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Tom Kimmerer, PhD

@tomkimmerer.bsky.social

29K followers 4.8K following 7.6K posts

I am a forest scientist, botanist, tree physiologist writing about relationships between trees and humans including climate change. A Fulbright Scholar, Author of Venerable Trees and books in progress. Read about trees here: https://ourtrees.substack.com.

ourtrees.substack.com.

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Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 1m

This is that interesting Asian hybrid. H. x intermedia. It flowers quite late here, and I don’t think it has pollinators (though I could be wrong).

Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 21m

In the eastern deciduous forest, keep your eyes open in the next few weeks for the dramatic flowering of witch-hazel, Hamamelis virginiana. It is the only native tree that flowers in late fall or early winter. Read about it at Our Trees, and go look for it in your woods in a couple of weeks.

Tom Kimmerer (@tomkimmerer)

One of our most charming small trees is witch-hazel, Hamamelis virginiana. It is founnd in rich forest understories, especially near bottoms. You may know witch-hazel for the medicinal use of a distil...

substack.com

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Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 4h

As part of the research for my book Venerable Trees, I had the pleasure of reading through early Bluegrass land surveys. It was a deeply interesting experience.

Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 4h

Here are some great opportunities at UNC-Chapel Hill, in a very strong biology department.

Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 6h

I'm very excited to announce that UNC Biology has 6 faculty positions open this year! The first is for an Asst Professor who studies organismal resilience using an integrative approach 1/n
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307...

Poster with QR code linking to the position

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Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 6h

I look forward to the answer!

Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 6h

As an operating room orderly at Hopkins, working weekends as I was in high school, one of my jobs was scrubbing autoclaves. This was fun because their jackets were hot. This picture would have given me nightmares.

Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 6h

Interesting. Are those storage tanks to catch overflow?

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Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 6h

This is great news. We need to be sure that Wikipedia continues to thrive amid our right-wing media dominance.

Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you for taking us on your hike. It looks wonderful.

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Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 4d

Versailles, Kentucky. It’s pronounced Ver-sails’.

Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 4d

That's great, if a bit late for your autumn foliag.

Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 4d

I tried to nudge some your way, but it was not nudgable.

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Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 4d

Yesterday brought us 5.19" of rain, putting it in the top 10 rain days. This did not come in a storm, but in a steady soaking rain. Increased rainfall and heavier rain events is a result of climate change in the Bluegrass.
Last night we had a spectacular dense bird migration (yellow on the map).

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Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 4d

It makes you wonder if these artists ever looked at a baby. It seems that some of them confused Churchill with a model baby.

Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 4d

Mesonet data is fascinating. We just had >5” of rain at my nearest KYMesonet since last night, a very uncommon single-day rainfall. It’s also interesting to look at the variation among nearby stations.

Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 5d

This is very exciting! I look forward to diving in.

Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 5d

I worked in Portland and around Dallas for several weeks. It rained quite often. I never felt the need to get my raincoat out. It's a place very conducive to human life.

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Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 5d

He knows the calendar. I think this was a strategic avoidance of publicity.

Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 5d

I’ve had many great winter trips to the UP where snow has magic properties.

Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 5d

I love how the blue lightning brings out the warmth of your cello.

Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 5d

I love snow. Upstate New York snow is a mineral. In Wisconsin, as my snow hydrology prof said, snow doesn't melt, it just blows back and forth until it wears out. Here is what I like about Kentucky: we get nice snows here and then it goes away in a few days.

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Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 5d

That's unfortunate, especially for usually-wet Michigan. We had pretty steady rain in Kentucky until mid-August, but got good rain before drought set in.

Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 5d

I have always been grateful for rainy days like today. A steady rain brings calm and focus to my thinking and writing. I also enjoy (mostly) working or walking out in the rain.

Here are views from my porch in Borneo (top) and Kentucky (bottom) on nice rainy days.

Do you enjoy rainy days?

Views of rainy days from the porch of my home in Borneo (top) and Kentucky (bottom). Copyright Tom Kimmerer

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Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 6d

Fascinating! It’s on my reading list for this week.

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Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 7d

As a child, I began many of my adventures in this magic place.