided me with a weekly paycheck for many years.
One of my favorite Psalms is 24.1. It starts with, "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it". For me these words are powerful and need respect. I believe a responsibility of mine as a Christian is to help care for God's creation and not just take from it. Try to leave it the same or a little nicer for the next generation. It only seems right to me to plant trees and help replace at least a part of all the trees that I have supplied stain and finish for over the years.
My family is another reason I am planting trees. Anna Ruth has worked with Anabaptist Climate Collaborative and caring for the environment is important to her. Through her and by watching how she loves and cares for the earth has rubbed off on my life. I also have two daughters who I want to pass on a love of nature to.
Why plant trees now? For some it may be climate change. For others from the furniture industry it may be to have lumber for their children to have future cabinet shops. I have Amish friends who have converted 50 and 60 acres of agricultural land into natural habitat for deer hunting. For me, I plant trees to care for God's creation. The reason doesn't really matter, as long as people are planting more trees. If anyone has interest in planting trees contact Mennonite Men and help them reach their goal of planting 1,000,000 trees by 2030.
