I'm an interdisciplinary artist who studied at the intersection of ecology and design at SAIC. I now live in the Point Reyes National Seashore and teach on the art of observation, taxonomy, natural history, ethical specimen collection for art making and wildcrafting within the park, as well as the Mt. Tamalpais watershed area. I'm also an herbalist and run the Wellness department at the local market here. I grew up in a forested area of Massachusetts at the edge of a state park with a family that was always hands in dirt and not often wearing shoes. I have always had a deep connection with plants and all the sensory communications the world beyond our vessels has to offer.

Lately I've been especially interested in what grows in sidewalk cracks, alleys and parks that we can eat. When I first came to this area I was lit up with all the native species I was discovering. I documented many in a year long 80 page herbarium project with my student for Point Reyes National Seashore in 2019/20. (Please note: it is not legal to pick flowers if you're in the park! The head of science gave us specimen collection permission and they now live at the Clem Miller Environmental Education Center.)

Since then, my excitement gets just as rustled up by the many anthropogenic plant species in the area. I love dreaming of what we can do with them, as they are the most ethical harvest. Just imagine: instead of foraging natives to the point of extinction, if we found more ways to craft with the European species enough to clear the way for our native stars to find space again, even in the built landscape.

On and iNaturalist note: When documenting plants, shoot all parts - leaves, stems and the place where the stem meets the ground. There is so much taxonomical info we're missing if we just shoot the flowers! And its always awesome to get shot with your hand in it for scale.

Thanks for all the observations!