Understanding the world around us and our place in it; this is the mission of A Rocha. In order to help people learn about the intricacies of nature, A Rocha has been inviting speakers to the Pembina Valley.

A Rocha Director of Theology and Resources Elmer Joy recently shared in Winkler about "Of Things Unseen."

The talk informed people about the amazing ability trees and other long-lived plants have at forming connections with each other, even communicating.

If he would do it again Joy says he would retitle his presentation as "It Takes A Forest To Raise A Tree." He explains this better represents the unique relationship trees have with one another, the ability to transfer electrical signals through roots and fungi to transfer information.

"This suggests what I put in quotes a type of 'knowledge', that even seemingly inanimate things have in some way."

Wanting to inform people about this miraculous reality of nature, Joy says we often overlook the parts of nature we can't see, smell, or feel. He says we often only recognize nature as something tangible, something we can feel with our senses, but the reality is over 60% of the biomass of a forest is below the ground.

By understanding how a forest interacts with individual trees, we can better develop responsible forestry, he says. The relationship plants have with each other is also being utilized by farmers explains Joy.

Chelsea Lobson of Lake Winnipeg Foundation will be the speaker on February 21 at the Morden Adult education Centre.

She'll talk about watersheds and how our water moves through different and distant communities, how to take a water sample, and how to get involved with a Citizen Science project where people take water samples from local rivers, streams, and creeks to be analyzed for water quality to help inform local conservation districts.