In the Company of Trees

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Latest Episodes:

12. An Honest Conversation with a Redwood Nov 17, 2023

Tobin and a Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) engage in an honest, thought-provoking, and, at times, uncomfortable conversation about what it's like to be the tallest tree in the world.

Follow Tobin @jewslovetrees on Instagram and Tiktok.

Get Must Love Trees: An Unconventional Guide.

Questions? Comments? ITCOTpod@gmail.com

11. What is the Horniest Tree? Nov 10, 2023

Tobin sets out on a quest to discover the world's horniest tree--using empirical data, that is.

Works cited:

"Wood for the Trees", by Harriet Nix

"Branching Habit and the allocation of reproductive resources in conifers", by Andrew B Leslie

"Pollen production of the genus Cupressus", Hidalgo et al.

"Pollen production in anemophilous trees", Molina et al.

"Pollen production for 13 urban North American tree species", Katz et al.

Follow Tobin @jewslovetrees on Instagram and Tiktok.

Get Must Love Trees: An Unconventional Guide.

Questions? Comments? ITCOTpod@gmail.com

10. Gabrielle Cerberville Loves Foraging. Chaotically, that is. Nov 07, 2023

Gabrielle Cerberville, who you may know as @chaoticforager on social media, is a wild person. In addition to her intense and borderline disturbing level of knowledge and excitement when it comes to mushrooms and foraging, she is a musician and an artist and so many other things that Tobin doesn't have time to type here.

Gabrielle and Tobin talk about why mushrooms look like wieners (the answer may surprise you!), what it's like to be a synaesthete (Gabrielle actually is one, but ladies: if a man tells you he is a synaesthete on a first date, PROCEED WITH CAUTION), and, of course, the "bro-ification of mushrooms".

Follow Tobin @jewslovetrees on Instagram and Tiktok.

Get Must Love Trees: An Unconventional Guide.

Questions? Comments? ITCOTpod@gmail.com

9. On Visiting the 9/11 Survivor Tree Nov 02, 2023

Tobin reads his essay, "On Visiting the 9/11 Survivor Tree: The Limits of Living Memorials in Times of Grief" and gives some context as well. It was originally published on his substack, the JewsLoveTrees Newsletter. Please subscribe!

Follow Tobin @jewslovetrees on Instagram and Tiktok.

Get Must Love Trees: An Unconventional Guide.

Questions? Comments? ITCOTpod@gmail.com

8. David Allen Sibley wrote the book on Trees. And Birds. Oct 30, 2023

Casey Clapp from Completely Arbortrary joins Tobin to chat with the man, the myth, the Sibley. David Allen, that is!

David is a world-renowned ornithologist and author of The Sibley Guide to Birds and many other birding books, but also the author of Casey and Tobin's favorite tree guide, the inimitable Sibley Guide to Trees. Tobin, Casey, and David cover the reasons for foliage intensity, inspirational figures from childhood, possible events for the Naturalist Olympics, and, of course, what to do if you have a toddler who loves to destroy every piece of green they see.

Follow Tobin @jewslovetrees on Instagram and Tiktok.

Get Must Love Trees: An Unconventional Guide.

Questions? Comments? ITCOTpod@gmail.com

7. Jon Kung almost died on Influencer Mountain Oct 25, 2023

Chef Jon Kung, who is prepping next week's launch of his first cookbook, "Kung Food: Chinese American Recipes from a Third Culture Kitchen", has led one of the more interesting lives on planet earth. And, in between advocating for induction stoves and new ideas about cultural and culinary identity, he still manages to scandalize the old-timers on the Detroit River with his aggressive paddleboarding.

Pre-order "Kung Food" here!

Follow Tobin @jewslovetrees on Instagram and Tiktok.

Get Must Love Trees: An Unconventional Guide.

Questions? Comments? ITCOTpod@gmail.com

6. This Week in Trees 10-19 Oct 19, 2023

Tobin provides history, context, and commentary on three news stories this week: the person(s) who chopped down the Sycamore Gap Tree remains at large, the White House has selected its Christmas Tree, and dendrochronology shows us that a massive solar flare took place 14,300 years ago.

Follow Tobin @jewslovetrees on Instagram and Tiktok.

Get Must Love Trees: An Unconventional Guide.

Questions? Comments? ITCOTpod@gmail.com

References:

https://www.npr.org/2023/10/11/1205066133/sycamore-gap-tree-trunk-removed

https://www.astronomy.com/science/prehistoric-trees-hint-an-immense-solar-storm-hit-earth-14300-years-ago/

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2023/10/11/white-house-staff-chooses-the-new-christmas-tree#

5. Justin Davies prefers his Trees with a side of Nudity Oct 16, 2023

Justin Davies, the Tiktok phenom who has chosen to craft the entire world out of the trees that grow in each part of it (starting with his legendary state tree map), is in denial that he was completely nude during a particularly meaningful experience atop a Utah Juniper.

But that's ok, because he's still a great conversationalist who loves trees just as much as--or perhaps even more than--Tobin (well, at times).

We talk about the idea of a gateway tree, our sojourn to meet Methuselah (the oldest tree in the world), and the mystery as to why Justin's preposterously dated LinkedIn profile is still publicly available.

Follow Tobin @jewslovetrees on Instagram and Tiktok.

Get Must Love Trees: An Unconventional Guide.

Questions? Comments? ITCOTpod@gmail.com

4. Bonsai Eulogies Oct 12, 2023

Tobin opens by addressing a difficult question: how can nature possibly comfort us when faced with horrors like this past weekend in Israel? And the horrors to come for those in Gaza? He concludes the opening with a recitation of the Hebrew prayer "Eitz Chayim" (The Tree of Life).

He then speaks directly to four bonsai trees that he lost this past summer, with sentiments ranging from gratitude to resentment to longing.

Follow Tobin @jewslovetrees on Instagram and Tiktok.

Get Must Love Trees: An Unconventional Guide.

Questions? Comments? ITCOTpod@gmail.com

3. Casey Clapp once broke up with his Girlfriend for a Tree Oct 09, 2023

Casey Clapp, master arborist and co-host along with Alex Crowson of the inimitable Completely Arbortrary: the podcast about trees and other related topics, joins us to discuss the ways in which the natural world invades our personal life.

This includes romantic intrusions, being unable to enjoy film and television because of arboreal mistakes on-screen, and leaving behind a promising career as a Shakespearean for a career in tree podcasting.

Follow Tobin @jewslovetrees on Instagram and Tiktok.

Get Must Love Trees: An Unconventional Guide.

Questions? Comments? ITCOTpod@gmail.com

2. Tyler Gaca adores some Gentle Chaos Oct 05, 2023

Tobin chats with his friend and fellow nature lover Tyler Gaca, aka GhostHoney on social media, who has just released his first book Gentle Chaos: Poems, Tales, and Magic.

They dive into the joys(?) of putting moths in your freezer, natural imagery from your youth, the relationship between religion in your childhood and ritual in your adulthood, Tyler's identity as an artist, and the road from being a Tiktok comedian to an author conveying complex emotions and memories.

Follow Tobin @jewslovetrees on Instagram and Tiktok.

Purchase Must Love Trees: An Unconventional Guide.

Questions? Comments? ITCOTpod@gmail.com

1. On the Personality of Trees Oct 02, 2023

For the premiere, Tobin gives a little background about the pod, then launches into an issue that concerns us all: the failure to properly anthropomorphize trees. Using an English Oak (Quercus robur) and a Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), he shows us how to bring out the multitudinous character of trees in a way that honors their complexity. Goodbye, oak that "is strong". Hello, oak that "has familial trauma owing to the pressures of its illustrious family lineage and also happens to be an egalitarian at heart."

Heads up: the wildcard episode will usually air Thursdays and the interview Mondays. This week is switched.

Book mentioned and quoted: Elderflora by Jared Farmer

Purchase Must Love Trees: An Unconventional Guide

Questions, Comments? ITCOTpod@gmail.com

Trailer: In The Company of Trees Sep 25, 2023

Coming soon from JewsLoveTrees creator Tobin Mitnick, "In the Company of Trees" will seek out the ways in which our experiences with nature stay with us even after we've gone home for the day. Mitnick will bring the same humor and off-beat energy from his social media videos to this long-form podcast, which will Mondays and Thursdays. Interviews with remarkable people in and out of the nature space, weekly installments like "This Week in Trees", and oddball segments like "Bonsai Eulogies" or the listener Q and A "Tree Therapy" make "In the Company of Trees" the place where listeners can learn to see and understand the world outside through the people who love it.

Thank you, trees.

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