Appendix - From Wasteland to Wonder by Basil Camu

I’ll start with my one and only shameless plug: We share many fun and interesting how-to and educational videos from Leaf & Limb and Project Pando on our YouTube channel and in our education-only monthly newsletter. Check them out and subscribe to one or both to receive new content in the future.

Aside from the statement above, I have no financial interest or gains to be made of any kind from the recommendations in this Appendix. These are also not official recommendations from Leaf & Limb or Project Pando. They are my own and I’m sharing them purely because I have found them to be interesting, enjoyable, and/or helpful.

This list is not comprehensive and many of the authors below have written other books that are worth reading. I also know there are many great books, experts, and resources I have forgotten. I will continue to expand this list. If you have something you recommend, please let me know by sending a note to wonder@leaflimb.com - thanks!

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Before I dive into my recommendations, let me give particular emphasis to a very important book for those who are interested in real, tangible paths toward healing Earth and solving all the issues discussed in my book (and many others) in a reasonable amount of time: Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken

Drawdown is an essential read and one of the most important books written in the past 50 years. I highly and strongly recommend it. If you enjoy it, read Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation by Paul Hawken next. Here are my other recommendations:

Non-technical reading recommendations:

• Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America by Leila Philip
• Beyond the War on Invasive Species by Tao Orion
• The Biosphere by Vladimir Vernadsky
• Black Elk Speaks by John Gneisenau Neihardt
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters by Andrew H. Knoll
• Carbon: The Book of Life by Paul Hawken
• Chasing Dragonflies: A Natural, Cultural, and Personal History by Cindy Crosby and Peggy Macnamara
• Climate - A New Story by Charles Eisenstein
• Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet by Ben Goldfarb
• Cycles of Life by Vaclav Smil
• Dirt, the Erosion of Civilizations and Growing a Revolution by David R Montgomery
• Eager Beavers Matter by Ben Goldfarb
• Elderflora: A Modern History of Ancient Trees by Jared Farmer
• The End of Nature by Bill McKibben
• Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
• Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard
• A Forest Journey: The Role of Trees in the Fate of Civilization by John Perlin
• The Forest Unseen by David Haskell
• Forgotten Grasslands of the South: Natural History and Conservation 2nd Edition by Reed F. Noss
• Gaia by James Lovelock
• Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Half Earth by EO Wilson
• Harvesting the Biosphere by Vaclav Smil
• The Hidden Company That Trees Keep: Life from Treetops to Root Tips by James B. Nardi
• The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
• How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World by Ethan Tapper
• The Insect Crisis by Oliver Milman
• The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger
• The Milkweed Lands: An Epic Story of One Plant: Its Nature and Ecology by Eric Lee-Mäder and Beverly Duncan
• Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets
• The Myth of Progress by Tom Wessels
• Nature’s Best Hope and The Nature of Oaks by Douglas W Tallamy
  • NOTE: The list of various oak species and their traits in the back of this book is an excellent resource
• A New Garden Ethic by Benjamin Vogt
• A New Voyage to Carolina by John Lawson
• On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
• The Once and Future World by J.B. MacKinnon
• The Overstory by Richard Powers
• Reading the Forested Landscape by Tom Wessels
• Rebugging the Planet by Vicki Hird
• Rescuing the Planet by Tony Hiss
• A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
• The Song of Trees by David Haskell
• Suburbitat: A Guide to Restoring Nature Where We Live, Work, and Play by Jim Tolstrup
• These Trees Tell a Story by Noah Charney
• This is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan
• Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City by Kate Brown
• To Speak for the Trees by Diana Beresford-Kroeger
• Travels of William Bartram by William Bartram
• Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America by Paul S. Martin
• The Universe Story by Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry
• Urban Forests by Jill Jonnes
• Water in Plain Sight, Reindeer Chronicles, and Cows Can Save the Planet by Judith Schwartz
• The Way by Edward Goldsmith
• The Web of Life by Fritjof Capra
• What a Plant Knows by Daniel Chamovitz
• Wild New World by Dan Flores
• Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm by Isabella Tree
• The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles Mann
• The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

Technical reading recommendations:

• 10 Steps to Gardening with Nature by Dr. Elaine Ingham and Dr. Carole Ann Rollins
• Abiotic Disorders of Landscape Plants: A Diagnostic Guide by Laurence Costello
• Arboriculture: Integrated Management of Landscape Trees, Shrubs, and Vines 4th edition by Richard W. Harris
• Attracting Native Pollinators by Xerces Society
• The Body Language of Trees by Claus Mattheck
• The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding, Big and Small by Isabella Tree
• Cass Turnbull’s Guide to Pruning, 3rd Edition by Cass Turnbull
• Climate-Wise Landscaping: Practical Actions for a Sustainable Future, Second Edition by Sue Reed and Ginny Stibolt
• The Complete Guide to Home Permaculture: How to Transform Your Yard into a Thriving and Productive Ecosystem by Brandy Hall
• The Ecological Farm by Helen Atthowe
• Edible Forest Gardens by Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier
• The Forager’s Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants by Samuel Thayer
• Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway
• Garden Revolution by Larry Weaner and Thomas Christopher
• The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants by Neil Diboll & Hilary Cox
• Growing Trees from Seed: A Practical Guide to Growing Native Trees, Vines and Shrubs by Henry Kock
• Holistic Management, Third Edition by Allan Savory
• An Illustrated Guide to Pruning, 3rd Edition by Ed Gilman
• Life of a Leaf by Steven Vogel
• The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden by Doug Tallamy and Rick Darke
  • NOTE: The native plant recommendation lists in this book are excellent
• The Maya Forest Garden by Anabel Ford and Ronald Nigh
• Mid-Atlantic Native Meadows by Xerces Society
• Mini Forest Revolution by Hannah Lewis
• Modern Arboriculture by Alex Shigo
• Mycorrhizal Planet by Michael Phillips
• Native Meadowscaping by Indigenous Landscapes (Solomon Gamboa)
• Native Plant Propagation by Jan Midgley
  • NOTE: This one is tricky to purchase. You must email Jan at midgleyjan231@gmail.com
  • Then send payment to: Jan Midgley, 10560 W. Center Ave, Lakewood, CO 80226
  • For a single copy, mail a check for $25 to the address above, and Jan promptly sends the material. Cost includes the book and shipping.
• Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines: A Guide to Using, Growing, and Propagating North American Woody Plants by William Cullinan
• Nature’s Action Guide: How to Support Biodiversity and Your Local Ecosystem by Sarah F. Jayne
• Nature’s Garden by Samuel Thayer
• Oak Seed Dispersal by Michael A. Steele
• The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka
• Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West
• Planting Noah’s Garden by Sara Bonnett Stein
• Prairie Up by Benjamin Vogt
• Preventing Deer Damage by Robert Juhre
• Reducing Deer Damage in Landscapes by NC Cooperative Extension
• The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation: From Seed to Tissue Culture, Second Edition by Michael Dirr
• The Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Garden Amendments by Nigel Palmer
• Restoration Agriculture by Mark Shepard
• The Rodale Book of Composting by Grace Gershuny and Deborah Martin
• Routledge Handbook of Urban Forestry by Francesco Ferrini, Cecil C. Konijnendijk van den Bosch, Alessio Fini
• Sowing Beauty by James Hitchmough
  • NOTE: This book contains detailed information about creating custom seed blends for meadows that is helpful
• Teeming with Microbes, Teeming with Fungi, Teeming with Nutrients, and Teeming with Bacteria by Jeff Lowenfels
• Tending the Wild by Kat Anderson
• Tree Biology Notebook, Revised Edition by Richard C. Murray
• A Tree Care Primer by Chris Roddick and Katherine Dana
• Tree Risk Assessment Manual, Second Edition by Julian A. Dunster, E. Thomas Smiley, Nelda Matheny, and Sharon Lilly
• Trees: A Complete Guide to Their Biology and Structure by Roland Ennos (this is my favorite tree biology book)
• Up by Roots by James Urban
• USDA Woody Plant Seed manual from 2008
• Weeds of the South by Charles T. Bryson and Michael S. DeFelice
• Weeds: Control Without Poisons by Charles Walters Jr.
• Wood Decay Fungi Common to the Northeast and Central United States, 2nd Edition by Christopher J. Luley
  • NOTE: This book can be hard to find but is readily available through the International Society of Arboriculture
• The Woodchip Handbook by Ben Raskin
• The Xerces Society Guide: Farming with Native Beneficial Insects

Reading recommendations pertaining to changing the status quo:

Healing Earth requires more than knowledge about trees, flowers, and soil. It also requires shifting how we think, organize, and lead. These are some of the books that helped shape my approach.

• Breaking Through Gridlock by Gabriel Grant and Jason Jay
• Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth
• The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience by Wangari Maathai
• Honeybee Democracy by Thomas Seeley
• The New Climate War by Michael Mann
• Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
• The Responsible Company by Yvon Chouinard and Vincent Stanley
• Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants by Jane Goodall and Gail Hudson
• Teeming: How Nature’s Oldest Teams Adapt and Thrive by Tamsin Woolley-Barker
• Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
• The Uncontrollability of the World by Hartmut Rosa
• We’re All Climate Hypocrites Now by Sami Grover
• Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas
• Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh

Plant and ecological databases and lists:

• Alan Weakley & UNC Botanical Garden Flora of the Southeast
• Audubon Society Native Plant Finder
• The Biota of North America Program
• Bplant.org
• Classification of the Natural Communities of North Carolina
• Homegrown National Park Native Plant Databases
• Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder Tool
• The National Wildlife Federation native plant database
• Native Plant Trust from Go Botany
• NC Native Plant Society recommended native species
• NCSU Plant Finder
• Pollinator-friendly native plant lists from Xerces
• Southeastern Flora

Resources to help with plant ID:

• Eastern Trees (Peterson Field Guide) by George A. Petrides and Janet Wehr
• Field Guide to the Grasses, Sedges, and Rushes of the United States by Edward Knobel
• Google Lens - ditto for above, but not as good
• Grasses, Sedges, Rushes: An Identification Guide by Lauren Brown and Ted Elliman
• Grasses: An Identification Guide by Lauren Brown
• iNaturalist - an amazing app to help with plant ID. It works great for mushrooms, insects, and sorts of other life as well!
• Manual of the Grasses of the United States by A. S. Hitchcock
• Mistaken Identity - Invasive Plants and their Native Look Alikes
• National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers - Eastern Region
• National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Trees of North America by Bruce Kershner
• Native Plants of the Southeast by Larry Mellichamp
• Native Trees of the Southeast by L. Katherine Kirkman, Claud L. Brown, and Donald J. Leopold
• PictureThis - my second favorite plant ID app
• The Sibley Guide to Trees by David Allen Sibley
• Trees of the Carolinas Field Guide by Stan Tekiela
• Trees of the Southeastern United States by Wilbur H. Duncan and Marion B. Duncan
• Wild Flowers of North Carolina by William S. Justice, C. Ritchie Bell, Anne H. Lindsey
• Wildflower Search Online Database
• Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast by Laura Cotterman, Damon Waitt, Alan Weakley
• Winter Tree Identification by Donald L. Hagan, Crystal Strickland and Hailey Malone

Some great podcasts related to these topics:

• Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature
• Bird Hugger
• Bug Banter (from Xerces Society)
• Climate Connections (from the Yale Center for Environmental Communication)
• Completely Arbortrary
• Cultivating Place
• Earth To Humans
• Earth Wise
• Emergence Magazine Podcast
• Growing Greener
• In Defense of Plants
• The Joe Gardener Show
• Jumpstart Nature
• Let’s Argue About Plants (from Fine Gardening)
• Locals Share Green Action (from GoGreenLocally)
• Mother Earth News Podcast
• The Native Plant Podcast
• Native Plants, Healthy Planet
• Nature Guys
• Nature Revisited
• Nature’s Archive
• Nerdy About Nature
• The No-Till Flowers Podcast
• Planet Visionaries (from the Washington Post)
• The Plant a Trillion Trees Podcast
• The Poor Prole’s Almanac Podcast
• Regenerative Agriculture Podcast by John Kempf
• Think: Sustainability
• This Green Earth
• Tractor Time (from Acres USA)
• A Way to Garden

General online resources and experts:

(please note that some of these are from non-profits and authors that give away their work for free - please support them if you are able)

• Acres USA - the industry organization and publisher for all things regenerative agriculture. I have learned so much from their magazines, events, and books
• Aldo Leopold Foundation
• American Forests is doing amazing work regarding tree equity
• Arbor Day Foundation
• Aside from his books, Benjamin Vogt offers a variety of great classes and resources related to prairies
• Bio4Climate
• Didi Pershouse - author, educator, and soil sponge strategist
• The Ecologist
• Free courses about trees, structural pruning, soil, and more from Ed Gilman and the University of Florida - incredible, informative content for free
• Edible Acres - one of my favorite YouTube channels. Sean’s work has helped us tremendously at Project Pando
• Dr. Elaine Ingham - she was one of the top experts on all things soil.
  • She also had a robust YouTube channel with many great videos
• Emergence Magazine produces incredible content - their newsletter is one of my favorites
• Homegrown National Park - an initiative from Doug Tallamy and his talented colleagues aimed at planting 20 million acres of native plants in suburban spaces in the U.S.
• Indigenous Environmental Network
• James White (my favorite rhizophagy expert) - here is a good presentation
• Jimi Sol makes great videos about many topics (and related topics) in this book
• Courses, videos, and podcast from Joe Gardener by Joe Lamp’l
• John Liu - Ecologist, famous filmmaker, founder of Ecosystem Restoration Camps
  • His documentary Hope in a Changing Climate about the Loess Plateau
  • The Lesson of Loess Plateau teaches exactly that
  • A link to his various papers, presentations, and films
• Work from Dr. Kim Coder
• Mt. Cuba Center is doing all sorts of amazing experiments and research related to native meadows, high density plantings, and so much more
• NASA Global Climate Change
• The Nature Conservancy
• Patagonia Action Works - I love their alerts and petitions
• Plant Baby Plant - this is Robin Wall Kimmerer’s advocacy group
• Pollinator Partnership
• Project Drawdown - this is Paul Hawken’s non-profit doing the work outlined in his books
• The monthly newsletter from Rebecca McMackin
• There are some great online communities on Reddit:
  • Arborists
  • Native Plant Gardening
• Richard Perkins has amazing videos and resources regarding regenerative agriculture and permaculture
• Rodale Institute - another powerhouse for regenerative agriculture
  • They have many great compost guides, like this one
• Product catalog and various articles from Roundstone Seeds, Prairie Nursery, and Ernst Seeds are all highly informative, such as:
  • A bunch of helpful articles from Ernst Seeds
  • Five Steps to Successful Prairie Establishment and Establishing a Prairie from Seed by Prairie Nursery
  • Six Basic Elements for a Successful Native Grass and Forb Establishment by Roundstone Seeds
• Science of Doom - my favorite blog for all things related to climate science
• Sierra Club
• Skeptical Science blog - they provide a weekly climate news roundup that is highly informative, one of my go-to items each week
• Society for Ecological Restoration
• Soil Health Institute
• My favorite soil microbiology testing centers/experts are:
  • Earthfort
  • Foothill Biological
  • Red Mountain Soil Ecology
  • Rhizos
• A soil temperature tool, courtesy of Syngenta (I hesitate to recommend this given that it’s Syngenta, but the soil temperature feature is useful)
• Southeastern Grasslands Institute
• Here are some writers I enjoy following on Substack:
  • Cultivating Place Thinking Out Loud This Week
  • Design Your Wild by Heather Evans
  • Grow Like Wild by Rebecca McMackin
  • The Grumpy Optimists by George Wade
  • Judith D. Schwartz
  • Living Small by Laura Fenton
  • The Poor Prole’s Almanac: Restoration Ecology by Andy Ciccone
  • The Rot by Cass Marketos
  • Science of Doom
  • Soil Is Sexy by Andie Marsh
  • What If We Get It Right? by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
• SUGi collaborates with a global network of forest makers by planting pocket forests using the Miyawaki method
• I really enjoy the documentary Symphony of the Soil!
• TREE Fund
• Trees from Seed on Facebook
• Troy Hinke is a composting expert and consultant that I highly recommend - check out this podcast interview “What’s Brewing? A Compost Podcast”
• Urban and Community Forestry Society
• Walter Jehne - Australian microbiologist and climatologist
  • Here is one of his best lectures
• Water Stories is a learning, training, and action platform focused entirely on Water Cycle restoration
• Articles, how-to guides, and podcast from A Way to Garden by Margaret Roach
• Wild Ones - one of my favorite national organizations!
• Anything from Xerces Society - they offer a litany of free, very informative ebooks and publications about all sorts of important topics

Helpful tools and supplies:

• Bag-A-Nut seed collection tools
• Bat Houses and all things related to bats from Bat Conservation and Management
• My favorite binoculars for a reasonable price
• EcoBlend - my favorite natural herbicide made with soybean oil and other natural ingredients
• Felco bypass pruners are world class
• If you need a specific seed, consider Jelitto out of Germany. They have a collection of virtually every seed in the world. But they are very expensive.
• For loppers, I prefer the options from Stihl
• The best, most responsibly made mosquito spray from Murphy’s Naturals
• Purdue Plant Doctor - a handy site to help ID various pests
• Roundstone Seeds - my favorite overall seed vendor
• My other favorite seed vendors are:
  • Ernst Seeds
  • Prairie Moon Nursery
• Silky Saws are also world class!
• Here is a spreadsheet to help with creating custom seed mixes, courtesy of Xerces Society
• Sunseeker - my favorite app for tracking sun position throughout the year to help determine sun exposure on a site
• The Uhlik Repeater - the best rat trap should you need it
• Vermicomposting tools, supplies, and so forth from Urban Worm Company

Noteworthy organizations and experts local to Raleigh and surrounding cities:

• Audubon North Carolina - join a local chapter!
• Carolina Community Garden
• Carolina Vegetation Survey
• Compost products and services:
  • Brooks Compost
  • Compost collection in Durham/Raleigh/Chapel Hill/Cary: CompostNow
  • NewSoil Vermiculture
  • Raleigh Yard Waste - they offer excellent, cheap leaf mold and leaf compost
• Duke Campus Farm
• Durham Bee City Committee
• Durham Community Land Trust
• Earthseed Land Collective
• The Great Raleigh Cleanup
• The Great Southeast Pollinator Census
• JC Raulston Arboretum
• Local designers:
  • Dale Batchelor with Gardener by Nature
  • Deep Roots Natives
  • Matthew Arnsberger of Piedmont Environmental Landscaping & Design
  • Preston Montague - A talented educator, landscape architect, and artist who has a deep appreciation and understanding for all things related to native plants.
• Local Garden Clubs
• Local native plant nurseries:
  • A list of native nurseries in the Southeast, compliments of North Carolina Botanical Garden
  • Deep Roots Natives
  • Field to Cottage Nursery
  • Flowering Earth Natives
  • Mellow Marsh Farm - they sell amazing native saplings, live stakes, etc.
  • Rachel’s Natives
• Local non-profits doing work pertaining to this book:
  • Cary Tree Archive
  • Croatan Institute
  • Durham Wildlife Stewards
  • Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association
  • Eno River Association
  • Extra Terrestrial Projects
  • ForestHer NC
  • Friends of Bolin Creek
  • Haw River Assembly
  • Keep Durham Beautiful
  • Lands & Waters South
  • NC Master Naturalists
  • Neuse River Hawks Conservationists
  • North Carolina Urban Forest Council
  • Piedmont Environmental Alliance
  • RewildNC
  • South Wake Conservationists
  • Toward Zero Waste
  • Toxic Free NC
  • Trees for the Triangle
  • Tri-County Conservationists
  • Triangle Land Conservancy
  • The Umstead Coalition
  • We Plant It Forward
• NC Botanical Garden
  • They have many excellent resources for gardening with native plants
  • And for removing invasive plants as well!
• NC Invasive Plant Council
• NC Native Plant Forum on Facebook
• NC Native Plant Society - join a local chapter! (I’m part of the Margaret Reid Chapter)
• NC Wildlife Federation - their newsletter the Butterfly Highway is a must-read!
• North Carolina Heritage Program - they ensure public access to information that is needed to weigh the ecological significance of natural areas and to evaluate potential ecological impacts of conservation and development projects.
• Piedmont Naturalists on Meetup
  • Speaking of which, Von (the group organizer) created this resource with some local designers and native plant nurseries - I am not familiar with all of these but I know that generally Von knows her stuff when it comes to native ecology (she has been an active Project Pando volunteer for many years)
• Pollinator Friendly Alliance
• Prairie Ridge Ecostation - they have an incredible collection of native trees!
• Preserve Rural Durham
• Sarah P. Duke Gardens
• Sierra Club North Carolina Chapter
• Soil temperatures in NC

Last but not least:

Buy from B-Corps! These are good companies doing good things (we are a B-Corp as well). Here is a list of all the B-Corps in North Carolina, courtesy of Southern Energy Management. Here is the national B-Corp directory.