Plant Videos

I've been sick since Saturday and have spent my time indoors instead of in the woods and I've spent that time watching a couple of edible/medicinal plant DVDs.

The first is by Marty Simon of the Wilderness Learning Center in Upstate New York and is called "Wild Food and Herb Nature Walk with Marty Simon." I think I've talked a bit about this video previously but having a better understanding of some plants now I can look at this video with a new set of eyes.

I still have a hard time trying to keep up with Marty's pace but that's because of my particular learning style and the distractions that come with being a stay at home dad. In the video he covers more than 50 plants in about 90 minutes and I find the video easy to watch over and over--that's important with all the distractions. He covers the plant identification, edible and medicinal uses, and offers a closeup shot of the plant before moving on to the next specimen.

You can get more information on Marty's video here.

The second video I've been watching is Mors Kochanski's "A Plant Walk with Mors Kochanski Volume 1."

I've just started the Kochanski video but I think he covers some 30 plants and I don't know just how long the video is but, like Marty, he covers the plant identification, herbal and medicinal uses, and offers a still shot of the plant against a piece of braintan for more detailed viewing. His video also offers some review questions to help the viewer more quickly learn the material.

I find Mors' teaching style to be good and he's clearly well-read on his material. I'll be able to give a more thorough opinion on the overall video once I've gotten all the way through it at least once.

Mors' videos can be found here.

If you want to learn about edible and medicinal plants and you simply can't afford to go out and take a class with a subject matter expert then the DVD/Video approach may well be your best bet. You won't get the interaction with the instructor but you'll still get more information than is available in most plant books. I'd strongly encourage you to check out these videos and give one or both of them a look. I'm glad I've got them both and will eventually pick up the rest of Mors' Plant Walk series.

Thanks for reading,


B