We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachael Bush a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Rachael thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Pre-pandemic, my day job was teaching botany to kids from kindergarten to eighth grade. Sharing my botanical knowledge with kids was the highlight of my day! When the world shut down, I looked at my lesson plans and tried to figure out how to get them in front of a larger audience. With the knowledge I gained from the League of Utah Writers and the people I met who guided me through this process, I turned my botany curriculum into a series of books titled Botany for Everyone.

These books are aimed at educators, home school groups, and parents with inquisitive kids. Each book covers a single subject and is short enough to present material without losing kids’ interest. They cover anatomy, form, and function and are written in a way that’s accurate without being overwhelming. I illustrate them with vivid images that are artistic and accurate. Each book includes an activity to do with adult and a glossary with IPA pronunciation for words people may not be familiar with so they can read with confidence. Because they are based on the curriculum I created while teaching, they all cover various Next Generation Science Standards.

When I was in classrooms, I found that teachers weren’t covering botany in their lesson plans because the information and vocabulary was so foreign to them. There aren’t many places to expand on botanical knowledge, and there weren’t any easy-to-present resources for teachers to use in class. Not to mention the time it would take for a teacher to seek out this information on their own and try and figure out what’s important and what’s not. I created my books to support teachers and share my love of plants with a wider audience. All of this was possible because of my writing community support.

Rachael, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve taken my botany degree and turned it into something I can share with a wide audience. I titled my series Botany for Everyone because everyone should know the basics of botany.

I use alcohol ink to create all my illustrations, which are botanically accurate and pretty all at the same time. There aren’t books like this available and it is my mission to bring botany to every classroom.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The thing that’s been driving me for the last four years is my goal to share botany with as many people as I can. I would love to travel to every classroom, but that’s impossible. My Botany for Everyone books can reach a wide audience to share my love of plants with everyone.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding part of creating my botany books has been interacting with educators. I want to make it easy for teachers of all grade levels to cover botany basics. There is nothing quite as wonderful as sharing something so close to my heart with people who appreciate it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://botanyforeveryone.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/botanyforeveryone/

Image Credits

Image credit Stephanie Howerton