One Thousand Flowers

Large-flowered Trillium

As my friends know, I am obsessed with learning about nature.  Twenty-seven years ago I was finishing my forestry degree at Northern Arizona University.  At the time I had a collection, one of the few students who did, of all of the trees, shrubs, and grasses that we had been required to learn during the four years of the degree.  I kept these pressed specimens in a big blue binder.

That mentality has not changed over the years.  That one blue binder has now grown to three rubbermaid tubs, about the size of bath tubs, that house nearly 3000 pressed specimens.  In recent years, I have also taken interest in other things, such as moths, grasshoppers, etc, as you know if you have been following this blog.  I now use the camera to document things, rather than collecting specimens.  Over the past couple years I have tried to focus my efforts on studying a particular group of organisms each calendar year.  So, for example, in 2011, that focus was butterflies, and was documented in my book Butterfly Rider.

In 2013, I am going to make my focus on plants in a project I am calling One Thousand Flowers.  I will attempt to photo-document 1000 species of plants, and I am going to focus this search throughout Appalachia.  Much like I did with the butterfly year, I want to write a book and design a calendar as products of the One Thousand Flowers project. 

However, I want to make this something bigger than just me.  I have a real heart for Appalachia.  My family has lived in Appalachia since the 1860's.  My idea of art is the shapes of the cut-outs on the outhouse door!  So I am going to try also to document the Appalachian way of life, and the poverty that is found throughout Appalachia.  In addition, I will donate half the profits from any book/calendar sales to Appalachian ministries that try to help Appalachian people out of poverty.

I am giving people the opportunity to participate in this project in a variety of ways.  I have developed a website where people can donate money to the effort.  To achieve 1000 species, I will need to do some traveling on my days off.  Donations of friends and supporters will help fund this travel.  Visit this website for more information: http://www.gofundme.com/1swe8s

Of course, I understand that times are tough financially for a lot of my friends.  If you cannot support me financially, I would absolutely appreciate your support in the form of encouragement and enthusiasm.  At least four places in the New Testament we are called to encourage one another, and I fully intend to hold my friends to this Christian mandate!  One way you can encourage the project is by sharing about it within your own circle of friends.  I know I am not the ONLY person in this country who is a nature nerd! 

Another way you can show your support will be by staying tuned-in via this blog or my facebook page to my adventures.  Your support really does help encourage me.  One thousand species is a lot, and I will need encouragement.  And, I thank you in advance for your support, whatever form it may come in!