Do you ever wear a tree? Perhaps sleep on a tree? Chances are the answers are yes. Such fabrics as rayon, lyocell or modal are made from trees as are many pillows materials.

These were just a few of the bounties of trees that hundreds of visitors, parents and children alike, learned about at the seventh annual Judy's Day at the F.R. Newman Arboretum at the Cornell Plantations, Sept. 16. Whereas in previous years, attendees focused on grasses or the underground world, this year's theme was "Trees: Treasures of the Earth." Visitors learned about coffee and chocolate, seeds and nuts, caring for trees, uses for wood, the inside of trees, forest lore and more.

Dozens of Cornell student volunteers worked at the event, which is in honor of Ithacan Judy Abrams, who died in 1996.

"Her friends and family came up with the idea because she was always concerned with kids, both her own and everyone else's," said Abrams' son, Robert Abrams. "She used to take us on educational and fun activities, like picking berries or going to Cayuga Nature Center. When Judy passed away, we asked friends who would bring flowers to her funeral to make donations to the Plantations instead," said Abrams. "A group of her friends decided to start this tradition in her memory."

"Judy was a wonderful, loving, caring person," said Charlotte Shull, Plantations volunteer and a Judy's Day committee member. "She loved working with children and volunteered at schools throughout her time in Ithaca."

Thanks to donations from the SIRUS Fund, the Saquish Foundation and numerous exhibitors and sponsors, visitors learned, for example, that planting a tree too shallow or too deep will kill it, as will overwatering or underwatering it or surrounding it with a "mulch volcano," a cone of mulch around the base of the trunk.

This year's Judy's Day also featured the Green Man, a character of folklore and pagan ritual with a human figure but a face made of foliage, who roamed the Plantations and told stories to visitors. Other activities, many of them hands-on, included creating a tree fossil, making bongos and learning about insects.

"Judy's Day brought so many people -- so many kids -- out to the Plantations," said Tyler Corson-Rikert, an Ithaca native who recently graduated from college.

"This is a great event to come to with kids," added Josh Woodward, a biology teacher at Ithaca High School.

Abrams was delighted with the event's outcome and expressed gratitude to its planning committee. "I really appreciate the people who took the time and effort to put this together," said Abrams. "It's a fantastic event for the Ithaca area, and it's bigger and better than ever."

Sam Warren '07 is a writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle.