A Future for Carnagarve Forest

By Liam Burns

About a kilometre from the scenic shoreline of Lough Foyle in East Inishowen, County Donegal, you will find Carnagarve Forest. It is a mere ten-acre plot with a tarred public road bisecting it and surrounded by flat fields. Nothing startling, perhaps. But this little woodland is mine. My own little Garden of Eden.

The land from which it sprouted has been in my family for almost 60 years, and the hardwood trees themselves - oaks, beech, sycamore and ash - were planted over a quarter of a century ago. They now tower above your head, while the lower tangle of brambles and wild raspberry invites you to get lost in its understorey from spring onward.

Eventually my descendants will fell those trees to harvest a crop of lumber. But in the meantime, I contemplate the possibilities for this God-given woodland. Now that semi-retirement has descended, my wife and I consider three branches of forest experience from elsewhere which, if grafted in, would render our forest a blessing to others in the future.

Branch 1: Forest church

There is something about a forest that exudes spirituality. Even hardened atheists soften somewhat when cocooned in green foliage and swaying ferns. Nowadays the fashion leans towards new-age spirituality. Celtic spirituality may get a look in also.

But for me, when I step into Carnagarve Forest, I step under the canopy of an omnipotent creator God. His character is sketched between the pages of Genesis, where it all began in a verdant garden (Genesis 2:8), and Revelation with its river flanked by crop bearing trees (Revelation 22:2). Yet aware of the “fallenness” I share with all mankind, I need and gravitate towards some kind of release from the pollution of the world, including my self-pollution.

“Even hardened atheists soften somewhat when cocooned in green foliage and swaying ferns.”

That quest for salvation draws me to a Saviour and I find a man who walked this earth in gospel times. Most of Jesus’ teaching was out on the mountainside or lake shore, drawing on fishing, vine husbandry, seed sowing and fig trees.

Trees are expected to bear fruit. Each person must make this journey into a fruitful Christian life for themselves but it is not a solitary quest. We need to be drawn to others, to church, to weekly patterns of services. This certainly doesn’t have to mean buildings so in Carnagarve Forest, we welcome our fellow believers. There is a place for them to refresh their souls in solitude. Secluded clearings are designed for church groups to come and pursue gatherings of youths, mid-week fellowships and leadership teams.

There has been a recent spurt of growth in the practice of “Forest Church”. The movement aims to “take spirituality beyond its traditional confines of building and doctrine to a new kind of church that is earthed in experience of the outside world and the One who made it.” Their Facebook page has already attracted over 2000 members. It’s dedicated adherents post links to the most wonderful material: woodland inspired art, sensitive prayers, liturgies for advent or lent, worksheets based on the seasons, invitations to join a week of wild worship in Essex and so on.

However, to be invited in through the forest gate at Carnagarve, you don’t have to sign up to Christian belief: my trees beckon to everyone. Already I have welcomed humanists and members of the Irish Naturist Association as well as myth and folklore enthusiasts, few of whom subscribe to orthodox Christianity. As long as they accept that the owner of this forest allows for Gospel song alongside birdsong, they are welcome.

Branch 2: Mental health advice

The benefits to physical health from being outdoors are well rehearsed. In recent times an awareness of our equivalent mental health needs grew as lockdown restrictions assailed the minds and hearts of the Irish population.

Mental Health Ireland is not a Christian organisation but that doesn’t stop us recognising the wisdom it has to offer. We can check for ourselves if its advice chimes with Scripture, and I think it does. They recommend a research-based set of “simple actions to practice each day to maintain or improve our mental health and wellbeing”. The “Five Ways to Wellbeing” list is quite inoffensive: Take notice; Be active; Keep learning; Connect; Give. And you could not get a better venue to develop all five than a forest near the shores of a lough.

“Clearly Christians have been fostering mental health long before the term became fashionable.”

Take notice – The simple act of going into any woodland will lift clouds of self-smothering depression and waken you to the leafy surroundings, to the present moment, the here and now. There are nine designated resting points in Carnagarve Forest, each with a log seat to sit and engage your senses with that forest world.

Be active – Rough paths have been cut through the forest. After resting for contemplation, you can move from point to point with a speed that suits your fitness and mobility. And the prospect of a little woodland assault course, using logs and branches that come to hand, adds to the vision of a place where an active body nurtures an active mind.

Keep learning – Any forest I own must be a place where new information and fresh skills can be learned. And that is exactly what people need: a chance to build up confidence and self-esteem through new learning, a venue to pursue those topics that interest them, a serene outdoor classroom.

There is the obvious learning about the surrounding trees, plants and wildlife - their identity, their life cycles. Or there could be the challenge of new skills close to forest life: making basic furniture using lashing and knotting.

Connect – If individuals have already spent a while in woodland solitude, their mental health can be further boosted through building relationships. Communal interaction changes our brains and affects our moods for the better. Learning collaboration is but one example of connection. Any joint venture with others offers an improved sense of purpose. The secluded clearings recommended for church groups also allow all sorts of gatherings of people to bond and pursue projects of their choosing.

Give – The emphasis so far has leaned towards what you gain from a visit to the forest. But connecting with others will involve giving as well as taking. We welcome gifts left behind to bless others who follow – the fruits of crafting skills or artistic creation. The very act of giving is recommended by Mental Health Ireland to improve our wellbeing. Vesting your help in an agreed project, small acts of kindness or even just offering listening time are shown to build you up, as your focus shifts to others.

Clearly Christians have been fostering mental health long before the term became fashionable.

Branch 3: Forest bathing

Forest bathing could be described as “Taking in the fullness of woodlands with all our senses”. It was pioneered by the Japanese. The idea first came to a young doctor, Qing Li, over 30 years ago. He found that as a student living in Tokyo, the most crowded city in the world, the stress of his urban life could be greatly reduced by a visit to one of the lush forests, which cover two-thirds of the country. Since then, he has researched and written books on what is now known as forest bathing – or in their language, Shinrin-yoku. He even set up a research institute dedicated to its study.

“We were intended by a creator God to relate to the fullness of His creation.”

I want Carnagarve to be a place, which welcomes people to come and bathe. Even in Inishowen people have an urban lifestyle mentality and suffer from what has been called “nature deficit disorder”. But we are hardwired to connect with the natural world - we were intended by a creator God to relate to the fullness of His creation.

Numerous medical studies have shown that walking anywhere outdoors reduces depression, anxiety and anger. The Japanese research further shows that if the setting is a forest, there are additional gifts to our bodies.

Physiological stress is reduced, heart rate and blood pressure are lowered, sleep patterns improved, fatigue reduced and vigour restored. The benefits of the presence of trees can be scientifically traced to two factors - a higher concentration of oxygen and the presence of organic oils called phytoncides, part of the plant defence system against disease.

So even the experience of simply “being” in a forest like Carnagarve will bring blessings. The research findings, which have been taken on board by health authorities internationally, can be distilled into advice on how to practise forest bathing. I now pass on five steps to my invited visitors.

Find a spot. Select a sunny or shady place that suits your needs.

Engage all your senses. Let nature enter through your ears, eyes, nose, mouth, hands, and feet.

Appreciate the silence. The music of insect and bird, a breeze through spring foliage, the flow of a stream.

Don’t hurry. Anything from 20 minutes up to four hours has been found to bring positive effects.

Try different activities. Write a journal or poetry. Study plants, creatures even the rocks around you. For Christians, this will naturally extend to meditating or praying.

As the spring of 2021 advances into summer, Carnagarve Forest is blossoming and growing. I hope to graft in the experience gleaned so far from the British Forest Church movement, Mental Health Ireland’s “Five Ways to Wellbeing” and Japanese forest bathing. You are invited to join the adventure. All my guests have to do is accept the invitation. Nature does the rest.

Or maybe it is the Lord of creation, in His own quiet way.