Sometimes your life crosses paths with someone over and over again. If they are a person you admire it is a great chance to learn new things and grow each time. Jan Philips has been an influence on my life for as long as I can remember. I first met Jan as a friend of my dad's. She and my dad were both outdoor educators so we went on cool trips like caving and rock climbing. From these trips I learned to love and feel confident in natural areas. Soon after that she became the principal of my grade school. I was a good student so I remember her as being the cool sub who would take us on spontaneous trips to the park to draw plants and made us pancakes out of dandelions and real maple syrup. I learned to really look closely at plants to draw them and identify them as edibles. During college and my early career she was an author that I knew. She wrote Wild Edibles of Missouri, which has been the authority on the subject for the last 40 years. I treasure my autographed copy and like to share what I have learned from the book with my friends. Now she is the major philanthropist supporting one of the landscapes I work on. It is a really neat sustainable landscape with rainscaping, a classroom, called the Jan Phillips Learning Center, and nature preserve. Working on this landscape has provided new challenges for me and many rewards as I watch it develop. Our paths have crossed in many ways and I have been challenged and improved each time.
this is amazing - one of my sheroes is also Jan Phillips - maybe another one, who was a catholic Sister for short time, wrote/authored No Ordinary Time,which has been a guide during these pandemic times of slow down (sabbath), reflect and enjoy doing less and being more!!