Living with Trees is a powerful call for more trees in our lives. Drawing on the many ways that people around the UK are redefining their relationship with trees and woods in the twenty-first century – in healthcare, education, ecology, art, architecture, agroforestry, conservation – it demonstrates how caring for trees and woods enhances local biodiversity, community cohesion and well-being.
Trees and woods offer great potential for rebuilding our wider relationship with nature, reinforcing local identity and sustaining wildlife. We need more trees and woods in our lives, to lock up carbon, to mitigate flooding, to help shade our towns and cities and bring shelter, wildlife and beauty to places.
Living with Trees is a cornucopia of practical information, good examples and new ideas that will inspire, guide and encourage people to reconnect with the trees and woods in their community, so we can all discover how to value, celebrate and protect our arboreal neighbours.
As a self confessed tree-hugger, this was the perfect read for me! And it’s a book that should be available to all schools and all governments and councils as the author takes an in depth look at the important role that trees play in our day to day living. WE seem to be at a point in the world where people are too happy to cut trees down, without giving a thought to the future and it’s more important now than ever that this kind of action needs stopping. What is it with this era being obsessed with flat landscapes and even more concrete??
Like the author, the moment I hear chainsaws in the neighbourhood it fills me with dread and it was wonderful to read his experiences of what trees mean to him as he explores a variety of topics such as the enviromental impact, the health benefits, the history, the diseases threatening different tree varieties, and the consequences of the actions of humans – all through the medium of well written paragraphs, brilliant illustrations and stunning photographs. This wide range of sources really made reading this book so much more powerful and it’s a book that you can dip in and out of to learn about different things everytime you pick it up.
During Lockdown I was extremely grateful to discover local ancient woodlands for an escape and somewhere to walk for exercise, and it scares me that so many of these areas are being destroyed, and this is explored in the book and shows how attitudes have changed over the years to the role that trees play, for the local community especially.
There’s also a look at how we can all help play our part in reversing the damage through recycling, local schemes and rewilding areas.
Delighted to be part of this wonderful Blog Tour – my thanks to the author and Bookollective for letting me be part of it all and sharing my thoughts!
ABOUT THE BOOK
All trees have a story.
Holly Worton has spent the last few years talking to trees – the birches, the oaks, the beeches and the sycamores.
You’re probably wondering: How is it that trees can talk? Is this for real?
Trees are living, breathing organisms which humans are able to connect and talk to on a deeper level through silent, telepathic communication.
Trees have a much broader perspective on life compared to humans. Trees can live hundreds and even thousands of years.
This means Trees have thousands of years of wisdom that we’re able to tap into. Talking to the trees can bring us back to our true selves and can reflect back to us the things we need to see in ourselves. It can also be a space for deep healing.
Living in the technology age, however, we spend our lives connected to computers, mobile phones, and video games. Consequently, we’ve become increasingly disconnected from ourselves and from Nature.
This book is meant to gently encourage you to get back to Nature and turn to the magic and the wisdom of the trees. By reconnecting to Nature, you can improve your relationship with yourself, which will help you make better, more aligned choices in your life.
This book is for you if:
You love Nature and the outdoors. You feel like there’s something more to life, but you don’t know what that is. You’re feeling disconnected from yourself, like your life has somehow gotten off track. You feel like you don’t really know who you are anymore… or maybe you’ve never truly known yourself at all. Life is going just fine, but you have the notion things could be much better.
Throughout this book, you’ll follow the author, Holly Worton on a journey of connecting on a deeper level with the wisdom of the trees. You’ll hear their stories, and you’ll be given a series of experiments to carry out, should you choose to do so. These will help you to connect with yourself through connecting with Nature, and they’ll open you up to the deep wisdom and healing that the trees can offer.
The trees will help you to get out of your head and into your body, so you can feel more deeply and truly experience all the JOY that life has to offer. They’ll add a new level of richness to your life that you have never thought possible.
Holly Worton is a podcaster and author of nine books who helps people get to know themselves better through connecting with Nature, so they can feel happier and more fulfilled. Holly enjoys spending time outdoors, walking long-distance trails and exploring Britain’s sacred sites. She’s originally from California and now lives in the Surrey Hills, but has also lived in Spain, Costa Rica, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina. Holly is a member of the Druid order OBOD.
Holly ran her first business for ten years, building it up to become a multi-million-dollar enterprise. When she went into the coaching world she was confident that she had the business and marketing skills she needed to set up a new company. And she did – but she struggled to grow her new venture quickly because she encountered fears, blocks, and limiting beliefs that she didn’t even know she had.
She discovered that pushing forward and taking action just wasn’t enough. She needed to transform her mindset and release her blocks, as this was the only way to take the right actions to move her new business forward. Thus began her journey of intense personal development through deep mindset work, which transformed her existing coaching business into a focus on helping people with their business mindset.
Eventually, she realized that she wanted to devote her time to helping people through her writing, and she let go of her mindset business to focus on her books. Now, Holly continues to write about mindset, long-distance walking, and connecting to Nature.
We are supposed to talk to plants to help make them grow better, but what if the plants could talk back and tell us things?! Well, that’s the message behind this book as the author has a special gift that means that she can hear the stories that trees are trying to share with us, and I found this to be such a fascinating and illuminating book that really makes you take time to think about yourself and the world we live in, especially relevant in these times when many parts of the world seem set on destroying as much of the natural landscape as possible. The trees have been around for a lot longer than us!! They notice things!
I’ve always loved trees and have driven my family mad with my ‘hippy’ outlook and feeling so sad whenever I hear or see a chainsaw destroying a magnificent old tree. In this book, Holly shares the time that she spends out walking and the fact that certain trees stand out to you – I’ve noticed this too when I’m out and about that you often feel drawn to a certain tree – and Holly has similar feelings wherever she is out exploring and the more time she spends outdoors, the more she hears.
This book is split into 3 parts and is set out in a way that you can dip in and out of it, as and when you need to! It’s such a peaceful, calming book that I think it’s one of those that is a pleasure to escape into. It gives you prompts of how you can use the information she shares which is a great way of interacting with the book and ideas that it throws up.
There are 28 trees and their stories featured and it’s a wealth of information about the tree, the area they are in and folklore surrounding them and I found some of the stories that the trees shared with her to be very poignant and telling. Many of their messages to humans are similar and it’s very wise advice in a world where we’re rushing around and not noticing the little things that can bring such joy on a daily basis.
It is such a fascinating subject and I found it brilliantly told and explained and it’s made me quite eager to spend more time amongst trees and also found the questions that Holly poses at the end of each story to be extremely helpful and thought provoking that it really struck a chord with me and I’ll definitely be out hugging more trees in future!
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