Margaret Cheasebro

When life gets a little hectic or rushed, when things happen that make you disappointed or sad, there's something you can do to help yourself feel calmer.

Some people call it forest bathing. Other people call it spending time among trees. You don't have to be in a forest. Even if you find only one or two trees nearby, take some time to be near them.

The most effective way to enjoy the sense of calm and peace that trees often bring is to stand or sit near them while you focus on the trees. Don't consult your cell phone or listen to music through head phones or through any other device. Just immerse yourself in listening, seeing, smelling, or feeling nature around you.

If you're beside a tree that's easy to climb, lift yourself up into its lower branches and find a comfortable place to sit on a sturdy limb with another branch nearby to grasp for support. When you feel comfortable, just be in the moment while you're in that tree.

Do some of the branches look like arms, legs, knees or elbows? If so, have fun giving them names that remind you of what they resemble. Do they look like a dragon, dog, broom, or circle? Have fun giving them whatever names come to mind.

If you sit quietly in the tree, pretty soon you will hear birds chirping. They may have gone quiet when you climbed into the tree. Some of them may have nests among the branches. Others may enjoy sitting in the tree to rest or converse with each other in their bird language. Once you've been quiet for a while, the birds may start singing their trilling or twittering songs again.

See how many animals you can spot in or near the tree where you're sitting. You might spot birds, cats, dogs, a skunk, raccoons, squirrels or other critters. You may be surprised by how many animals you see.

After you've been sitting there for a while, you may get so absorbed in what you see and hear that for a few moments you forget what was making you feel disappointed, sad or rushed. Just being around trees can help you let go of your worries and fears for a few minutes.

Giving yourself time to be among trees is a great way to take a mini-vacation from all the things that were overwhelming you. Give yourself some tree time every once in a while so you can feel more calm and peaceful. You'll be glad you did.

Tropical forests for a long time have absorbed billions of metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. That has helped to reduce the negative effects of climate change.

Now, tropical forests in Australia are causing worrisome concerns. Their capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, called carbon sink, may be in decline. This could indicate a possible future switch in which trees put out more carbon dioxide than they absorb from the atmosphere.

Because the Australian continent has one of the most variable climates on Earth and because it has a diverse range of different types of forests, the Australian tropical forests provide important information about trees all over the world.

Some of the worrisome concerns come from the increased mortality rate of trees due to climate-driven changes. Nature, a British weekly international scientific journal of peer-reviewed research, addressed the issue in its January 6, 2026 edition called "Pervasive increase in tree mortality across the Australian continent."

The publication compiled information collected during 83 years, 1941-2023, from about 2,700 forest plots across Australia. The forest plots included tropical savanna, rainforest, and warm and cool temperate forests. The collected figures explored patterns of tree mortality from a variety of causes. An abstract of the Nature article noted, "We found a consistent trend of increased tree mortality across the four forest biomes."

The findings suggest that ongoing climate change has pushed forest dynamics beyond their natural ability to recover. Increasing temperatures over time make it harder for trees to survive.  As a result, they become less effective as absorbers of carbon dioxide. Higher mortality rates occurred among trees with low wood density, high specific leaf area and short maximum height.

Much more information needs to be gathered to help understand all the dynamics involved in the trend. Some climate models indicate that more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could encourage more plant growth, according to a January 2026 article in Science News. But researchers did not find a significant increase in tree growth. It's possible that more nutrients are needed for that growth to occur. If so, limited nutrients need to be included in future climate models.

In any case, tropical forests need to be protected, and that could cost many billions of dollars. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) suggests the costs for such protections could reach $498 billion by 2050. UNEP is a leading global authority on the environment. The cost is steep, but not protecting the forests may make it harder for many species on Earth to survive.

Over time, several scientific studies have discovered that microbes in tree bark feast on hydrogen, methane and carbon monoxide.

For a long time, people have known that trees capture carbon dioxide as they grow. But it took several studies, some of them in Australia, to show that microbes in tree bark eat those other gases as well. The discovery came after years of research by different scientists into the sources of methane.

In its March 2026 issue, Science News published an article about how microbes in tree bark munch on hydrogen, methane and carbon monoxide to help keep our planet healthier.

Among scientists who studied this phenomenon are biogeochemist Luke Jeffrey of Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia; Pok Man Leung, an ecophysiologist at Monash University in Clayton, Australia; and Chris Greening, a microbiologist, also at Monash. They helped to identify the microbes living in the bark of broad-leaved paper bark trees and seven other common tree species in Australia.

According to the Science News article written by Douglas Fox, the team found that the amount of methane coming out of the tree bark was about 35 percent less than what came into it from below ground. "Microbes in the bark were eating the methane, oxidizing it for energy as it seeped out," Fox wrote.

They also discovered that the microbes not only ate methane, but, even more commonly, they ate hydrogen gas for energy. Plenty of microbes also oxidized carbon dioxide. They also feasted on carbon monoxide. Not only do they eat those gases, but they also suck them from the air around them.

Of the eight tree species in Australia they studied, each species had differing mixes of microbes in their bark. Some ate more of the gases than others. With this knowledge, scientists can help select which tree species are best suited to reduce the effects of climate change.

Thanks to the hard work of many scientists, including the ones from Australia, we now know that microbes in certain kinds of tree bark play an important role in getting rid of gases that can cause damage to our planet. Who knew that those little microbes were playing such an important role in helping to keep us safer?

A tall juniper in my front yard has many branches that spread almost like the arms of an octopus. Over time, several of them have been cut back to keep the juniper from taking over the front yard.

In spite of its tendency to spread all over the place, this tree is quite friendly. When I moved here nine years ago, it made me feel welcome as only a friendly tree can do. I have had a soft spot for it ever since.

Two of its thick, tall branches looked like they were dying. I hired someone experienced with trees to cut down the two thick branches and haul them away. He cut the branches into small chunks and loaded them onto his trailer to take to the landfill. Late that afternoon, he showed me one branch section. He pointed to little tunnels running through it.

"Beetles," he said. "Your tree is slowly dying."

My heart sank. It sounded like a death sentence. I had to do something! But what?

The next day, I made a trip to a nursery in town that has often provided me with helpful information about plants. I told the sales clerk my sad story.

"We have a product that kills beetles," he told me.

A spark of hope lit a small place in my mind. "Show me," I said, hardly able to believe there was hope for my dying tree.

He led me to shelves of many plant-friendly products. Among them was a 32-ounce bottle of Tree and Shrub Drench by ferti-lome. Other products may help too, but this is the one the nursery carried. I didn't know if it would work, but I bought it because I had to do something!

The sales clerk told me to measure the base of the trunk. That would let me know how much of the product to use. The trunk of my juniper, made up of many trunks twisted around each other before they spread in all directions, was big enough to require the entire bottle mixed with five gallons of water.

Layers of juniper berries from many years of life were packed around the base of trunk. I used a shovel to dig a trench through the berries so the liquid would absorb into the trunk and its roots and not drain away from it.

Then I poured a five-gallon can of water mixed with the product around the tree. It soaked right in. Success!

Now it's a matter of time to see if the tree gets a second chance at life. I watch it every day, hoping to see it regain its health so it can live many more decades in my yard. The spark of hope in my mind stays lit as I send thoughts of love and healing to the juniper that welcomed me when I bought my house.

Baobab trees are among some of the oldest trees ever found. They are native to Africa, Australia, and Madagascar, and some have been introduced to other parts of the world. For centuries they have been meeting places for people to discuss important topics.

They also are known as the upside down tree. Some have huge barrel shaped trunks, and the branches look like roots reaching up to the sky. They are deciduous trees that shed their leaves during the dry season.

A baobab in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, made news in the January 16, 2026 Guardian Weekly because the last one in the city faces the threat of being cut down. Older Kinshasa residents remember when baobabs lined main avenues and shaded the fronts of government buildings.

The city of about 17.8 million is experiencing huge grown with little urban planning, which has led to pollution and flooding. Many of Kinshasa's baobabs were cut down by people who needed charcoal for cooking fuel. Less than 50 percent of city residents have electricity.

Now only one baobab remains. It is in the historic center of Kinshasa in a commune known as Gombe. The more than century old tree grows on land next to the main ferry port, which is owned by Onatra, the country's state-owned transport company. It was planted to commemorate the building of that port.

The site is now closed off to the public, and there are signs of construction work. Activists blocked construction to save the tree last August. What will happen next is uncertain.

Baobab trees have great value as sources of food, medicine, rope, cloth, dye, fuel, hunting and fishing tools, and oil used for cosmetics. The white part of the fruit tastes like sherbet and is a good source of Vitamin C, potassium, carbohydrates and phosphorus, among other nutrients. The trunks of the African baobab store water. Some have hollow trunks that have been used as temporary shelters, burial sites, stables and even toilets.

Some baobabs are more than 2,000 years old. One source noted they can live up to 5,000 years. In the early 21st century, baobabs in southern Africa began to die off rapidly for reasons yet to be determined. Dehydration may have played a role.

That makes it more important than ever for trees such as the one remaining baobab in Kinshasa to be saved. In their native Africa, Australia and Madagascar, the trees continue to play vital roles in helping people to survive. But they also need the help of city planners and people who can speak about the importance of saving these lifegiving trees. That would be a great topic for a meeting under a baobab.

To see pictures of baobab trees, visit these websites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia and https://www.beyondforest.org/post/the-baobab-tree-africa-s-iconic-tree-of-life. There also are several other sites with pictures of baobab trees.

 After little snow, in early January over two inches fell. It coated tree branches with white and turned the landscape into a wintry scene.

The young blue spruce in my front yard continued to wear its snow jacket for several days. It made January feel like the Januarys of past decades that once filled the landscape with snow.

There's been little snow this season and not much other moisture. Earlier in the month the thermometer sometimes climbed into the low sixties. Not normal for the northwest corner of New Mexico in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. When we did get moisture, it more likely came as rain. Now the temperatures dip below freezing at night but climb into the 40s or low 50s during the day.

I snapped a photo of my magnificent blue spruce when it was garbed in snow. Even though I enjoy the warm weather, I still like the beauty of a landscape artistically draped in snowy white. I am still waiting for the next moisture, whether it be snow or rain.

 As we enter 2026, now is a good time to let go of things that upset us in 2025 so we can begin the new year without those old burdens.

Some trees have a way of doing that. They shed their bark to get rid of the brittle exterior layer. That lets a fresh and pliable layer underneath to emerge. Sycamores are good at letting go of the old to reveal fresh, new, healthy bark.

They're not alone. Snakes and spiders are among animals that shed their old skin to reveal the new.

Letting go is a natural part of nature. It's not always easy for humans to do. We have a way of holding on to fears, grudges, disappointments, and anger. Some people look for ways to harm those who have defied or disappointed them. Their attempt to control and punish others may feel justified in the moment. But it has a down side. It keeps us so focused on our negative feelings that we can't move forward to discover the positive opportunities that await us.

Letting go can be a powerful thing to do. It keeps us from wallowing in the past. If we are so attached to something that happened earlier, we might fail to see what good things lie ahead.

If the sycamore tree decided to hang onto its brittle bark, it would not enjoy the fresh, more pliable layer underneath. Hanging on when it's time to let go enmeshes us in all that held us back. For us, that brittle bark could be an angry conversation, an imagined confrontation that never occurred, an insult, or someone's attempt to make us feel inferior. Why should we hold on to those things? They only keep us mired in the past.

The sycamore tree knows instinctively when it's time to let go of brittle exterior bark so there's room for new, healthier bark. I like the sycamore's instinctive understanding that letting go is more powerful than clinging to what is no longer healthy. One of my 2026 goals is to recognize the power of letting go.

While I was driving on Main Street in Farmington, New Mexico recently, I found myself stuck in a traffic jam. One of the three lanes on my side of the street had been blocked off for road repair. As I sat in my car, wondering how long it would take to get to my destination, I noticed pigeons sitting all around the top of a well-known restaurant sign.

There weren't any trees nearby, so the birds took advantage of a comfortable and relatively safe place to roost. As I watched them, they took my mind off the road block. I pulled out my cell phone and snapped a couple of pictures of those industrious birds.

It made me think about all the ways we improvise when the need arises. If we can't find the thing we need, we substitute something else that often works quite well. We get creative. We use our intelligence to find other solutions. Birds and other animals do that too.

Trees would have been a more ideal place for the pigeons to roost. When trees weren't available, they found another place to perch with their friends and family.

A great conversation ice breaker might be to ask people about what different types of Christmas trees they've used in various circumstances. It could stir all kinds of interesting memories. At different times, I remember using a tumbleweed and a sesaban, also known as an Egyptian riverhemp, tree. The likely common thread among all the choices would be a willingness to improvise, a need to have a Christmas tree as part of the season's celebration.

Whatever the circumstance, we learn to get creative. We usually do it quite well. I suspect some inventions may have been developed that way. How fortunate we are as humans and other animal species to be good at finding alternative answers.

A tree ring cake with a long history in Germany has become quite popular in Japan, thanks to the culinary skills of a World War I prisoner of war. The cake is known as Baumkuchen.

German confectioner Karl Juchheim was among about 4,700 prisoners of war, mostly Germans, who were kept at 16 camps across Japan during World War I.

Juchheim came to be a prisoner of war after he was captured by the Japanese in 1915 when he was running a bakery in Qingdao, China. He arrived in Ninoshima, a 20-minute ferry ride from Hiroshima, in 1917. Ninoshima was a military quarantine station, and German prisoners of war there were allowed to cook.

The cooking that Juchheim did involved making Baumkuchen, a traditional type of German tree ring cake. It has other names too such as layered butter cake, spit cake, or king of cakes. The tree ring name describes the cake well, because it has so many layers that the finished cake looks like a series of tree rings. After the war, Juchheim remained in Japan, where he founded a pastry business called Juchheim Co., Ltd. Today, it is located in Kobe City with branches in several other Japanese locations. It still operates as one of Japan's top confectioners.

Baumkuchen has a long history, going back to ancient Greece. Roman soldiers spread knowledge about the cake to Europe. In Hungary, in the mid-1500s, it was called a traditional Hungarian chimney cake. A Hungarian chef published a cookbook in 1561 that included how to make the layered cake. In Germany, the cake got its official name, Baumkuchen. That information comes from the Glutto Digest, a food blog. You can find it at https://gluttodigest.com/Baumkuchen-japanese-german-spit-cake. There, you can find a recipe for the cake. Several other sites carry Baumkuchen cake recipes, but this site has the ingredients in cups, teaspoons and tablespoons rather than European style measurements.

It takes quite a long time to bake. The Glutto Digest blog recommends using a springform pan in which to spread half a cup of batter, which is then cooked under a preheated broiler for three to five minutes. Then another layer of batter is added on top of it and cooked for a few minutes. The process of adding and cooking batter continues for ten or more layers. The Glutto Digest blog describes the process well in case you want to bake a Baumkuchen tree ring cake yourself.

Kazuaki Otani, head of the Juccheim Ninoshima Welcome Center said that Juccheim used his baking to express his desire for peace. Baking a tree ring cake sounds like an interesting activity at Christmas time for people willing to take the time to make it. It is one way of honoring Juccheim's desire for peace.

The colors of autumn leaves are especially beautiful in downtown Farmington, New Mexico these days. Recently I took a photograph of a young white oak with gorgeous orange foliage. It was one of several different types of trees planted in the sidewalk and nurtured by city of Farmington employees.

White oaks are known for their beautiful leaves that turn gorgeous colors in the fall. They are hardwood trees that host many insects. The insects feed a lot of birds. Birds, in turn, help to control harmful pests. They help with pollination that makes it easier for flowering plants to reproduce. The white oaks have valuable timber. They live a long time, and they provide lots of shade once they mature.

What I really liked about the young white oak tree in downtown Farmington was its variety of colors. As I studied it, I was especially drawn to the orange leaves. There was something about the orange color that made me feel better, stronger, a bit more energetic.

Some people like to take a drive in the early fall to view leaves' changing colors. In addition to enjoying that splendor, spending time among trees and bushes helps to make people feel more alive, more whole, more ready to tackle to-do lists.

If you ever feel a little down or out of sorts, think about a color that comes to mind. Close your eyes and imagine that color surrounding you and filling your body. Notice how the color makes you feel. Maybe you're a little peppier, more mellow. Then think of another color that stands out in your mind. Imagine it surrounding and filling you. Once you have done that with a few colors, your attitude might have improved quite a bit.

If your neighborhood is like mine, there are lots of trees surrounding houses. Try taking a walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the colors of changing leaves. It's a great way to put a livelier step in your walk, to fill you up with a little more joy.

Colorful autumn leaves offer us so many things. They are among the things that make fall my favorite season of the year.