The Strange (and actually quite fascinating) Truth About Trees
Discover 'The Hidden Life' of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
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It started in a book shop, where all good stories start.
My youngest daughter is a HUGE reader and loves nothing more than a good hour or 3 flickin’ through books.
Reading the blurb.
Researching the age ratings.
Weighing up the purchase.
Leaving me plenty of time to indulge in my love of paper information tomes too.
On this particular-eth day I came across “The Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben.
It’s a delightful read about the fascinating world of those green leafy, long woody things we take for granted.
Y’know the carbon gobblers who’ve been pretty much helping humans breathe for like ever. Yet we think it’s a good idea to decimate in vast amounts because y’ know CAPITALISM!
(And the slight irony of me talking about books in the same article as preserving trees has been already noted, thank you very much 😊)
Anyhooooo, as I think they say in Canada🍁?
Did you know that trees literally help each other to live?
The author Peter Wholleben observed some large tree stumps that had been technically dead for about 400 years (the time since the tree had fallen and begun to deteriorate) yet still had green shoots of life.
How?
Well the surrounding trees continuously send water and nutrients to the stumps via their roots.
To keep them alive as part of their ecosystem.
All for one… and one for all.
Trees as community, in a most 3 Muskateery way.
Also tree screaming anyone?
Yep apparently that's a thing too.
When the soil is dry in summer, trees get thirsty.
Understandably so - there’s a distinct lack of Pepsi Maxi vending machines in most forests these days.
The thirst means that vibrations happen in the trunk, as the water isn't flowing from the roots to the leaves.
This vibration emits ultrasonic screams (undetectable to human ear but recordable and so happening nonetheless).
So are thirsty trees literally screaming out for water?
Well you could argue that this is a purely physical thing; no emotion like us far superior humans screaming.
But what are human screams at a physical level?
Simply air moving in the windpipe which vibrates the vocal chores.
Hmmmm……
Maybe the tree huggers of the world ain't so cra-cra.
Maybe the trees are screaming a warning to other trees of low water levels.
Maybe the world of trees is much deeper than most of us ever realised.
And I’m certainly in that category of tree-gnorance.
And finally; trees ‘n’ dogs ‘n’ humans
Later the very same day trees again reared their distinctly un-ugly head.
I took my younger dog out for a walk (older one was napping at home).
We walked up a busy road.
Cars, motorbikes, lorries.
Noisy.
Very busy on the eyes.
Hot.
Man and dog both a little on edge.
Our bodies whilst quite different in form had a common theme.
Rigid and tense muscles.
All the fight or flight chemicals flooding our veins.
We shortly crossed over the road into some woods.
Within 30 seconds we were enveloped by the calm hugs of large trees towering above us.
Blocking the sun.
Blocking the noise.
Blocking the busy visuals.
Calm and green.
Green and calm.
Ahhhhhhhh!
Our guards dropped almost immediately.
Bodies went from tense to floppy.
Relaxed and happy.
Man and doggy in mutual chill mode.
Forests and woods are indeed amazing spaces.
(It’s little wonder that the Japanese government have been prescribing forest bathing to their citizens for decades to improve physical and mental health. It’s called Shinrin-yoku, and definitely worthy of an article another day).
Today’s takeaway?
Trees for the win.
If you can make city parks, forests, or wooded areas a part of your life then all the better for your state of mind.
Do it, do it regularly.
You won’t regret it.
Good luck my green bathing friend.
To trees,
JFT Beach
Thank you so much for that piece! I am so going to read that book. We have a large fig tree in our garden which is as old as I am, meaning 51. We consider it as a family member for it offers shade, food and breathable air to us all year long. I dearly love it and give it hugs regularly, telling it how important it is in our lives. Trees are living creatures, so much wiser and kinder to one another than we are, and we should so much take care of them, learn from them and, most of all, be grateful for them for they grant us with life. Lots of love.
Oh I read that book a long time ago. It's so amazing to learn about everything that goes on around us. I'm just in absolute awe and wonder for our trees.