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Lisa Brill

The Language of Trees – A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape

By Beet 2024 07 July

 

By Katie Holten

 

Are you ready to embark on a journey through forests and trees, across time and cultures? Then I recommend “The Language of Trees – A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape” by Katie Holten. This is an anthology of essays and poems that offers perspectives about our cultural, emotional and political relationships with forests and trees. Contributors pull from natural history, ancient and recent human history, the environment and humans’ impact upon it, and even fractal geometry. You’ll find lessons from fungi, observations of tree migration and tree clocks, and people’s efforts to awaken a broader appreciation of all plants. Included is a tree alphabet based upon Ireland’s medieval Ogham, which used trees for letters.

Contributors are varied – scientists, novelists, poets, architects, linguists, activists and artists – and include: Plato, Robin Wall Kimmerer (author of Braiding Sweetgrass), Radiohead (yes, the band), Nemo Andy Guiquita (an indigenous Ecuadorian woman), Suzanne Simard (pioneer on plant communication) and others.

Immerse yourself in a journey with many branches and thought-provoking trails. “The Language of Trees considers our relationship with literature and landscape, resulting in an astonishing fusion of storytelling and art and a deeply beautiful celebration of trees through the ages.”[1]

Katie Holten is an artist and activist whose work investigates the tangled relationships between humans and the natural world.

[1] From the book jacket. 

Why I Love the Green Zebra Tomato

By Beet 2024 02 February

I love this tomato for its color – inside and out. Its skin is light green with dark green “zebra stripes!” Inside it’s a light yellow-green and a little firm. It’s an oval shape, about 2 ½ ” to 3½ ” tall. The flavor is slightly lemony or zingy. It’s great in a salad or anywhere you want to showcase color. I’ve grown it for 10+ yrs. It’s prolific and doesn’t succumb to blight as do my other tomatoes. I don’t suggest it for a sauce, it’s somewhat watery.