Let's Talk About Trees - and Cashew Chow - and Great Books about Trees!

Have you ever seen a cashew tree? I grew up at my grandmother's in Trinidad and in the wild slope of the backyard behind our home, there was a cashew tree. Of course, I took it for granted. It was chopped down when I was about 11, give or take a year or two. And I haven't seen a cashew tree since.

I remember picking the yellow, fleshy fruit with my cousins. Our grandmother would make a 'chow' with it. She'd cut the cashew into cubes and add salt, black pepper and chadon beni. (Chadon beni for those who don't know it, tastes something like fresh coriander - but it grows wild). The fruit of the cashew was sour and the thin yellow skin had a rubbery texture. I would relish it now, but back then we turned up our noses.

The cashew nuts were kept safe in black shells attached to the yellow fruit. My grandma, whom we called Ma, would roast them, not minding that they were barely a handful.

At my primary school in Trinidad there was an almond tree we relied on for relief from the daily 31-33 degree C heat. I remember, as a child, picking up the shiny green almond fruit and the fibrous brown ones. What we didn't do was gather them to either harvest or eat the almond nuts on the inside. I guess we took the almond tree for granted as well.

My interest in trees has been limited over the years. Vaguely, I felt deficient about not being able to name very many. But Botany struck me as the most boring subject in the world.

One book changed my relationship with trees. It might sound like hyperbole but it's entirely true. I now have reverence for these majestic, precious life-forms.

1) Overstory by Richard Powers was the book that gave me this reverence. It's a work of genius; a fictitious story thoroughly researched which brings the social science of trees to life in a way that just might inspire reverence for you too.

2) The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben will wake you up to the transport, communication and cooperation networks that have served trees long before man and womankind were even a thought.

Though Overstory is about people politicised into becoming eco-activists to save a Mother Redwood Tree and the surrounding ancient forest, it moved me spiritually. Meanwhile, The Hidden Life of Trees is entirely factual and presented in a conversational way, but I can see it changing people's politics - and inspiring reverence besides.

3) Finally, one for your children. My daughter chose this herself, on a day trip to Oxford: Arrow by Samantha M. Clark After she read it, she wanted to share it with me. So we read it as a chapter book together. It's told through the eyes of a boy, Arrow, who grew up in a magically hidden remnant of South American rainforest. When the magic begins to fail, he's confronted with a band of children from the Barbs and a team of capitalists from the Stilts, all of whom want the riches of the forest for themselves.

The tree in the photo, if you're wondering, is an almond tree. I took the photo about a year ago on Maracas Beach in Trinidad. The beach features in 'Reputation' but I thought I'd share something of it that isn't sea and sand.