January theme: Winter trees

Jan 01, 2025

Every month of 2025 will have a theme that guides my outdoor explorations and my reading.

Hi readers, Happy New Year! I got up early today for a little bike-and-hike trip (despite having had a few glasses of wine last night). I love being out early on the 1^st of January when everything is quiet. But before my adventure starts, I quickly wanted to let you know about the theme for this month: Winter trees.

In central Europe, where I live, the bare deciduous trees are perhaps the most obvious sign that it’s winter, especially now that snow and ice are becoming rarer with climate change. I spend a lot of time in the company of these trees, but I have noticed that I know little about their winter lives – so, this month is dedicated to learning more.

I am going to

just generally pay closer attention to the trees – what the bark looks and feels like, whether there are still leaves or fruits, what noises the trees make…
learn about tree species identification based on the bark and buds only.
do research on what the trees actually do in winter and how environmental change affects this – I’ve already written down a long list of questions…
try to read novels set in a winter forest landscape.