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.

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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.

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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".

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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!

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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#

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.

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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.

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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.

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