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2023-2024 Common Read - Braiding Sweetgrass: Sitting in a Circle

 

"The circle of ecological compassion we feel is enlarged by direct experience of the living world, and shrunken by its lack." p. 239

Wigwam display at University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Cattails

RichardBH from Hamilton, Canada, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Cattail Rhizome

Image courtesy of Farmer's Almanac

Cattail Seed Fluff

Image courtesy of Washington State

Spotted Salamander

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Dried Milkweed Pods

Image courtesy of Xerces Society

White Spruce (Picea glauca)

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Harvested White Spruce Roots

Image courtesy of Katie Grove Studios

Basket made from birch bark and spruce to sew it together.

veggiefrog from Toronto, Canada, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Wigwam with Cattail Mats

Image courtesy of Mlive

Phragmites

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Purple Loosestrife

Image Courtesy of the National Park Service

Keywords

Anaerobic: living, active, occurring, or existing in the absence of free oxygen. (MW)

Duff: the partially decayed organic matter on the forest floor. (YA)

Effervescent: marked by or expressing an appealingly lively quality. (MW)

Ethnobotany: The plant lore of indigenous cultures. (MW)

Hummock: A hill or a mound. (YA)

Humus: the organic component of soil, formed by the decomposition of leaves and other plant material by soil microorganisms. (OL)

Invasive species: A non-native organism : growing and dispersing easily usually to the detriment of native species and ecosystems. (MW)

Microbe: a microorganism, especially a bacterium causing disease or fermentation. (OL)

Peat: a brown deposit resembling soil, formed by the partial decomposition of vegetable matter in the wet acidic conditions of bogs and fens, and often cut out and dried for use as fuel and in gardening. (OL)

Plant cordage: String and  twine made from plants, often the roots. (YA)

Rhizome: a somewhat elongated usually horizontal subterranean plant stem that is often thickened by deposits of reserve food material, produces shoots above and roots below, and is distinguished from a true root in possessing buds, nodes, and usually scalelike leaves. (MW)

Sedge: A grass-like plant that grows in wet areas. (YA)

Sward: a portion of ground covered with grass. (MW)

Tinder: a very flammable substance adaptable for use as kindling.  (MW)

Viscera: The internal organs. (YA)

Other resources:

Winter Wren Calling

Contact

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(845) 575-3106

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