Adele Nozedar - The Tree Forager: 40 Extraordinary Trees & What to Do with Them

This book is dedicated to

Amanda Rudman,
to whom I owe the leaping delight
that quickens my senses.
With love, Dominic

The Tree Forager

Adele Nozedar

First published in the UK and USA in 2021 by

Watkins, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited

Unit 11, Shepperton House,

8393 Shepperton Road

London N1 3DF

Design and typography copyright
Watkins Media Limited 2021
Text copyright Adele Nozedar 2021
Illustrations copyright Lizzie Harper 2021

The right of Adele Nozedar to be identified as the Author of this text has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

COMMISSIONING EDITOR: Fiona Robertson
EDITOR: Ingrid Court-Jones
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Brittany Willis
HEAD OF DESIGN: Glen Wilkins
COMMISSIONED ARTWORK: Lizzie Harper
PRODUCTION: Uzma Taj

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-786785-47-3 (Hardback)

ISBN: 978-1-786785-74-9 (eBook)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in China

Disclaimer: The material contained in this book is set out in good faith for general guidance and no liability can be accepted for loss or expense incurred in relying on the information given. In particular this book is not intended to replace expert medical advice. This book is for informational purposes only and is for your own personal use and guidance. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or act as a substitute for professional medical advice. The author is not a medical practitioner, and professional advice should be sought if desired before embarking on any health-related programme.

www.watkinspublishing.com

CONTENTS

Foreword:

The Sound of a Tree

You might think the idea of there being a connection between trees and music is quite obscure, even esoteric. But if youre lucky enough to grow up, as I did, surrounded by forests and able to create music, youll know that it makes a lot of sense. In fact, even without these advantages, its true. Let me tell you why.

Outside my home theres a large parking place, and right in the middle theres a big old chestnut tree. Recently, on a bright morning, I saw a stranger with her arms wrapped around the tree, hugging it passionately; the hug lasted for such a long time that I actually felt quite awkward watching the ritual. But it made me think that perhaps Id do the same if I didnt have music to express my connection to the trees and the forests.

The smell, the light, the sound and the pure existence of trees has been a part of my being for a long time since forever. I remember taking long, long walks with my father and my family into the woods. The amount of time that I have on earth, set against the perspective of the age of the forest, always gives me a feeling of great humbleness, making me feel grounded, connected to the moment, inhaling the essence of the might and beauty of the trees, inhaling every portion of oxygen that they give us.

I get that same utterly alive feeling when I sit on my bench in front of a grand piano. I use a technique called prepared piano, in which lots of unexpected items are placed inside the body of the instrument from sweet wrappers to ping-pong balls to things youve picked up from the ground. The audience watches me experiment with sounds, creating the sound of cracking wood, the rattling of leaves or the knocking of a woodpecker. Together, these sounds create a rhythmical texture that can be either in synch or else randomly arranged, complete chaos, an expression of one moment in that particular place. Even I dont always know exactly whats going to happen!

Music, for me, has always been about much more than melodies and harmonies. It is, in a way, nothing more or less than the combination of sounds in a certain place, either with, or without, an instrumentalist. So, the stage, without the pianist and before the concert, is already music. The piano tuner tuning the piano is also music. If I think about a walk in a forest, this is also music with or without me. The rhythm of the bird song, the leaves, the breeze in the trees and all the other elements that create sound are very specifically connected with the place, creating a unique identity for that one particular moment.

Trees and music are, for me, rudimental elements in my existence, and the invitation to write this foreword has really made me think.

Thanks, Adele, for inviting me to share some thoughts.

Volker Bertelmann (Hauschka), 2021

Volker Bertelmann is a German pianist and composer who mainly performs and records under the name Hauschka. He is best known for his compositions for prepared piano.

Introduction:

Connecting with Trees

The question is not what you look at, but what you see.

Henry David Thoreau (181762)

Like you (after all, youre reading this book), I have a deep, deep love of trees. Theyre gentle, magnanimous, always there, giving us so much even though we dont give them very much in return. Theyre so common that we often dont really notice them, and yet theyre absolutely vital to life on this planet. This is why, as a forager, I realized I needed to turn my attention toward them, to gather them together as it were, in a celebration of their extraordinary ordinariness and their mind-blowing possibilities. And, of course, the sheer, breathtaking beauty of them.

I didnt randomly choose the trees Ive included in this book; rather, theyre trees I know personally, and which are part of my own story for various reasons. This is not a normal book about identifying trees and, dare I say, its not a normal book about foraging, either. My aim in writing this book is simply to get you to notice trees. The more you take notice of trees, the more youll find that you cant stop looking.

Trees may well become an obsession for you, as they have for me. As human beings, we are all tree foragers whether we realize it or not, and youll recognize other members of our club by the interesting debris that we have in our pockets. X-ray vision would reveal something like the following:

Unknown seeds, stuck grittily into the seams of the pocket

A pinecone or two

A small magnifying glass, in need of a polish

A piece of stick with oakmoss attached

A few acorns

An oak apple

A pencil stub

A redundant key

Dog biscuits

Does this sound similar? Its actually a bona fide inventory of my own pockets right now!

The Scent of a Tree