This entire week celebrates the magic of Earth. Yesterday, Monday 22 April, was Earth Day and this coming Friday, 26 April, is the unofficial Mugly Truth Podcast Holiday (drumroll please): ARBOR DAY!!! Can you count how many times we’ve brought up Arbor Day throughout our podcast life? Really, can you please, and then let us know because we would love to have used all those soundbytes in today’s episode. Anyway, today we talk about how much we love trees, and the physical, emotional and even spiritual benefits trees provide, including oxygen, shelter, healing cancer, shade, Jenga, and maple syrup. In no particular order.
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Joshua Tree or Whomping Willow? Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
We also (finally?) get to the actual history of Arbor Day. The very first Arbor Day took place 10 April 1872 in Nebraska, USA. J. Sterling Morton and his wife Caroline Joy French made it their mission to beautify the – well, plain – great plains region after they moved there from Michigan. They encouraged the planting of trees to help the environment as well as entice more settlers to the area. It was through Morton’s actions that Arbor Day became an official national day. Their son established the Morton Arboretum, which is still active to this day educating people about the importance of planting trees and the benefits derived from this valuable resource. One hundred years later In 1972 John Rosenow began the Arbor Day Foundation in Nebraska which is a worldwide non-profit conservation and education organization whose current goal is to plant 100 million trees in forests and communities by 2022 — the 150th anniversary of Arbor Day.
Of course there would be no Mugly Truth episode without a few pitstops and detours on the treeway (term cred to Kym), so of course we spend an inordinate amount of time discussing 70’s kids t.v. shows (BECAUSE SCARY FORESTS!) and the possibility (we’re assuming, but NOT accusing), that the creators must have dropped acid at least ONCE before finalizing the concepts. (IF that’s not the case – BUT COME ON…THE 70’s AND HAVE YOU SEEN THESE SHOWS? – we apologize profusely, please don’t sue us). To see the colorful cast of characters, hear the catchy tune, see the shot of Big Bear Lake Kym mentions, and glimpse Freddie the Flute, Witchiepoo, JIMMY, et al, from H.R. Pufnstuf, here you go. Of course, don’t be a Kris; this is NOT to be confused with JOHNNY from Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. Two totally different dudes, as their hair will attest.
We also have a very special edition of Words With Kris and Kym, which include:
• Susurration (thank you Terry Pratchett and Tiffany Aching)
• Cerulean
• Weenus (which is not an actual anatomical name, just fyi)
• Lambdoidal (Tri Lambda!!!! Srsly, for the love of gawd, click THAT link if no others.)
• Popliteal
• Hyoid
• Galley-west
You now sound incredibly smarter because of us. YOU. ARE. WELCOME!
As always we swing back around to the topic at hand. Kris extols the virtues of a few heavy hitters in the tree world: birch, elm, pine, cinnamon, yew and the lovely red stinkwood, to name a few. And although we talk about how to utilize elements of these trees for health purposes, we strongly advise 1) reading up on edible plants in your region (for North America, we recommend this Peterson guide to edible plants and this Peterson guide to medicinal plants) and 2) DON’T destroy trees in your field survival/doomsday prepper/tree lick testing process (we see you, you tree smooching Superstar)! Trees may be a renewable valuable resource, but they are still prey to the stupidity of humans who can overharvest trees in the name of fuel and medicine.
We bring’er home with a shoutout to Pete Nelson of Nelson Treehouse, the tree-whisperer host of Treehouse Master on the Animal Planet channel. He builds ahh-mazing treehouses and if anyone knows the majesty and magic of trees, it’s Pete. We love how much Pete loves trees. And yes, we can hear you shouting and pulling out your hair, spitting at us, “Arbor Day special and you bring up a bunch of people who shove spikes in trees??!??” So we lovingly suggest watching Pete once or twice before you burn us alive, AND read this to maybe feel a bit better about what he does in his design process. I’m telling you, the guy would marry a tree if he wasn’t already happily wed to Judy for 30+ years. Besides, if the Arbor Day Foundation has a 50-foot treehouse to explore, who are yo…we to judge?
Check out our “Treehuggers Unite” episode on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Libsyn, Pocket Cast, Stitcher or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Then all you need to do is 1) subscribe 2) download and 3) listen! AND!!! 4) If you enjoy what you hear, please leave a rating and a review (pretty please?). The more subscribers and reviews we get, the more opportunities we get to grow this podcast and bring you richer content.
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