Gary

This comes with an online workbook (journal) to learn or actually relate to plants one by one. I would definitely recommend this very colorful text for youth and for people who desire to live healthier more natural lives. There is almost a philosophical outlook, perhaps finding who you are in nature. The book is very gestalt as compared to other writings on the subject. In reading, you may recall Back to Eden, or how indigenous peoples live in the forests with a reverence for nature. About sustainability even thanking the plants for their gifts. You may envision the comparison of how we live today to the colonial people who had their own gardens of plants to include vegetables, spices, herbs, and medicinal. Today we don’t eat fresh local food and definitely don’t have a clue in how the foodstuffs we purchase were treated. The food in the market is generally not grown naturally organic which means it essentially has surface and systemic pesticides. It is grown in depleted soils with few of the nutrients replaced to make nutrient rich, good tasting food with all the medicinal qualities the plant can offer. The suggestions are into soil care, and living off both your own garden and what you find growing naturally outside. The later is termed wildcrafting or foraging. Take a walk in the woods. Relax. Reduce your stress. Commune with rather than separate from nature. You are part of nature. Learn what plants have to offer. Your relationship with plants is personal. Some will be your favorites. These are the ones for you and may not be for someone else! Now to get to what I hitherto called the core of the book, the plants. But I think the author is training our attitudes toward nature is the crux. I count 25 plants (berries, weeds, herbs) that are covered in 5 parts of the year. You can start with the part of the year you find yourself in. Each of the selected plants are described in detail: ID, medicinal properties and energetics, plant gifts, ecological connections, how and what to harvest, how to use includes a few recipes.