Required Reading: The Outside Institute Field Guide to the Hudson and Upper Delaware Valleys

For aspiring East Coast adventurers who want to explore nature in the Hudson and Upper Delaware valleys, The Outside Institute’s new guide to local flora, fauna, and fungi identifies 52 kinds of prevalent trees, mushrooms, plants, birds, and other animals.

Cowritten by Gardenista contributor Laura Silverman and naturalist at large Gilian Rappaport, the 128-page volume one of The Outside Institute Field Guide has illustrations by artist Lucy Engelman.

The first of three seasonal volumes, The Outside Institute Field Guide focuses on summertime environs, and in addition to descriptions of plants and animals has “medicinal, culinary, craft, and historical information of note,” says Silverman.

A third volume of the field guide, for spring, will be published in April.

See more of Laura Silverman’s work, including the spoils of a seaside foraging trip on Cape Cod:

• An End-of-Summer Trip to Cape Cod with Laura Silverman
• Garden-to-Table Recipe: Pickles from a Cook’s Garden
• Garden Visit: A Cook’s Garden in Upstate New York