Episode 237 — Tree Books! What to read, why it matters, and how it shapes practice

Summary

From Westonbirt inspirations to field guides and plant-hunter epics, Lewis and Gemma pull 13 tree books and ask how reading changes woodland practice. Hear about ships with greenhouses, coppice cycles, charcoal burning, fungal networks, minimalist nursery design, mapping with old OS layers and LiDAR, plus a practitioner’s starter stack for ID and ethnobotany.

Sponsors

TENTSILE

Save 10% on tree tents and hammocks with code ForestChildren10 at checkout. Ideal for leaders who want flexible base-camp shelter without ground impact.

Chris Holland

Explore Chris’s 54-page Plant of the Week guide with songs, stories and QR videos. Use our affiliate link: https://chrisholland.myshopify.com/?ref=ForestSchoolPodcast

Key takeaways

Books are tools. Ideas on the page translate into better planning, richer invitations to play and clearer woodland decisions.

History explains today’s woods. War, trade and enclosure shaped plantations and access.

When the landscape is the resource you can need fewer add-ons.

Mycorrhizal science challenges the clean slate approach to plantations. Diversity can feed young trees.

A balanced shelf helps practitioners. Mix narrative inspiration, technical ID, land-use history and local mapping.

Chapters

00:00 Audio or video and how to follow along

02:10 Westonbirt, tree hunters and why one book leads to three more

06:40 Plant collectors, ships with greenhouses and species introductions

11:20 Remarkable trees and the Douglas fir story

15:20 Finding the Mother Tree and what fungal networks show us

20:10 Managing woods for play, coppice cycles and charcoal

25:40 Enclosure, disafforestation and the Western Rising rabbit hole

30:40 Rackham, old OS maps and first steps with LiDAR

35:30 Practitioner stack for sessions and ethnobotany

40:50 Photos or illustrations for ID, trends in tree writing, the squirrel book wish

Books and resources mentioned

Thomas Pakenham — The Tree Hunters; Meetings with Remarkable Trees

John Evelyn — Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest Trees

Suzanne Simard — Finding the Mother Tree

Peter Wohlleben — The Hidden Life of Trees

Richard Powers — The Overstory

Oliver Rackham — Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape; The History of the Countryside

Tristan Gooley — How to Read a Tree

Ray Mears — British Woodland: How to Explore the Secret World of Our Forests

Roger Phillips — UK wild plants and fungi photographic guides

Chris Holland — Plant of the Week collection

Handy tools referenced

Old OS map viewer for historical layers

LiDAR overlays for spotting ridge and furrow, pits and platforms

Listen now

🎧 Catch the full episode:

Spotify: https://shorturl.at/4WdyI

YouTube: https://shorturl.at/3qOUs

Apple: https://shorturl.at/FxfMF

RSS: https://shorturl.at/A0kx9

Stay in touch

Questions, feedback or collaboration: [email protected]

Say hello on Instagram and Facebook. Tell us your favourite tree book or share a shelf photo and tag the show so we can reshare.

Support

More episodes and resources: theforestschoolpodcast.com

Back the show from £2 a month: patreon.com/theforestschoolpodcast

Hashtags

#ForestSchool #OutdoorEducation #NaturePlay #ReflectivePractice #TreeBooks