From the Field

Candy

I Admit, I’m a Sugar Addict

Addiction comes in many forms. Most of them are not healthy. My wife is always on me about steering clear of sugar. We recently had a discussion where I admitted I’m a sugar addict. I’ll just say it – I’ve got a significant sugar addiction. So much so that I sit and think about sugar […]

arborist climbing

Climbers and Gear: What Matters Most?

A lot has certainly changed in the tree care industry since I embarked on my climbing career in the early 1970s. Tools, equipment and techniques have all evolved. Back then, manila ropes were in common use for climbing as well as lowering. The working strength of ½-inch manila rope was more than adequate for climbing […]

Metasequoia

Dawn Redwood: The Re-emergence of a Living Fossil

The deciduous redwood tree, Metasequoia, was thought to be extinct when a fossil of it was first “discovered” in China by Shigeru Miki in 1941 or so. And now I have one growing almost in my backyard in California. Part of the reason it was thought to be extinct may have been that it, like […]

Tree people – those who get the job done – and the businesspeople

Tree Person or Businessperson? Finding Your Niche in the Tree or the Office

The tree care industry, as with most industries, encompasses two basic types of participants with diverging mindsets. There are the production workers – those who get the jobs done – and the management workers, who line up the job and run the business. Diametrically opposed personalities perhaps, though engaged in a symbiotic relationship. In the […]

Fear image

Dealing with Fear

If you’re going to be a tree climber, you’ll have to decide how far you want to progress down that road, and whether or not you have what it takes to do the tough jobs. And if you decide you have the requisite physical as well as mental fiber to take on the tough ones, […]

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