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Tiny hands plant tiny trees
by Richard Cahan November 5th, 2025
@ Evanston Roundtable

Dozens of wide-eyed preschool children helped plant trees last Tuesday on a rolling stretch of land near the North Shore Channel. One day that stretch will be a grove.

The small trees — three oaks, two ironwoods, two serviceberries, a redbud, sour gum and pine — will grow as much as two feet a year. When the children reach their 40s, some of these trees will be 80 feet tall.

The three-, four- and five-year-olds watched as the tiny trees were gently lowered into holes that were readied for them west of the parking lot at the Joseph E. Hill Early Childhood Center, on McDaniel Avenue and Davis Street. At first, some of the children seemed most comfortable near their teachers or parents. But then they heard, “Now it’s time to get your hands dirty,” they got to work.

The planting on this sunny, windy day was part of the center’s pre-school ecology curriculum. “It gets them close to nature, and they learn how to use their senses,” said Claudia Renteria, family engagement and community specialist at District 65.

The trees come from the all-volunteer organization Natural Habitat Evanston. The group has planted 111 trees and shrubs this fall at schools, parks and homes across Evanston. Most of the ten trees for the early childhood center were picked up at a tree farm in downstate Monee by Leslie Shad, founder and lead of Natural Habitat, and her husband Joe Brennan.

“That’s a big oak tree,” said Brennan, “but just not yet,” he told the children.

“We love planting new trees on our school grounds,” said Karen Bireta, sustainability coordinator for the district. “It helps with our healthy environments and our outdoors environments, and it gives students a really important relationship to connect to the land and to our place.”

And Natural Habitat loves working with children. “Our hope is that they go home, tell their parents what they did,” said Laurence “Laury” Lewis, a master gardener with Natural Habitat.

Next stop. Sixteen trees will be planted at Lovelace Park on Nov. 11. You can sign up here.