'They've nourished us, sheltered us, protected us... we owe trees far more than they owe us': Aidan Meighan on the folklore of trees
Aidan Meighan, author of The Folklore of Trees, joins the Country Life Podcast.
For as long as he can remember, the writer and illustrator Aidan Meighan has been inspired by Nature. His early exploits might not have been entirely welcomed by those around him — collecting and storing slugs and snails in a cupboard at school, and stashing a dead adder in a drawer at his parents' home — but they paved the way for a career illustrating the beauty of the natural world, both in words and pictures.
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We're delighted, then, that with his new book The Folklore of Trees about to appear, Aidan came to join James Fisher on the Country Life Podcast.
'People at university used to make fun of me as the guy who kept drawing trees': Aidan Meighan is the one who's laughing now.
Aidan talks about some of the 36 varieties of tree that he discusses in his book, the creative freedom of working as both writer and illustrator on a project, and how trees have left their mark on human history — not least in the form of the hill in Rome that owes its existence to the Ancient Roman habit of discarding empty olive oil containers.
'We absolutely could not survive without trees,' says Aidan, 'but trees would easily prosper, if not flourish, without us.. They're like guardians, arboreal guardians, to us, and I really think we ought to show them respect.'
You can find out more about The Folklore of Trees, and see how to pre-order a copy, at Aidan Meighan's website.
Episode credits
Host: James Fisher
Guest: Aidan Meighan
Editor and producer: Toby Keel
Music: JuliusH via Pixabay
