In and Around the Treehouse

we are this place

    we are layered

    all of us connected

    the path, the soil,

the leaves, the sunlight

the humans and other animals on campus

    each and every tree

I am a tree

    and I’m connected to everything

    I provide a home and food

    and a playground

    for my friend squirrel

I am a squirrel

    I like this part of campus

    the trees are a highway

    it’s a bit secluded from other places

    but sometimes I need to leave this part of campus

    to find chestnuts and acorns elsewhere

    I try to hide sometimes from the students

    when they get a bit too much for me

    but frankly I don’t really understand why

    bags of food in the student union are only sold

    for the ducks and long boi and not for me

    it’s a busy time of year for me

    I have to find enough food and enough light

    to last me until spring

    soon, it will get quieter

    I believe the humans call this time of year christmas

    and I hope they can all find everything they need

    from my friends the trees

    the fir branches

    and the piece of holly without the spikes

I am a piece of holly with no spikes on me

    and I have been sat there for hours

    because all the children from the nursery

    came across to make christmas garlands

    and they were told to get beautiful, spiky leaves

    with beautiful red berries on

    and they are all three and four years old

    and they ravaged the entire place

    and I was left, abundant, miserable

    sat on the ground

    until the last child left

I felt some footsteps

    something picked me up

    shook me into a warm, dark pocket

    carried me back, I don’t know where

    I am hearing all these sounds

    I don’t know what I am doing

    until suddenly

    I emerge into the light

I am the light

    I am on every surface

    a part of everything

    always changing

    seen by the robin

I am an urban robin

    my home is here

    I made my nest in the willow

I am the willow

    wrapped around your fingers

    forever there, tight

    but stripped of my leaf

I am the leaf that just fell

    leaving my friends in the tree

and joining my friends on the ground

together we will make mulch

and improve the soil for new growth in spring

but that’s not until later

when winter has come and gone

for now, while the birds are singing in the damp air

we all crowd around the buddha

I am the statue of the buddha

    finding calm through the noise

    meditating in the grass and the ivy

I am surrounded by holly

I am a holly leaf

    I grew in unexpected spaces

    and often protect myself

    while also offering food for those around me

    I spend my days observing the ground

    to see the green lichen

I am lichen

    I see so many pass by

    I see so many grow

    cheeky seedlings

    cheeky seeds

    daring saplings

    chattering humans

    all share this ground

I am the ground

    an endless vibration

    your home, your belonging

    your bringer of life

    from me

    you grow & flourish

    finding peace

    in this place

we are this place…

Authors

A collaborative place-based story from York, transcribed here as crafted and captured in and around the Berwik Saul Treehouse on the University of York campus in York, England, on Tuesday 2 December 2025, between 11:00 and 12:00 GMT, by Lotte Dijkstra, members of Inclusive Citizen Science, Stockholm Environment Institute, and York Environmental Sustainability Institute, and the more-than-human beings present.

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