The setting couldn’t have been more ideal for a celebration of the earth and raising consciousness for the environment.

Under the canopy of a pair of revered, century-old cottonwood trees, a small group joined hands, sang songs, prayed and rejoiced, offering thanks for the beautiful simplicity of what nature provided.

Fourteen people gathered at the Greenbank Farm on Earth Day last Friday to answer a global calling to sing to the trees.

They came randomly from all parts of Whidbey Island to share a deep experience with some tall friends, as well as with others like them who feel passionately about trees and the environment.

As part of a global “Sing for the Trees” movement that started on social media several years ago, tree lovers were asked to sing to their favorite trees on Earth Day as a way to honor their existence and heighten environmental awareness.

The trunk of the tree they assembled under was much too wide to wrap their arms around, but they gave it their best embrace anyway.

“This is very special to me,” said Marge Jantz, who was visiting the island from Arizona.

“I picked this week to come up because it was Earth Day today. For me it was like, I can’t think of a better place to be than on this island.”

And what better spot than Greenbank in Central Whidbey, the heart of the island, said Kristi O’Donnell, the farm’s new events coordinator who advertised the local gathering.

“It’s an exciting time at the Greenbank Farm,” said O’Donnell, who was instrumental in the farm’s preservation efforts more than two decades ago. “It’s kind of full circle for many of us who worked to save this farm in 1995. There’s a springtime rejuvenation going on so it’s a perfect time to celebrate this place on earth where every day is Earth Day.”

The sprawling, 151-acre farm dates back more than 100 years, once laying claim as the largest loganberry farm in the world in the 1960s. It remains open, vast and at times breathtaking, offering picturesque saltwater and mountain views.

The Port of Coupeville owns the farmland and its structures, which have since been converted to shops, art galleries, and gathering places.

O’Donnell said she believes the cottonwoods date back to the farm’s origin near the start of the 20th century.

“I have a feeling you can all hear the trees sing,” Pushkara Sally Ashford said before playing a song to the group with her guitar. “You have to listen very closely because trees don’t speak loudly but they do sing.”

And so did the group on more than one occasion. Using the melody of “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” they modified the words and sang “Let There Be Trees on Earth.”

“Sing to the Trees was a global movement that was started in the early 2000s,” O’Donnell said. “It was an initiative set forth by a woman who wanted to pay homage to the trees so that we can talk about and be conscious of the importance of our interrelationship with trees on earth. We breath together. It’s a symbiotic relationship.

“It’s significant,” she added. “This is a movement by humans. Our consciousness is rising and the more we key into that and feel it, the more it happens.”

After the singing and rejoicing, the group followed Raven Rocks Gallery owner and artist Windwalker Taibi on a short walk to the ridge to participate in an earth blessing.

The group took part in Native American traditions led by Taibi, who descends from the Lakota Sioux tribe. The group observed and passed around an unlit community pipe he carved from wood and faced the four different directions of the earth.

“It’s a request to the four directions, which is a very typical way a Native American would begin the morning, just asking for the different directions of the earth for the things that they have to offer,” Taibi said.

Last Friday, 14 people at Greenbank Farm were grateful for what they received.

“This is a particular special Earth Day for me,” Taibi said. “Earth Day is my father’s birthday. I know my name is Native American. I don’t focus on that most of the year, but on Earth Day, I always do.

“I’m just in love with this world and in love with the trees and the people here. I just can’t say enough about this farm. It’s a sacred place and I think it has been for a very, very long time.

“My focus is an old saying, on Earth Day in particular but every day of the year: We don’t inherit this earth from our parents. We borrow it from our children and that is so true. We’re caretakers.”