PRESENTATION: A Talk With M. Kat Anderson, Author, Ethnoecologist, Gatherer
October 24 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
The Central Sierra Chapter of the California Native Plant Society is honored to host Dr. M. Kat Anderson, author of Tending the Wild and her newest work, I Sing to the Earth, and She Sings Back, on October 24, 6PM, in Faith Hall at Church of the 49ers, Columbia, CA.
NOTE: This event is open to the public. Please visit Eventbrite to reserve your spot. We expect this event may be at venue capacity and ask you to RSVP ahead of time.
Reconnecting with nature is not simply a matter of spending more time outdoors. Western consumer culture encourages us to view nature through a lens of separation. Whether inside or out, we direct our precious attention to concerns that often leave us more alienated from both the natural world and ourselves. We’ve lost contact with traditional, earth-based wisdom that can guide us back. This wisdom lives on in Indigenous cultures that pre-date colonialism and industrialization-and it lives on in our own bodies, which know, deep down, how to connect.
I Sing to the Earth and She Sings Back, provides readers with practical, grounded tools for reclaiming earth-based wisdom. Each chapter explores a distinct pathway to intimacy with nature: slowing down to reimagine time; reawakening childlike wonder; seeing the sentience of other life forms; practicing reciprocity and partnership; attuning to seasonal and lunar cycles; and more. Throughout, M. Kat Anderson shares deep personal stories of her own quest to heal a sense of disconnection from the earth. As a non-Native author who has collaborated with California Indigenous elders for decades, she offers a perspective shaped by humility, curiosity, and a commitment to respectful engagement. In a voice both scholarly and soulful, she opens a door for non-Native readers seeking authentic belonging to nature without cultural appropriation.
M. Kat Anderson is an ethnoecologist, writer, gardener, and gatherer dedicated to restoring relationships between people and native ecosystems. With a Ph.D. in Wildland Resource Science from UC Berkeley, she has spent over 25 years learning from Native American communities, integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) with Western science. As the author of Tending the Wild, she highlights indigenous stewardship practices essential for biodiversity, climate resilience, and cultural restoration. Her latest work, I Sing to the Earth and She Sings Back, explores how we can reimagine time, embrace reciprocity, and cultivate deep, healing relationships with the earth.
Kat lives in Redbud House, in Davis, California, where she is bringing wildness back to her garden and tending the plants native to the Central Valley and her other motherlands.
NOTE: This event is preceded by a chapter general meeting at 4PM and a potluck and social time at 5PM. Please join us for any or all of these events!