Pressing Plants, Pressing Issues

I've been pressing plants for years, long before I knew that John Muir was a dedicated botanist. Muir would set out on his journeys with only stale bread, coffee, and a cumbersome plant press. Cumbersome to some, but necessary to John Muir. He was a wandering botanist! I've been more of a sidetracked nature-grabber, gathering specimens in brief moments between worry and obligation. 

For years I pressed plants into my US passport, mostly because it was the only book I reliably kept nearby. I began to think of my passport as perfectly suited to the task. The plants of the land collected in the book of the land.

These days, I’ve adopted notebooks for my collecting. I jot down the date and location. My botanist's consciousness has bloomed. Muir's influence is settling in.

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