Welcome to a new episode of Health Raisers! Today my guest is Amy Stewart, the delightfully curious New York Times bestselling author behind fascinating books like The Tree Collectors, The Drunken Botanist and Wicked Plants, which explore the unexpected stories of the natural world and have captivated over a million readers across 18 languages. She's also brought to life the wonderfully spirited Kopp Sisters historical fiction series, inspired by the remarkable true story of one of America's first female deputy sheriffs and her two feisty sisters. When she's not writing, Amy can be found in Portland with her husband Scott Brown, who runs the charming rare book shop Downtown Brown Books—and yes, she's the same Amy Stewart who somehow ended up on TLC's Cake Boss alongside appearances on NPR and CBS Sunday Morning.

In this episode, we dive into her book, The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession to discuss how simple acts help us to revere our natural world.

What we learn:

🌳 How Amy discovered that collecting trees was inexorably linked to the collectors' life stories and histories.

🌿 How every tree planted is a commitment to our future.

🎨 How simple practices like leaf collecting and mending can become profound acts of reverence for nature and mindfulness.

🌲 How the Miyawaki method lets anyone create a tiny forest in spaces no bigger than a backyard to care for our world.

💚 How tree collectors build community by connecting people through shared experiences with trees.

🌿 How spending time away from screens and connecting with nature is essential for mental health and well-being.

⭐️ And much more...

More about Amy:

Amy’s 2009 book Wicked Plants was adapted into a national traveling exhibit that terrified children at science museums nationwide for over a decade. Even better, a few bars around the world are named after The Drunken Botanist.

It’s an honor just to be nominated, but it’s even better to win, and she’s won a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, the American Horticulture Society’s Book Award, the National Outdoor Book Award, and an International Association of Culinary Professionals Food Writing Award.

Amy travels the country as a highly sought-after public speaker whose spirited lectures have inspired and entertained audiences at college campuses such as Cornell and Harvard, corporate offices like Google (where she served tequila and nearly broke the Internet), conferences and book festivals, botanical gardens, bookstores, and libraries nationwide. Find out where she’s heading next.

🎙️ Original Podcast Music by Nadine Kelly (drums and vocals) and Tim Buell; Produced by Tim Buell

❤️ Sponsored by Infusco Coffee Roasters, Mak Salon and Spa, and Fernwood Botanical Garden.