I co-authored The Outside Institute Field Guides with Founding Naturalist Laura Silverman from 2018 - 2021. Laura's project The Outside Institute offers nature education in the Catskills in the Upper Delaware Valley in Sullivan County, New York. My role in the collaboration was to do the research with Lenape wisdom holders, as well as publications by contemporary herbalists like Matthew Wood and Roger Tory Peterson, the New York Botanical Gardens, and the Woodland Trust, and also to artifact the knowledge that Laura shared in the nature walks that she offers the community. Each guide features different botanical illustrators, and forwards by representatives from local herb schools, collectives, and environmentalist organizations.The intention behind the guides is to provide an introduction for beginning naturalists to more than 50 of the most prevalent summer flora, fauna and fungi in the Eastern Forest. They include detailed illustrations, clear descriptions for identification, facts about medicinal, craft and culinary usage and a handful of recipes highlighting wild flavors.

Published by The Outside Institute

Co-authors: Gilian Rappaport, Laura Chávez Silverman

Founding Naturailist, The Outside Institute:Laura Chávez Silverman

Designed and Produced by JP Williams, Wms&Co

Photographs by Randazzo Blau and Laura Silverman

Volume 1 - Spring Illustrations by Lucy Engelman; Foreword by Richard Mandelbaum

Volume 2 - Summer Illustrations by Autumn Whitehurst/Illustration Division; Foreword by Ramsay Adams, Catskill Mountainkeeper

Volume 3 - Fall Illustrations by Roque Reyes; Foreword by Angelica Vargas, Herbal Underground