What is a weed? The dictionary will tell you it is simply a plant growing out of place. In The Wondrous World of Weeds you will discover that there are plants all around us with culinary and holistic potential. They are also good companions in the garden for vegetables, fruit trees, and flowers, and can tell you about the quality of your soil and any imbalances that are present. This comprehensive and practical guide features more than 300 stunning, close up-images to help with the identification of weeds as well as a full description, list of common names, environmental impact, uses and medicinal value for each plant. It covers a full range of weeds from those annoying plants that pop up in the garden to majestic trees.

Full-page black-and-white drawings of forty-five weeds common in the United States, with common and scientific names. Color illustrations for each weed on the covers.

Weeds are wonderful! Persistent, exuberant…these plants have personalities, and this nonfiction picture book puts them on colorful display! From bright yellow dandelions popping through cracks in sidewalks to purple loosestrife growing rampant along roadways, weeds offer unexpected splashes of color and life to the least likely of places. With lovely language and a sly sense of humor, this beautiful picture book celebrates the tenacious temperaments of these pesky plants and is sure to have little ones chanting, “Way to go, weeds!”

Wildcraft is a beautifully illustrated, comprehensive and practical guide to using wild plants as food and medicine. It covers everything from the energetic/spirit qualities of the plants, to botanical identification, nutritional profiles, chemical constituents, folk medicine, how the plants are used, cautions and contraindication, and some of the most extensive research on the topic of wild plants as food and medicine to date. Wildcraft gives you the ability to confidently identify wild, edible and medicinal plants out in the field. For the home gardener this opens up a whole new world of wonder and appreciation for the weeds in your garden, as well as wonderful new ways to use them as food and medicine. This book provides practitioners of herbal medicine with a strong evidence base to justify the use of these plants in their practice as well as providing students and researchers with an evidenced based foundation on which to conduct further studies in this area.

Forty-four accurate and ready-to-color drawings of foxglove, belladonna, mayapple, valerian, dandelion, chamomile, many other plants with curative properties. Captions give description, distribution, medicinal uses, more. Illustrations royalty-free.

In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces. Detailed chapters address planting for wildlife by choosing native species; providing habitats that shelter baby animals, as well as birds, bees, and butterflies; creating safe zones in the garden; cohabiting with creatures often regarded as pests; letting nature be your garden designer; and encouraging natural processes and evolution in the garden. The Humane Gardener fills a unique niche in describing simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures that share our world.

The Wild Wisdom of Weeds is the only book on foraging and edible weeds to focus on the thirteen weeds found all over the world, each of which represents a complete food source and extensive medical pharmacy and first-aid kit. More than just a field guide to wild edibles, it is a global plan for human survival. When Katrina Blair was eleven she had a life-changing experience where wild plants spoke to her, beckoning her to become a champion of their cause. Since then she has spent months on end taking walkabouts in the wild, eating nothing but what she forages, and has become a wild-foods advocate, community activist, gardener, and chef, teaching and presenting internationally about foraging and the healthful lifestyle it promotes. Katrina Blair’s philosophy in The Wild Wisdom of Weeds is sobering, realistic, and ultimately optimistic. If we can open our eyes to see the wisdom found in these weeds right under our noses, instead of trying to eradicate an “invasive,” we will achieve true food security. The Wild Wisdom of Weeds is about healing ourselves both in body and in spirit, in an age where technology, commodity agriculture, and processed foods dictate the terms of our intelligence. But if we can become familiar with these thirteen edible survival weeds found all over the world, we will never go hungry, and we will become closer to our own wild human instincts—all the while enjoying the freshest, wildest, and most nutritious food there is. For free! The thirteen plants found growing in every region across the world are: dandelion, mallow, purslane, plantain, thistle, amaranth, dock, mustard, grass, chickweed, clover, lambsquarter, and knotweed. These special plants contribute to the regeneration of the earth while supporting the survival of our human species; they grow everywhere where human civilization exists, from the hottest deserts to the Arctic Circle, following the path of human disturbance. Indeed, the more humans disturb the earth and put our food supply at risk, the more these thirteen plants proliferate. It’s a survival plan for the ages. Including over one hundred unique recipes, Katrina Blair’s book teaches us how to prepare these wild plants from root to seed in soups, salads, slaws, crackers, pestos, seed breads, and seed butters; cereals, green powders, sauerkrauts, smoothies, and milks; first-aid concoctions such as tinctures, teas, salves, and soothers; self-care/beauty products including shampoo, mouthwash, toothpaste (and brush), face masks; and a lot more. Whether readers are based at home or traveling, this book aims to empower individuals to maintain a state of optimal health with minimal cost and effort.