Plant Intelligence
In the Realm of EARTH WISDOM
1: Explore the world of artists who focus on botanical plants. Get inspired!
1: Explore the world of artists who focus on botanical plants. Get inspired! Books 📚
- Maria Sibylla Merian: Artist, Scientist, Adventurer: ages 10 & up – Merian and her daughter ventured thousands of miles from their home in the Netherlands to the rainforests of South America seeking new and amazing insects to observe and illustrate.
- Botanicum Activity Book – by Katie Scott: Her work plays with the ideas of scientific uncertainty and speculation, fabricating the inner and outer workings of the world. Her illustrations depict a familiar yet fantasy vision of plants, humans and minerals.
Artists 🎨
Websites
- Botanical Art & Artists: a really large and organized website on this topic. Explore and it can lead you in many directions.
- American Society of Botanical Artists: wow! get lost in the world of botanical art!!
2: Get to know the plants and trees around your home, then explore plants in local parks. Use a plant ID app for help and extra info.
Books 📚
- Botany in a Day – by Thomas Expel: modern classic of that helps you break down the patterns of plant identification.
- Backyard Medicine – updated by Julie B Seal & Matthew Seal: one of the best and most empowering books ever on personal herbalism!!!
- Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide – by Lawrence Newcomb: An ingenious key system for quick, positive field identification of wildflowers, flowering shrubs and vines in Northeastern and North-central North America.
Apps 📱(there are many plant ID apps), we’ll just share a few…
- Picture This App: we were skeptical but have found that we use this quite often in nature to learn what plants are and to find out more info about them.
- iNaturalist App: well-reviewed plant and animal ID app.
3: Study herbal, medicinal and wildcrafting uses of plants in your bio-region. Grow awareness of plant intelligence in sustaining life and health. 🌈
Books 📚
- Entangled Life – by Merlin Sheldrake: By examining fungi on their own terms, Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms – and our relationships with them – are changing our understanding of how life works.
- Grow Forage Cook Ferment’s Booklist on Wildcrafting & Foraging: great book list from a cool website.
- The Forager’s Harvest – by Samuel Thayer: a solid guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants.
- Backyard Medicine – updated by Julie B Seal & Matthew Seal: one of the best and most empowering books ever on personal herbalism!!!
- Secret Life of Plants – by Peter Tompkins & Christopher Bird: casts light on the rich psychic universe of plants. A total classic!
Podcasts 🎧
- Herbal Radio Podcast from Mountain Rose Herbs: Take your herbal education wherever you and your headphones go.
- Herb Mentor Radio Podcast: they interview herbalists, sharing inspiring stories, practical tips, and time-tested wisdom. Discover how herbs can enhance your health, enrich your meals, and support your everyday life.
Courses on Herbalism & Wildcrafting 🌿
- Seven Realms suggest you begin a search local to you with a simple internet search “herbalism courses near me” and see where this leads you. In-person courses about the plants in your bio-region with nearby plant experts are really best and lead you deeper into the local community.
4: Learn about indigenous traditions from your bio-region that honor plants as sentient beings.
Books 📚
- The Earth’s Blanket – by Nancy Turner: a thought-provoking look at Native American stories, cultural institutions, and ways of knowing, and what they can teach us about living sustainably.
- Original Instructions – by Melissa Nelson: Awareness of Indigenous Knowledge is reemerging at the eleventh hour to help avert global ecological and social collapse. Indigenous cultural wisdom shows us how to live in peace—with the earth and one another.
- Books by Robin Wall-Kimmerer: hard to go wrong with any books by RWK – the indigenous modern view of interconnected systems and sentience.
Podcasts 🎧
- All My Relations Podcast: hosted by Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip) , and Temryss Lane (Lummi Nation), to explore our relationships—relationships to land, to our creatural relatives, and to one another.
- Toasted Sister Podcast: The Toasted Sister Podcast is all about Native American food, food sovereignty, people and culture. Hosted and produced by Andi Murphy, Diné journalist.
Websites 🌐
- Indigenous Steam: Indigenous Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics resources for families, teachers, and communities.
5: Find a quiet “sit spot” to connect with one plant or tree for up to 30 minutes. Record observations and drawings in a nature journal.
Websites / Blog Posts on this practice
- Nature Connection Through a Sit-Spot: where to find, how to use, and making sit spots a regular practice.
- Sit Spot: Gain a deeper understanding of your environment and what is living there through this simple process
- Forest Therapy Sit Spots: Join us in growing a global network of Forest Therapy Sit Spots – one place, one invitation, one breath at a time.
- Nature & Forest Therapy Expert Guide Training: Who knows? Could you do this? Check it out – from the Association of Nature & Forest Therapy!
Podcasts 🎧
- The Tree-Hub Podcast: a raw and insightful exploration of real-world implementations of Forest Bathing and Forest Therapy.