The Outside Institute Field Guides - Vol. 1-3
Gilian Rappaport 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. This is the same community where the residency Mildred’s Lane is located.
Gilian's role 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, as well as artifacting knowledge shared in walks with Laura. 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.
2018-2021Co-authored with Laura Silverman, The Outside Institute 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