Description
Book SynopsisReconnect. Restore. Reciprocate. Repairing landscapes and reconnecting us to the wild plant communities around us.
Integrating restoration practices, foraging, herbalism, rewilding, and permaculture, Wild Plant Culture is a comprehensive guide to the ecological restoration of native edible and medicinal plant communities in Eastern North America.
Blending science, practice, and traditional knowledge, it makes bold connections that are actionable, innovative, and ecologically imperative for repairing both degraded landscapes and our broken cultural relationship with nature. Coverage includes:
- Understanding and engaging in mutually beneficial human-plant connections
- Techniques for observing the land''s existing and potential plant communities
- Baseline monitoring, site preparation, seeding, planting, and maintaining restored areas
- Botanical fieldwork restoration stories and examples
- Detailed profiles of 209 native plants and their uses.
Both a practical guide and an evocative read that will transport you deep into the natural landscape, Wild Plant Culture is an essential toolkit for gardeners, farmers, and ecological restoration practitioners, highlighting the important role humans play in tending and mending native plant communities.
AWARDS
- SILVER 2023 Nautilus Book Awards Green, Restorative Practices / Sustainability
- HONORABLE MENTION 2023 American Horticultural Society Book Awards
Trade Review"Jared Rosenbaum explains how our yards, farms, and cities can be optimized for abundance, diversity, and resiliency by the planting of edible, natural systems. A brilliant approach to ecological restoration simultaneous with food production!"
— Mark Shepard, author, Restoration Agriculture: Real World Permaculture for Farmers
"Jared Rosenbaum's book has arrived at the right time. Understanding how modern European agriculture is ecologically illiterate is the starting point to creating respectful, innovative ecosystems restoration worldwide. Although the plant species in this book are North American, the concepts Jared describes are globally relevant and eye-opening to anyone new to this work. Australian ecosystem restoration, known as Bushcare or Dunecare, have been happening for years. Having worked in this space, I am in full agreement with Jared's work."
— Rosemary Morrow, deep green teacher, refugee supporter, and author, Earth Restorer's Guide to Permaculture
"Rosenbaum's work is an uncommonly thorough reference book, a primer on plant ecology, restoration biology, and the medicinal and edible properties of the Mid-Atlantic plants from his region. Much more than that, it is thought-provoking, aspirational and the first chapter alone is worth the price of the book."
— Doug Tallamy, entomologist, ecologist, conservationist, and author of several books, including Bringing Nature Home
"This gorgeous and well-researched book is a delightful must-read for any person interested in restoration of native habitats in cities and beyond, the stories the land tells us, and the edible and medicinal uses embodied in the wild plants around us."
— Dr. Lena Struwe, director, Chrysler Herbarium, Rutgers University
"This guidebook holds one of many pathways to healing the ecological wounds of colonialism. Rosenbaum outlines a practice that is both revolutionary and ancient: tending native plant communities for the simultaneous benefits of human welfare and wildness. Drawing from his deep knowledge of plant ecology and restoration, Jared points us towards long-term, fulfilling relationships with the natural communities we are entrusted to care for. This message could not be more timely."
— Sam Thayer, author, The Forager's Harvest
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Section One: Restoring Reciprocity, Sustaining Sustenance
Introduction
The Farmer's Quandary
Two Human Paths
Who Is This Book For?
Chapter 1: A Different Way
Tending the Wild
Eat Local
Chapter 2: Plants in Relationship
Plant Planet
Carbon and Soils
Temperature and Water
Wild Plants as Food
Wild Plants as Medicine
Chapter 3: Ecological Restoration
Mimesis and the Reference
Ecosystem
Restoring Plants
Chapter 4: In Community with Nature
Communities
Belonging to an Ecological Community
Section Two: Learning Your Land
Chapter 5: Reading Geology, Soils, and Water
Soils and Geology
Water
Plants and Hydrology
Chapter 6: Land Use History
Land Use History and Habitat Quality
Post-Agricultural Soils
Natural Disturbances
Chapter 7: Reading the Story of the Land
Historical Aerial Photos and Maps
Analyzing the Landscape
Indicators of a Remnant
Indicators of Disturbed Habitats
Making Your Own Map
Tend or Mend
High-Quality Sites → Tend
Low-Quality Sites → Mend
Section Three: Plant Communities and Culturally Useful Plants
Chapter 8: Plant Communities
Plant Community: Riparian Forests
Plant Community: Rich Mesic Forest
Plant Community: Upland Oak Forest
Plant Community: Glades
Plant Community: Meadows and Grasslands
Plant Community: Forested Wetlands
Plant Community: Sunny Wetlands and Shores
Plant Community: High Elevation and Northern Forests
Plant Community: Sandy Pine and Oak Forests
Plant Community: The Seashore
Chapter 9: Plant Species
Section Four: Restoring Your Land
Chapter 10: The Reference Site
How to Find a Reference Site
Interpreting a Natural Area for Beginners
Chapter 11: Repairing Soils
Soil Amendments
Wood Chips
Leaf Compost
Mycorrhizal Fungi
Biochar
Decompacting Soil
Restoring Landscape Structure
Pit and Mound Topography
Structural Repair Methods
Chapter 12: Vegetation Control
Tillage
Smothering and Solarizing
The "Lasagna" Mulching Method
Herbicides
Chapter 13: Burning
Indigenous Fire
Transitions
Ecological Potential
Chapter 14: Deer Management and Exclusion
Protecting Plantings from White-Tailed Deer
Chapter 15: Introducing Plant Materials
Planting
Seeding
Post-Seeding Maintenance for Meadows
Meadow Maintenance
Conclusion: A Missing Link
Belonging to This Place
Appendix — Assessment and Monitoring Techniques
Assessment and Monitoring
Baseline Monitoring
Monitoring Methods
Photo Monitoring
Biological Inventories
Floristic Quality
Assessment
Sampling Units
Endnotes
Index
About the Author
About New Society Publishers
