100 Maine Plants ep.2 (species 7-20) [the wild child project]

Standish, Maine -- This episode was long overdue and a tough edit to bring down to even the 15 minute mark! 13 more species that grow wild in Maine and the greater Northeastern Woodlands region (New England, Great Lakes, Maritime Canada, etc).

I try to build in some "eco-literacy" lessons by introducing concepts like "disturbance", "pioneer species", "ecological edge", and tying the plants to their roles in the process of "succession". I'll try to focus even more around sub-themes like this next time.

I had so much raw footage from that day, I realized I should have figured out beforehand how to break up the episode into parts. This time I just chopped out large chunks (there was easily another 10+ plants I cut for next time). I will be more conscious of this going into the next few shoots and try to keep them focused, short and sweet.

The Wild Child Project educational series has been part of the plan since before I imagined starting a YouTube channel but I have a lot of struggle with inertia getting the episodes produced: It's extremely important to me so I envision a super high quality end-product that is currently out of the reach of my time and production capacities and get a little too critical of these early experimental episodes.

This episode was a doozy for my brain: There was so much raw footage --a lot of it could have been greatly improved -- it took a long time and many days of editing to try and cut it into something that I could force myself to sit through and watch. Biggest takeaway was just reinforcing that "rubbermaid rule" by Steve Stockman: that a project will expand to fill the size of the container you give it: aka, make things short and constrained and you will be able to get it done much easier (and more effectively) than with vague deadlines and more length. I've got a few strong ideas for the next few episodes to keep them more focused and engaging. Stay tuned.

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[Noidhole]

I am a nurse and moved to Maine in July with my wife and my dog. Before becoming a nurse I was a landscape crew manager. Though my passion is nursing I am a huge plant guy. We just bought a home in Standish and have 3 acres of fairly old forest that I cannot wait to explore. Your videos are so great. I have learned so much. If you ever want to take the dogs for a hike and look at some plants let me know.

[philredo]

This really is such a helpful series. Love the pink slipper. Thanks.

[RK-wseb]

I just started watching your 100 Maine plants and am loving it. This was extremely educational. Thank you for this!

[chestnutplanter]

"white birch bark is like a cheat code for fire starting" 🤣 it's the truth though! Great series nice to learn new plants and see old friends as well.

[josephbarnett]

Tallamy and others say invasives like autumn olive are not nutritious as the natives they displace. But birds eat and spread them.

[Noidhole]

Oh, also staghorn sumac can be used to make a delicious tea by soaking the berries.

[AnimeWorlds]

Mosquitos hate sweetfern. Indigenous people used the fragrance as bug repellent

[scrapsteenlifeintheforks]

You should add to the education of things like sweet fern is great for anti itch medicine or mosquito repelent