Oaks in a Dutch Podcast

Recently the IOS received a short press release from Wim Eikelboom, a Dutch media professional, sharing his latest creation, a podcast about oaks. Unfortunately it is only available in Dutch, but former IOS Board Member Gert Fortgens has listened to it and given it the thumbs up (Gert in fact participates in one of the episodes). "It gave me much pleasure to listen to Wim Eikelboom's podcasts," he reported. "He covers many aspects (cultural, historical, biological, etc) of oaks growing in the Netherlands. My (very short) contribution is in an episode about the unexplained recent death of oaks. I also talk about some of the Mexican oaks in Trompenburg Arboretum obtained via IOS channels and their possible future use, for example as city trees. For people who understand the Dutch language and know a little about the topography over here, it is worth listening to all episodes."

So if your Dutch is up to scratch, you should not miss this podcast called Eik & Ik (a neat play on the similarity of the Dutch words meaning "oak" and "I"). Details below:

Father and his son honor their family name and create a podcast about oaks

Wim Eikelboom and his son Willem have created and produced a podcast in Holland featuring stories about oak trees. 

"We owe our family name Eikelboom ("oak tree" in Dutch)] to the oak and we used that as a starting point for gathering stories about this fascinating tree. These stories mainly revolve around the connection individuals experience with oaks," says podcast producer Wim Eikelboom, who earlier created and hosted the podcast Rivierverhalen ("River stories"). The first episode features the origin of the family name Eikelboom and jokes that are regularly being made about this name in The Netherlands. 

"There are magnificent stories to tell about the oak. I've been on a true adventure through the cultural history of the oak in the Netherlands. With this podcast, I'm addressing questions such as: Why do people overestimate the age of oaks? Can you eat acorns for dinner? And did Bonifatius, the famous missionary, act like an "ecological terrorist" by cutting down oaks? It would be great if this podcast changes people's perspective on the oak." 

The title track and sound design are produced by Blinkwinkel, the band of Wim's son Willem: "We've created a special oak-song for this podcast, which will help you to relax while lying down under your favorite oak!"

The podcast Eik & Ik is in the Dutch language and available on all common platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts.