In 2011 I will be sharing with you why you need to respect and bring native plants into your life. I will be doing this in a pragmatic way. First I am going to take up the post-a-week challenge made by WordPress and will be updating my blog weekly.
I will share with you why it is so imperative that humans stop destroying their natural environment. I will share with you the science behind why native plants are so important. I will teach you to identify native plants so that you can start visiting them in the wild places and start bringing them back into your health and wellness regimes, your yards, your cities and biomes.
I will be listing more activities found in Cascadia (the area from British Columbia to Northern California) that will help you connect with the both native plants and those who can teach you what you need to know.
You can help me.
Tell me what is going on in your area of the world that inspires others to protect native plants. Share inspired comments to this website (skillshare). Tell others about this website and this project.
I will be learning more about the technology offered by WordPress and available on this website. I promise to learn how to tweet, digg, RSS, etc. I know I can do it, I know I can do it…
I will be publishing my book as an e-book during 2011. It will include illustrations and watercolors that I have completed of native plants, plant identification charts, maps, and other useful information. This book has 18 chapters. Here is preview of the chapters.
Table of Contents
Introduction: finding our way back, reconnecting with the plant world. 1
Chapter 1. Plant Community, human community (White Oak) 5
Chapter 2. Learning the lay of the land (Oregon Grape) 11
Chapter 3. How to identify and “key” native plants (Miner’s lettuce) 19
Chapter 4. Building shelters from plants (Willow) 27
Chapter 5. Growing your own fibers: Grasses, sedges, tules and fiber plants (Cat-tail) 29
Chapter 6. Seeds and wild plants. What is valuable?. 31
Chapter 7. The great harvest (Wapato) 33
Chapter 8. Digging in the dirt- exploring earthworms and mycelium.. 35
Chapter 9. Using native plants as medicine (Pacific Ninebarks) 37
Chapter 10. Spring plants in Cascadia (Nettles and the potherb) 39
Chapter 11. Stalking the wild plant – Tools, geography, maps (Horsetail) 41
Chapter 12. Fermenting the bounty (Red and Blue Elderberry) 43
Chapter 13. Bringing the native plant and pollinators home. 45
Chapter 14. Twenty important native plants you need to know.. 46
Chapter 15.Place where the spirit dwells- First Nations- the ethnobotany of native plants 47
Chapter 16. Generational Injustice (St. John’s Wort) 49
Chapter 17. Bringing Native plants back into our mechanized world (Cats Claw) 53
Chapter 18. Resources and Tools: books, gear, online resources. 57
WordPress will not allow me to publish the ebook or link to the ebook on this website so I am looking for other avenues to let you know how to support the Radical Botany project. I will find a way to let others purchase the book and support this project to educate others about native plants . I will continue to update this blog weekly and continue to teach what I know and what I am learning.
I am looking into starting a non-profit education project. I hope to locate to a more rural area in Cascadia where I can have a greenhouse and native plant nursery and school. I want to live next to the forest.
So those are my resolutions for 2011. I hope that you will contribute in a positive way.
See you in the deep woods – Let us begin…
Green Lady - Ellen
beautiful, i love what you’re doing 🙂
giving mother nature back the glory she deserves
big hugs.
Yay Ellen!
I can’t wait to read the book! Some inspiration for you may be Heidi Bohan’s recent work, http://www.heidibohan.com/People%20of%20Cascadia/Cascadia.htm.
Yours has a different focus, of reintegrating people with the plants, and the two will go deliciously well together.
Keep up the great work!!