Tu b'Shevat in 8 Days

Trees provide homes for many creatures -- birds, squirrels, insects. They also provide nutrients to fungus and mushrooms. Trees also provide a wide array of fruit. In biblical times, fruit could not be taken from a tree until it was four years old. In essence, Tu b'Shevat standardizes the birthday of all trees.

This image began as a bulletin board collaboration with the 2005 students at Temple Beth Jacob Sunday School. I took the color edit shown on Sunday January 24, 2010 and did a lot of editing via IrfanView.
This was a great opportunity to hone my skills using IrfanView's free software. Some of the animals and plants are gone but the mushrooms have multiplied!