Make Haste Slowly is a collection of pebbles in a mountain stream. It aims at a specific notion of reality and a particular way of seeing: that nature is multiplicitous, polyphonic, always churning, in process. The persistent heat of transformation is what keeps a thing glowing and growing — a life, embers in a fire, irons burning hot.
In studying nature we study ourselves, our culture – we reflect and stretch and grow like trees. We gain metaphor. We move to un-anaesthetize, re-imagine our place, be affected by beauty. We learn to participate in, create, beauty.
Beauty then is our purpose, the pattern of pebbles more than the sum of their parts. Join me.
Joshua Paquette is a botanist and teacher who enjoys sharing his love of plants, ecology, and the natural world. Of particular interest to him is how our personal stories transform when we intersect with the wider ecosystems around us. Joshua finds that engagement with natural landscapes coupled with in-depth observation and wonder brings a sense of engagement and joy to people’s lives and he aspires to share that sense of place with his community.
Joshua holds certification in herbalism from the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism (NAIMH), as well as from the Columbines School of Botanical Studies. He began his formal study of the natural world in 2005 at the University of Maine, Orono where he was introduced to the craft of environmental education. Since then he has had the opportunity to work with some outstanding botanists and herbalists in the field. His time with Howie Brounstein and Steven Yeager at the Columbines School of Botanical Studies in Eugene, Oregon has enlivened his passion for botany, ecology, and wildcrafting ethics. His studies with Paul Bergner at The North American Institute of Medical Herbalism in Boulder, Colorado revealed the powers of vitalism as a therapeutic approach to healing as well as a way of living—namely, that our body's innate intelligence does much of work, one has only to encourage the flames a bit and step out of the way (which is much more challenging than it sounds).
Joshua teaches workshops on field botany, wildcrafting ethics, herbalism, myth and story. He is a core faculty member at Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism (CSCH) in Lafayette, Colorado, where he teaches botany, nutrition, herbalism, and natural therapeutics.