April 14, 2026 • 10 mins
Biochemist, botanist, author and climate change visionary Dr. Diana Beresford-Kroeger has earned the nickname 'The First Lady of the Forest'. We dig into her story and accomplishments.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm all from stuff
I never told your adiction of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And welcome to another activist around the world. And for
today's activists, we are going back to I guess just
my love of Ireland. I've been focusing on Ireland for
a while, so I don't know this came. It happenstance.
But with that, with it being April, which is Environmental
Awareness a month we're trying to care about the world,
(00:38):
we wanted to talk about biologists, chemists, all those peoples
who are making the world a better place. So that
brought me to talking about the iconic doctor Diana Beresford Kroger.
So doctor Kroger is a biochemist, botanist, author and climate
change visionary. And this is according to her own website,
but also many of people her balies like the beginning
(01:01):
of an Irish folk tale, which you know again I
love it, with her being in an orphan in Ireland,
raised by Irish elders who instruct her to use the
Celtic understanding of preserving nature and saving their community and
honestly the world, something she has taken to heart and
has been doing the work like all the work, including
writing documentaries, all the things. So this is from her
(01:25):
site on Diane Beresford dash Kroger dot com. She possesses
a unique understanding of modern Western science and ancient Celtic
knowledge orphaned in Ireland and her youth. Beresford Kroger was
educated by her Irish elders who instructed her in the
Breyhone knowledge of plants and nature. Told at a young
age that one day she would need to bring this
ancient Celtic knowledge to a troubled future. Bereford Kroger has
(01:48):
done exactly that. So again, like it opens up, like
it's an iconic fairy tale. I feel like we are
in the beginnings of the Irish where you see like
the fog and the forests. Yeah, yeah, that's where I
see it. So she has written several books about her
work and activism, and with her own childhood being so
(02:11):
heavily influenced by Celtic ideas and understandings, she wrote one
a book specifically around that, titled to Speak for the Trees,
My life's journey from ancient Celtic wisdom to a healing
vision of the forest. And by the way, I mean
all of her books have a touch of this, but
this one was very specific to this. In it, she
writes about her youth, talking about the ancient Celtic lineage
(02:33):
of the Lachines, so this is what she writes. The
name machine means much to people who speak Gaelic. It
opens a doorway into a different world. First off, the
name itself is ancient, though the British soldiers who came
with their survey charts for colonization changed it. In Old Gaelic,
leos means fairy mound or fairy ring, or from even earlier,
(02:54):
the enclosed ground of an ancient dwelling place. The ending
sines comes from she in Old Gaelic, meaning ishi or
inhabitants of the fairy mounds. The valley is rife with
stone artifacts from the time of the Druids, who were
the elite educated class of the Celtic culture, the doctors
and surgeons, astronomers and mathematicians, philosophers, poets and historians. The
(03:16):
hillsides were dotted with altars, ring circles, cairns, sacred stones, owems, stones,
and holy wells. The turf bogs turn up treasures like
baskets of butter, gold, ornaments, or vessels of honey that
have been preserved throughout the ages. When I was a child,
the valley might well have been the most concentrated, untouched
site of Celtic culture in all of Ireland. Again very
(03:40):
like mythological, you know. And from there she talks about
how they impacted her views. Here's a bit from nassywomenwriters
dot com about the book. The extended family and the
Lachines decided together to pass the traditions to her. She
was entitled to it by her grandfather, who was a
learned and respected Celtic scholar. According to the ancient Rayhome laws,
(04:03):
once the child is orphaned, they become everyone's child. Her
great aunt Nellie enlisted all of the elders of the
ancient Lachines lineage to pass their special form of wisdom
to the young Diana, one at a time. Beresford Kroeger
believes that they were the last generation to hold the
wisdom in its fullness, and that is why they wanted
to pass it to her so thoroughly as well. So
(04:25):
I love that, which is why her books are so important. Again,
we've talked about the preservation of ancient traditions as well
as keeping native ideas alive. We love that. So these
teachings and understandings have made her an icon in the
tree world. She's been called the First Lady of the Forest.
What a title? Yeah, title again. I feel like this
(04:49):
is such a tale, a Gaelic tale. I see her like.
All the pictures I see of her are her hugging trees.
So it's fantastic. Her books and her documentary called The Forest,
released in twenty six six, has put a new perspective
on how the forest can be healing in so many ways.
So this is from her website detailing her works. Diana
(05:09):
has been working to preserve the environment since the early
nineteen fifties, which she identified climate change as one of
the most important challenges we would face in the modern age.
This set her on a course of rigorous scientific study,
where she achieved a master's in botany in two PhDs,
one in biochemistry and the other in biology. In nineteen
sixty seven, she discovered genetic smearing, which changed the way
(05:31):
scientists studied microcosms under a microscope. Diana also discovered cathodolubinescence
in biological systems, which is now used to detect cancer.
Like she has done significant amount of work. I can't
believe it. Tik til twenty sixteen to understand how big
she was in this field. In another article, they talk
about the fact that she was the first to talk
(05:53):
about how the therapy in going into a forest, how
the trees actually release different types of sense and such
for people to fill this calm that is from being
in the forest. It's physical. It's not just a spiritual
idea or a nice novel idea. Is actually scientific and
she was one of the first people to actually acknowledge
(06:13):
this and discover this. Hello sus So. The website goes
on saying Diana's understanding of the ancient knowledge of trees
has led her to unique scientific discoveries. In the nineteen seventies,
Diana started her own arboretum and collected trees from all
over the world. She discovered the importance of mother trees
at the heart of the forest, and she scientifically proved
(06:33):
the trees are a living library of medicine that have
a chemical language and communicate in a quantum world. She
created an ambitious bioplan encouraging and educating ordinary people how
to replant the global force. This plan was actually adopted
by the city of Ottawa. Yeah, mother trees, female trees,
we need them badly. The pollen, the allergy stuff is
(06:56):
due to how people decided to plant only male trees.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Why, of course, why of course.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Anyway, moving on, and if you're wondering about this bioplan
here's something from callthforest dot com. They actually describe it
as this an ambitious plan encouraging ordinary people to develop
a new relationship with nature, to join together to replant
the global forest. So we're going to go very specific details.
This is what they write. Nature is a thread that
(07:26):
completes the tapestry of life. All things are connected on
planet Earth, from the burning eye of the volcano and
the brilliant colors of a butterfly's wing, to the chlorophyll
of plants and life within the seas. In recent years,
the tapestry of life has been damaged. The bioplant is
the tool to mend the holes in the fabric. So
the forest will be planted, the seas will have fish
(07:46):
in marine life, the air will have more oxygen and
less carbon dioxide. This is the pledge of mankind to
share this planet, because it is our divine contract to
ourselves and to all others. So you can go into
our site and read more detail such poetry. Again, she
writes poems, so it makes perfect sense. In her new book,
Our Green Heart, So when You were it was released
(08:08):
I believe a couple of years ago. She is praised
for her ability to talk about science and nature in
such a poetic and almost mythical way. She includes her
own poetry, stories from her childhood, and even advice to
the younger generations. She also talks about where we are
today in research, saying this, I'm struck by the possibility
that science has missed something important, namely that the planet
(08:30):
our home contains a knowledge of self and that it
supports somehow a march towards unity, which is one definition
of the divine. So understanding this is not completely working.
She's kind of calling this out and like she has
done so much, but she could only do so much,
And maybe it's because we need to rethink and start
listening to the Earth about what it needs. Of course,
(08:53):
she has many accolades for her amazing work, such as
Arbor Day Foundation Award. She has conservation awards, she has
fellowships from different universities, and just last year she was
recently awarded the Mabel Francis with more award in Nature
in Canada, so you know, and yes, if you have
time the documentary it opens as if it is like
a meditation app M. Yeah, yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yes, uh definitely go check that out. Listeners and uh
we'll be keeping tabs possibly reading the books. We don't know,
but if you would like to contact us you can.
You can email us at Hello at Stuffannever Told You
dot com. You can find us on Blue Sky at
mom Stuff Podcasts, or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff
(09:41):
when Never Told You for us on YouTube. We have
some merchandise to Cootton Bureau and we have a book
you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks as
always too our super Juice Christine are executive duce My
and a contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you
for listening Stuff Never Told You Instruction by Heart. Do
you have for more podcast from my Heart Radio? You
can check out the heart Radio app. I have a
podcast wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Y
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm all from stuff
I never told your adiction of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And welcome to another activist around the world. And for
today's activists, we are going back to I guess just
my love of Ireland. I've been focusing on Ireland for
a while, so I don't know this came. It happenstance.
But with that, with it being April, which is Environmental
Awareness a month we're trying to care about the world,
(00:38):
we wanted to talk about biologists, chemists, all those peoples
who are making the world a better place. So that
brought me to talking about the iconic doctor Diana Beresford Kroger.
So doctor Kroger is a biochemist, botanist, author and climate
change visionary. And this is according to her own website,
but also many of people her balies like the beginning
(01:01):
of an Irish folk tale, which you know again I
love it, with her being in an orphan in Ireland,
raised by Irish elders who instruct her to use the
Celtic understanding of preserving nature and saving their community and
honestly the world, something she has taken to heart and
has been doing the work like all the work, including
writing documentaries, all the things. So this is from her
(01:25):
site on Diane Beresford dash Kroger dot com. She possesses
a unique understanding of modern Western science and ancient Celtic
knowledge orphaned in Ireland and her youth. Beresford Kroger was
educated by her Irish elders who instructed her in the
Breyhone knowledge of plants and nature. Told at a young
age that one day she would need to bring this
ancient Celtic knowledge to a troubled future. Bereford Kroger has
(01:48):
done exactly that. So again, like it opens up, like
it's an iconic fairy tale. I feel like we are
in the beginnings of the Irish where you see like
the fog and the forests. Yeah, yeah, that's where I
see it. So she has written several books about her
work and activism, and with her own childhood being so
(02:11):
heavily influenced by Celtic ideas and understandings, she wrote one
a book specifically around that, titled to Speak for the Trees,
My life's journey from ancient Celtic wisdom to a healing
vision of the forest. And by the way, I mean
all of her books have a touch of this, but
this one was very specific to this. In it, she
writes about her youth, talking about the ancient Celtic lineage
(02:33):
of the Lachines, so this is what she writes. The
name machine means much to people who speak Gaelic. It
opens a doorway into a different world. First off, the
name itself is ancient, though the British soldiers who came
with their survey charts for colonization changed it. In Old Gaelic,
leos means fairy mound or fairy ring, or from even earlier,
(02:54):
the enclosed ground of an ancient dwelling place. The ending
sines comes from she in Old Gaelic, meaning ishi or
inhabitants of the fairy mounds. The valley is rife with
stone artifacts from the time of the Druids, who were
the elite educated class of the Celtic culture, the doctors
and surgeons, astronomers and mathematicians, philosophers, poets and historians. The
(03:16):
hillsides were dotted with altars, ring circles, cairns, sacred stones, owems, stones,
and holy wells. The turf bogs turn up treasures like
baskets of butter, gold, ornaments, or vessels of honey that
have been preserved throughout the ages. When I was a child,
the valley might well have been the most concentrated, untouched
site of Celtic culture in all of Ireland. Again very
(03:40):
like mythological, you know. And from there she talks about
how they impacted her views. Here's a bit from nassywomenwriters
dot com about the book. The extended family and the
Lachines decided together to pass the traditions to her. She
was entitled to it by her grandfather, who was a
learned and respected Celtic scholar. According to the ancient Rayhome laws,
(04:03):
once the child is orphaned, they become everyone's child. Her
great aunt Nellie enlisted all of the elders of the
ancient Lachines lineage to pass their special form of wisdom
to the young Diana, one at a time. Beresford Kroeger
believes that they were the last generation to hold the
wisdom in its fullness, and that is why they wanted
to pass it to her so thoroughly as well. So
(04:25):
I love that, which is why her books are so important. Again,
we've talked about the preservation of ancient traditions as well
as keeping native ideas alive. We love that. So these
teachings and understandings have made her an icon in the
tree world. She's been called the First Lady of the Forest.
What a title? Yeah, title again. I feel like this
(04:49):
is such a tale, a Gaelic tale. I see her like.
All the pictures I see of her are her hugging trees.
So it's fantastic. Her books and her documentary called The Forest,
released in twenty six six, has put a new perspective
on how the forest can be healing in so many ways.
So this is from her website detailing her works. Diana
(05:09):
has been working to preserve the environment since the early
nineteen fifties, which she identified climate change as one of
the most important challenges we would face in the modern age.
This set her on a course of rigorous scientific study,
where she achieved a master's in botany in two PhDs,
one in biochemistry and the other in biology. In nineteen
sixty seven, she discovered genetic smearing, which changed the way
(05:31):
scientists studied microcosms under a microscope. Diana also discovered cathodolubinescence
in biological systems, which is now used to detect cancer.
Like she has done significant amount of work. I can't
believe it. Tik til twenty sixteen to understand how big
she was in this field. In another article, they talk
about the fact that she was the first to talk
(05:53):
about how the therapy in going into a forest, how
the trees actually release different types of sense and such
for people to fill this calm that is from being
in the forest. It's physical. It's not just a spiritual
idea or a nice novel idea. Is actually scientific and
she was one of the first people to actually acknowledge
(06:13):
this and discover this. Hello sus So. The website goes
on saying Diana's understanding of the ancient knowledge of trees
has led her to unique scientific discoveries. In the nineteen seventies,
Diana started her own arboretum and collected trees from all
over the world. She discovered the importance of mother trees
at the heart of the forest, and she scientifically proved
(06:33):
the trees are a living library of medicine that have
a chemical language and communicate in a quantum world. She
created an ambitious bioplan encouraging and educating ordinary people how
to replant the global force. This plan was actually adopted
by the city of Ottawa. Yeah, mother trees, female trees,
we need them badly. The pollen, the allergy stuff is
(06:56):
due to how people decided to plant only male trees.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Why, of course, why of course.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Anyway, moving on, and if you're wondering about this bioplan
here's something from callthforest dot com. They actually describe it
as this an ambitious plan encouraging ordinary people to develop
a new relationship with nature, to join together to replant
the global forest. So we're going to go very specific details.
This is what they write. Nature is a thread that
(07:26):
completes the tapestry of life. All things are connected on
planet Earth, from the burning eye of the volcano and
the brilliant colors of a butterfly's wing, to the chlorophyll
of plants and life within the seas. In recent years,
the tapestry of life has been damaged. The bioplant is
the tool to mend the holes in the fabric. So
the forest will be planted, the seas will have fish
(07:46):
in marine life, the air will have more oxygen and
less carbon dioxide. This is the pledge of mankind to
share this planet, because it is our divine contract to
ourselves and to all others. So you can go into
our site and read more detail such poetry. Again, she
writes poems, so it makes perfect sense. In her new book,
Our Green Heart, So when You were it was released
(08:08):
I believe a couple of years ago. She is praised
for her ability to talk about science and nature in
such a poetic and almost mythical way. She includes her
own poetry, stories from her childhood, and even advice to
the younger generations. She also talks about where we are
today in research, saying this, I'm struck by the possibility
that science has missed something important, namely that the planet
(08:30):
our home contains a knowledge of self and that it
supports somehow a march towards unity, which is one definition
of the divine. So understanding this is not completely working.
She's kind of calling this out and like she has
done so much, but she could only do so much,
And maybe it's because we need to rethink and start
listening to the Earth about what it needs. Of course,
(08:53):
she has many accolades for her amazing work, such as
Arbor Day Foundation Award. She has conservation awards, she has
fellowships from different universities, and just last year she was
recently awarded the Mabel Francis with more award in Nature
in Canada, so you know, and yes, if you have
time the documentary it opens as if it is like
a meditation app M. Yeah, yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yes, uh definitely go check that out. Listeners and uh
we'll be keeping tabs possibly reading the books. We don't know,
but if you would like to contact us you can.
You can email us at Hello at Stuffannever Told You
dot com. You can find us on Blue Sky at
mom Stuff Podcasts, or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff
(09:41):
when Never Told You for us on YouTube. We have
some merchandise to Cootton Bureau and we have a book
you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks as
always too our super Juice Christine are executive duce My
and a contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you
for listening Stuff Never Told You Instruction by Heart. Do
you have for more podcast from my Heart Radio? You
can check out the heart Radio app. I have a
podcast wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Y
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