Sprout Lands

Tending the Endless Gift of Trees

By: William Bryant Logan

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Arborist William Bryant Logan recovers the lost tradition that sustained human life and culture for 10 millennia.

Once, farmers knew how to make a living hedge and fed their flocks on tree-branch hay. Rural people knew how to prune hazel to foster abundance: both of edible nuts, and of straight, strong, flexible rods for bridges, walls, and baskets. Townspeople cut their beeches to make charcoal to fuel ironworks. Shipwrights shaped oaks to make hulls. No place could prosper without its inhabitants knowing how to cut their trees so they would sprout again.

Pruning the trees didn’t destroy them. Rather, it created the healthiest, most sustainable and most diverse woodlands that we have ever known. In this journey from the English fens to Spain, Japan, and California, William Bryant Logan rediscovers what was once an everyday ecology. He offers us both practical knowledge about how to live with trees to mutual benefit and hope that humans may again learn what the persistence and generosity of trees can teach.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 William Bryant Logan (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Super Enjoyable!

Full of tree uses, gems on how to manage and support trees, how coppice and pollard has beneficial effects and how it positively effects biodiversity. 👏😀

Lovely stories

This book touched my heart with the many lovely stories of ongoing relationships between trees and humans.
Others have criticized the lack of hard information here, but I think those who do not glean workable material from this book will likewise struggle to gather workable material from our elder siblings.
It's a matter of careful observation. and patience.

Extremely long, constantly degressing,

Extremely long, constantly degressing, offers 0 practical value. Some nice historic background on coppice and pollard cultivation from a few countries.