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Earth Day 2020

Dear Families,

I hope this message finds you and yours well, safe, and healthy.

It seems that Mother Nature has given us all a big time-out.

Everything has slowed way down, if not shut down completely. People are working remotely. Restaurants are offering take-out only. Sports canceled. Schools closed.

Thousands of health-care workers are on the front lines working to save lives – bless their souls.

Wow.

Who would have imagined?

50 years of Earth Day is upon us and fortunately, the worldwide pandemic cannot prevent us from planting trees! While some schools have canceled the giveaway in light of the current circumstances, many schools have decided to proceed as planned – finding creative ways to get trees in your hand. Some are combining giveaways with existing lunch programs and / or setting up a pick-up schedule.

We salute the teachers, principals, volunteers, and parents who have found creative ways to keep this program going for its 11th straight year!

And, we honor and respect those schools and leaders who decided to opt-out. No offense taken! In these unusual times, it is most important that we take care of ourselves first and those around us.

Most of the trees will be arriving this week in time for Earth Day (April 22). Distributions will be happening throughout this week and the following.
If you have not received any pick-up instructions, please contact us.

Here are some simple planting instructions, along with species information for the beautiful little trees coming your way.

Please send us a pic of your child(ren) and their newly planted tree and share it with us via our Facebook page.

We love collecting “then and nows” of our growing babies!

Thank you again, school coordinators, teachers, parents, kids, volunteers, and sponsors for your participation in our program and for taking a small but important step in beautifying your community and our world.

Warmly,

Vikas Narula, Founder of Neighborhood Forest

White Spruce

Many of you will be receiving a White Spruce through Neighborhood Forest and The Family of Trees this spring (Earth Day / Week 2020).

Here is some information about this beautiful tree.

The white spruce grows to a height of 40–60 feet and a spread of 10–20 feet at maturity. This tree grows at a medium rate, with height increases of 13–24 inches per year.

This tree thrives in a lot of sunlight – ideally six hours of direct sunlight per day. The white spruce grows well in a variety of different soils and has some drought tolerance.

The white spruce does well when transplanted. It can withstand wind, heat, cold, drought, crowding and some shade. It does well in cities and often serves as rural windbreaks.

You can find simple planting instructions here.

Aside from providing nesting for birds and shelter for other animals, white spruces provide food for many kinds of wildlife. Crossbills, evening grosbeaks, and red-breasted nuthatches feed on its seeds. The foliage is eaten by grouse, rabbits, and deer. Red squirrels bite open cones to eat the seeds, and they delight upon young, tender spruce shoots.

When Jacques Cartier sailed up the broad St. Lawrence River in 1535, he became the first European to see North America’s white spruces. As he laid claim to the lands he beheld, he proclaimed them to be “as beautiful…as one could wish for.” The trees, he said, were “the finest trees in the world.”

Source: Arbor Day Foundation

Tree Planting Instructions

Below are simple planting instructions for deciduous and pine tree seedlings.

For a more complete, interactive tree planting lesson, please visit this page.

Thank you for participating in our program!

Happy Earth Day!

Click here for a downloadable version of Tree Planting Instructions

Important Information About Your Trees!

Posted on April 25, 2019 by vnarula

Dear Parents,

Happy Earth Day (and Week)! Your tree is coming (if it has not already)!

Thank you for registering to receive and plant a free tree with your child(ren) through Neighborhood Forest!

You are part of a coordinated national tree planting initiative that will involve close to 7000 families across North America!

Important Information About Your New Tree

Trees are being shipped to schools this week and will be brought home with your child(ren) by Thursday or Friday this week.

Please keep your tree refrigerated and roots damp until planted!

Most of you will be receiving an Eastern Red Cedar tree. Below is information about your new tree and some simple planting instructions.

The eastern redcedar grows to a height of 40–50′ and a spread of 8–20′ at maturity and grows at a medium rate, with height increases of 13–24″ per year.

Redcedars are unusually long-lived, with the potential to live over 900 years. The oldest tree reported, from West Virginia, is 940 years old!

Full sun is the ideal condition for this tree, meaning it should get at least six hours of direct, unfiltered sunlight each day.

Redcedar foliage provides nesting and roosting cover for sparrows, robins, mockingbirds, juncos, and warblers.

The eastern redcedar is an ancient tree, dating back to aboriginal America.

Want to thank us?

Please send us pictures of your kids with the trees! We love seeing the smiling kids with their trees, especially when they are planted.

We are celebrating our 10th year of giving away free trees and we are starting to collect “then and now” photos of the kids and their trees (see below). We would love to collect more!

These pictures keep us inspired and motivated – please share the joy! You can post them on our Facebook page.

We are ever so grateful for your participation in our program.

It would not be possible without dedicated parents, children, schools, coordinators, volunteers, and sponsors.

Thank you for making this spring season extra special!

Celebrating 10 Years of Neighborhood Forest

March 24, 2019 by vnarula

We are celebrating 10 years of Neighborhood Forest this spring! What we are really celebrating is our Earth, the beautiful trees, our children, and the magic of planting and watching trees grow.

Now that we have been around a decade, we are starting to harvest and gather inspiring “then and now” photos of the kids with their trees (see below).

These photos and stories are bringing us joy and inspiration and giving us the much-needed soul fuel to keep going and growing.

If you have a “then and now” (or even now) photo, which you would like to share, please feel free to share directly on our Facebook page.

It would make our 10th anniversary that much more special.

Since 2010, Neighborhood Forest has reached over 100 schools, 60,000 families, and planted over 30,000 (mostly residential and urban) trees through the hands of children and parents across America and Canada.

When we see these photos of kids with their trees, we are inspired to reach even more schools and children. We would like to reach every child in North America and, eventually, the world.

We are looking for ideas, resources, sponsors, and partners to help us get there. We are looking to invest in our website, back-end technology, and logistics platform to help us scale our operation to reach as many children as possible.

We appreciate and welcome your support!

Investment to plant an urban tree through the hands of a child and their parents via Neighborhood Forest:
$2-$10

Health, environmental, and economic benefits from one urban tree over its lifetime:
$30,000-$70,000

Getting to plant and watch a tree grow from seedling to maturity:
Priceless

Thank you for working with us all these years to make this an incredibly rewarding and heart-warming experience that will continue to pay dividends for decades to come.

A New Year and A New Beginning

Posted on January 31, 2019 by vnarula

We’re a month into the New Year, and that means resolutions have been made, and some have already been abandoned. It means we’ve contemplated the past year, and considered changes for this one to come. It means we have new hopes, dreams, and aspirations.

Hopes, dreams, and aspirations sometimes change, but I’ve always loved nature. I’ve always believed our Earth to be an extension of ourselves, and we of it. So of course I love trees, and I feel honored to have to joined Neighborhood Forest this year.

During my research to learn more about trees, I learned a tree goes through a life cycle much like a human’s (including birth, infancy, adolescence, teen, adulthood, and maturity). This fact was eye opening for me. I’ve always felt trees were somewhat majestic. Now, I see trees as unique beings, that provide us clean air and oxygen, shade us from the sun, and are home to so many other kinds of life. I also see that every tree is special, just like every person. Isn’t it a beautiful thing we get to share that wonder with children, our neighbors and future generations?

This new year your resolutions don’t have to be huge or nearly unattainable. What are you grateful for, thankful for, even if it’s something small? Even if it’s something as small as a tree seedling. I’m grateful that I get to share my love of nature with children and our communities. My resolution is to share that love as far and wide as I can this year. What are you going to go?

If you would like to join in on the Neighborhood Forest mission, and share your love of nature with school children, giving them free trees for Earth Day and teaching them about community, consider becoming a sponsor or contact us to find out how you can help. Let’s grow this New Year into a better future together:)

-Tiffany

We’re in the Home Stretch!

Posted on April 5, 2017 by vnarula

Spring has sprung!

That’s right. In just a few weeks, the tree giveaway will be happening at schools and communities across the US (and even in parts of Canada!).

Did you register for a tree this year? Awesome! You’re all set.

Slipped your mind? Forgot to tie that string on your finger? That’s okay. You’ve earned your good karma points. You still have a chance to register for a tree until Sunday, April 9 even if your school’s deadline has passed.

Is your child’s school participating this year? Can’t remember? You can find out here. Don’t see your child’s school on the list? That’s okay too. You can sign up here. (Make sure you do this on a tablet, laptop or desk computer.)

Spring may be the season for tree planting, but there’s some “family members” that haven’t been feeling the tree hugging love.

You might know one or two. We know one. Surprised how we overlooked him. He loves to dig. He loves dirt and after fire hydrants trees are his best friend. If anyone was a natural at tree planting (or tree wetting!), it’s him!

So rather than feeling left out this year, he took the initiative. We still don’t know how he learned to type. But that’s for another day.

Right now it’s time to exhale, lift our heads up and stretch towards Earth Day. As you enjoy this spring season with its blossoming flowers, blue skies and warmer weather, remember to keep your umbrellas handy. It’s going to be raining trees for the next few weeks!

It's Raining Trees!

Watch this video on YouTube

What Are You Thankful For?

Posted on November 24, 2016 by vnarula

It’s Thanksgiving in America today.

It’s the busiest travel day of the year. Nearly 48 million people will be traveling by car, rail or plane! Three million U.S. airline passengers will swarm airports hoping to catch flights, although many travelers will be stuck at airport checkout counters. Others will be stuck in long security lines holding their shoes, eventually wandering around the terminal in their socks hoping to escape by automobile. Car transportation isn’t any better though. The roads and highways are just as bad, though the bonus is you keep your shoes on.

None of these Thanksgiving travel experiences puts someone in a good mood, but it does burn calories and make a person hungry. So it’s no surprise that at Thanksgiving everyone eats lots of food. There’s the staples like cranberry sauce, turkey and mashed potatoes. There’s new twists on old traditions too – Tofurkey, cauliflower stuffing, and other dairy-free and meat-free options for vegans and vegetarians.

Whether you’re on a special diet or not, today’s the day when rules can be broken. We can loosen our belt four notches, kick our no-carbs diet to the curb and attack apple pies like a ravenous banshee. We justify it with these words: “C’mon! It’s Thanksgiving. It’s only once a year. A little indulgence is okay.”

So this Thanksgiving, whether you’re stuck in security lines or not, whether you’re adjusting the notches on your belt or not, whether you’re eating Tofurkey or not, let’s remember what this holiday is really about. (No, it’s not about the Pre-Black Friday TV Mega Sale at your local Best Buy.)

It’s about giving thanks. Thanks to our beautiful planet for giving us life. And thanks to the amazing trees. They provide us with the apple pie on our plates, the roof over our heads (literally), and so much more. (See video below.)

Let’s be grateful and count our blessings today.

And let’s save our ungratefulness for the food hangover and indigestion tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pay It Forward!