Trail Life with N'nako Kande: Healing Trees

Welcome to another Tree Talk segment of our Trail Life inspired by my recent book The Art of Rooting.

Last week I announced how I would commit this beautiful season to sharing more about the trails and the trees that inspired my writing this summer.

The first tree talk about was the Shagbark tree at the Cherokee Arboretum, where our hikes and "randonnées" will be taking place. ( Read more here )

Today's tree talk is about the American Beech Tree and the healing benefits of trees.

The healing benefits of trees are something that I explored deeply in the Art of Rooting.

Being originally from Africa, I draw many commonalities between the Native-American culture and my African culture.

In the Art of Rooting, I recollect personal uses of trees, pass some of my mother's medicinal tips, and educate on the way certain organizations, like Ubuntungwa Youth Organization, in Zambia, use trees to make a difference in the lives and health of their community. (Read The Art of Rooting conversation with Mwape Mwangilwa and enjoy learning more from her and her brilliant team in the book. You may be just as fascinated as I was to learn from Nathan Mwape how the Mimosa tree is used.)

Today's featured tree is the American Beech.

Some of the medicinal benefits of the American Beech include:

• Drinking bark tea treats lung ailments like tuberculosis

• Leaf tea is used to "wash the fire" out of burns

Other Cherokee uses:

• The nuts are edible and are harvested early in the Fall

• The nuts are chewed to treat worms

• The leaves are used to make a light caramel dye

• The wood is used for lumber and to make buttons

As I pointed out in my book, The Art of Rooting, and in our previous Trail Life feature last week, Native Americans have such an incredible knowledge and reverence for nature that nothing was wasted. Many parts of the trees were used intentionally. I shared in The Art of Rooting that it is in recent years that I realized that I grew up enjoying a garden and lifestyle where my mother planted things very intentionally. Do you know of someone whose garden is not just ornamental but serves as a pharmacy?

• What are some trees that you have benefited from as "healing trees?"

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• How did you use them as medicine?

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• What are some of your go-to medicinal plants/trees?

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• What does the word " roots" evoke for you?

Get a copy of the Art of Rooting on Amazon to learn more about conversations about trees and our roots, leave a review on Amazon, and join us next week for our next Trail Life Tree Talk.

Enjoy other special features on the Blog like our Poet by Nature or Art of Rooting Conversations

May this trail remind you that every tree, every leaf, every creek crossing carries a memory older than our footsteps. As I return to this work, I honor the Cherokee healers who tended these forests, the African plant wisdom that shaped my lineage, and the quiet ways nature steadies the mind. May these offerings root you in clarity, soften your breath, and remind you that healing is always within reach.

~ N’nako Kandé (N•A•K)

If this is your first time here, meet the author, your host, bilingual poet and cultural storyteller: N'nako Kande

N’nako Kandé is a ceremonial entrepreneur, bilingual poet, painter, illustrator, and multidisciplinary artist whose work lives at the intersection of Nature, Art, and Kulture (N A K). Born in Côte d’Ivoire and shaped by Paris, the American Midwest, and over 20 years in Tennessee and Georgia, she creates through rhythm, ancestry, and the land.

She is the niece of the illustrious and legendary Guinean musician Mory Kanté, whose global influence helped carry West African musical heritage into international consciousness. Her artistic lineage also includes a profound connection to the late Toumani Diabaté, the world‑renowned Malian kora master who was named one of the fifty greatest African artists across media. Toumani, father of French star Sidiki Diabaté, served as the parrain (godfather) of the kora recording in her Self‑Love Blessing project, offering his guidance and blessings before his passing in 2024. His legacy includes two Grammy Awards for his collaborations with Ali Farka Touré and a lifetime of elevating the kora to global audiences.

N’nako is the founder of Kande Kulture, a wearable storytelling brand where each culturally inspired hoodie includes a QR code linking to a YouTube story that explains the meaning and heritage behind the phrase.

A prolific author, she has written over twelve books, including The Art of Rooting, which received the International Impact Book Award. Her creative work spans poetry, photography, painting, mixed‑media illustration, culinary storytelling, and culturally rooted educational coloring books.

Her artistic and cultural contributions have been featured in international documentaries produced in collaboration with Chattanooga Sister Cities, highlighting her global perspective and her commitment to cultural remembrance.

She is also the creator of the Self‑Love Blessing EP (French + English, released January 13, 2023) and the Self‑Love Blessing Trilingual Lyrics & Treasured Memories Book (released June 15, 2024), featuring French, Spanish, and English lyrics, behind‑the‑scenes photos, and stories from the making of the EP.