Hey friends,
Greetings from Delhi, India!
A pretty amusing post title, huh? Well, I didn’t come up with it.
justinthetrees is the name of a YouTube channel I’ve come to enjoy. It’s run by Justin Davies, a guy from Utah in the US.
Justin’s channel revolves around trees and all the cool things about them. I stumbled across it a while back when I saw him working on an ambitious project—creating the entire US map out of wood, with each state carved out of its official state tree.
We live in an interesting media climate, one that might seem saturated. That’s something I repeatedly think about. Yet somehow, every time this thought pops into my head, I find a new channel doing something that seems niche but has a world of possibility.
justinthetrees is one such channel. Every video talks about a cool tree and what you can use it for. It has a lot of woodworking, but it isn’t purely a woodworking channel. Justin uses berries, pine cones, leaves, and other tree derivatives to make food and other cool things.
Nowadays, when we think about the natural world, animals hog the spotlight. Tigers and elephants; they grab out attention and hold on to it. But trees have their own merit. Perhaps, in their ubiquity, they are being overlooked.
I find myself falling into this trap every now and then. For four years, I studied at a boarding school located next to a forest in rural India. This is what it looked like.
Given its location, the school had a lot of wildlife, which remained my fascination during my time there. But over the years, I started looking at the trees as well, and they began to grow on me. How marvellous these beings are! Out of the ground rise these infinitely complex organisms, whose intricate structures house several other creatures.
Watching videos on Justin’s channel shows me a world of trees I’ve never seen. Through him, I get to explore the American woods. It has made Utah one of the states I want to visit when I’m in the US.
If you want a change from your usual YouTube diet, I can’t recommend Justin’s channel enough. And who knows? His videos might spark an interest in trees in you as well. Give it a shot. Click here for the link.
I recommend starting with this video. It is slightly different from his other videos, but it touches on another maxim I hold dear to my heart - making things with no purpose. Justin does a much better job of explaining this maxim by walking us through his journey. This is a real gem from all the videos out there.
Postcard
When writing about trees, I have to mention the wondrous oak trees of the Himalayas. These trees look truly historic. Every time I walk under their shade, I half expect them to walk with me like the Ents from The Lord of the Rings trilogy…
Favourite Quote
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” – John Lubbock
Have a creative, wild and inspiring week!
If you’re new, welcome to The Owlet! My name is Ishan Shanavas, and I am an Artist, Photographer, Writer and Student of the Natural World.
Here I talk about my work, along with curating the most interesting ideas on the internet. I confine them to topics like Nature, Culture, Photography, and Art but often fall prey to other genres.
I would greatly appreciate it if you shared my newsletter and work with your friends. It really helps me out :)
I really like this example of how focusing in one just one thing in a unique and creative way can be so effective and delightful for an audience. Thanks for sharing this. It gets my wheels turning about how I could zoom in instead of trying to cover all the ground.
I always hate it when I see trees being cut down. So many of these trees have been here longer than a lot of people. It seems so disrespectful to me that we treat them as nuisances or objects in the way