ברנדד  |  B R A N D E D

2017

Collaborator: Allissa Hartman

Oregon wild plants: Licorice Root and Salmon Berry

Oregon wild plants: Licorice Root and Salmon Berry

Plant walk at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, Portland, Oregon, with gardener and herbalist, Alissa Hartman

Plant walk at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, Portland, Oregon, with gardener and herbalist, Alissa Hartman

I begin with the the words of mother, plant ecologist, writer and professor, Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer.  In her memoir and love song to plants, Braiding Sweetgrass, she notes that children, by the age of three, can identify over 100 logos and less than 10 plants. Being a mother of two curious young ones, a wild spaces enthusiast myself and an אמא / a mom working hard to mend my consumeristic childhood, I was terrified by those numbers. So, I set about to test the theory.   I walked 10 blocks East and 10 blocks West on a commercial boulevard 3 blocks north from my house.  For the original survey I included logos from neighborhood businesses.  I worked with a naturalist to identify plants in my neighborhood and the neighborhoods where this project has been carried out.  I have worked with both kids and adults and the results are in.  The average person - adult or child - can identify far more logos than plants. How about you?

STOP!  Don't look ahead.  Take the test. (note: The logo images have been adjusted to represent global branding.  The plant images are specific to Oregon).

  1. Get a piece of paper and a pencil.

  2. Make two parallel columns numbered 1 - 30.

  3. Watch the logo slideshow below and write your answers in order.

  4. Do the same with the plants. Note these are local Pacific Northwest plants but many are found throughout the US.

  5. Email me a photo of your answers (and your mailing address) and I'll send you the correct answers and a little something in the mail as a thank you.