Books & Boots: The Hidden Life of Trees

Lace up your hiking boots and join us for a Books & Boots discussion of The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. We’ll meet at the South Norfolk Woodland Trail at 220 Bruey Road on Saturday, April 26 at 9:00 am. Hartley Mead of the Norfolk Land Trust and Bina Thomson of the Library will meet people at the trailhead. All hiking abilities are welcome and you don’t have to have read the book to attend. Please dress appropriately for the weather. This program is part of the Norfolk Earth Forum Weekend and is co-sponsored by the Norfolk Land Trust. Register here.

The trail begins at a driveway with parking at 220 Bruey Road, 4.1 miles from Village Green via Route 272 South, Winchester Road and Bruey Road. View the trail map here.

More about the book: In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and creating an ecosystem that mitigates the impact of extremes of heat and cold for the whole group. As a result of such interactions, trees in a family or community are protected and can live to be very old. In contrast, solitary trees, like street kids, have a tough time of it and in most cases die much earlier than those in a group.

Drawing on groundbreaking new discoveries, Wohlleben presents the science behind the secret and previously unknown life of trees and their communication abilities; he describes how these discoveries have informed his own practices in the forest around him. As he says, a happy forest is a healthy forest, and he believes that eco-friendly practices not only are economically sustainable but also benefit the health of our planet and the mental and physical health of all who live on Earth.