About this item
Potted plants aren't mere decoration; they offer a rare opportunity to find joy by caring for another living being. Summer Rayne Oakes keeps over 750 live houseplants spanning 400 species in her Brooklyn apartment. She's an environmental scientist, an entrepreneur, and (according to a New York Times profile) the icon of wellness-minded millennials who want to bring nature indoors. She even installed a sub-irrigation system and helpful watering hacks, such as a 150-foot expandable hose that connects to pipes under her kitchen sink, so she only has to spend about a half-hour a day tending to her plants--an activity that she describes as a "moving meditation." This isn't an interior design book about hanging ivy on your window sills. It's about the real reasons that it's good for you to bring plants inside. Most people think that the common potted plant is just a decorative object, but there's also a strong psychological benefit to taking care of plants as a path to mindfulness. Taking care of other living beings is a basic human need. Urban Millennials with weaker community networks than previous generations just don't have the chance to do that. This book ties together all the known benefits of taking care of plants (lower blood pressure, lower stress, cleaner air) with a bigger, less obvious benefit: Taking care of plants makes you a more life-giving person. Through colorful vignettes that draw us into the mysteries and hidden stories of our plants, Summer Rayne shows how our chlorophyllous friends can serve as a gateway to a greater life. Who doesn't want to cultivate beauty, care for the natural world, and live mindfully in these crazy times? Summer Rayne Oakes shows us the way.
About the Author
Summer Rayne Oakes is an entrepreneur, author and model whose work centers on health, wellness and sustainability. Graduating Cornell University cum laude with degrees in Environmental Science and Entomology, Oakes began to bridge her interest in ecological systems to industries that affect our everyday life - from what we wear to what we eat to what we grow.In 2009, while modeling full-time, Oakes co-founded the award-winning start-up Source4Style (now Le Souk) to connect designers to more sustainable textile suppliers around the globe - from cotton weavers in India to silk spinners in Cambodia. From there she applied her knowledge of sustainable systems to the world of food, helping to launch food startups seeking to build and strengthen more sustainable, regional food systems.After working to nix her own sweet tooth, Oakes founded SugarDetox.me in 2014, a website which offers easy-to-follow, affordable 10-day and 30-day guided cleanses, centered around helping people transition away from sugary, processed foods and to begin embracing whole foods free of added sugars. Most recently, she founded Homestead Brooklyn to help people become more attuned to nature in the city, largely around growing plants indoors and outdoors. Homestead Brooklyn includes a blog and Instagram channel (@homesteadbrooklyn) , a weekly YouTube series called "Plant One On Me", Plant Swaps, and the Houseplant Masterclass (houseplantmasterclass.com) - the first online audiovisual course on houseplant cultivation, care and maintenance. Oakes' vision is to help find the extraordinary in the everyday person by inspiring and empowering those to live an active, healthy, fulfilling and sustainable life. Her work has been featured in a range of media outlets worldwide including: CNN, The New York Times, The Guardian, Vogue, Vanity Fair, INC, and others. You may see her in Brooklyn cooking sugar-free meals, hanging out at her local community garden, or tending to her own copious indoor jungle. More about her work at www.summerrayne.net, www.homesteadbrooklyn.com, and www.sugardetox.me.
