Frank Cook
When we think of Frank Cook, world citizen, herbal
extraordinaire, green wizard, botanical genius, Gaia-loving prophet of emerging
planetary medicine and transition cultures, we feel inspired to connect with
nature, eat something wild everyday, let our food be our medicine, practice
simple living, show up on plant walks, make mead and create wild fermentations,
and to love this one world rainbow family. We love you!
Frank taught us all the edible plants in our yard and
woods; he showed us what plants were medicine and gave us medicine he had made
from them; he awakened the herbal movement and graced our communities with old
knowledge of traditional healers and reminded us to appreciate the whole plant
and see plants as our allies; he encouraged us to think of local analog plants
to replace the endangered, over harvested species of the world and to walk the
green path.
But Frank Cook did more than that. He expanded our minds and aroused higher consciousness:
through his travel journals, his botany talk, his way of living by donation, by
taking us to our edges, and by asking questions like, "What plants will be with
us in this planetary culture rising?”, “How will you show up to help your
community transition into these changing times?”, and “How can we best move
forward?”.
As an earth lover, a teacher of plant lore, a wild food's enthusiast, a walking encyclopedia of plant knowledge and herbal healing, Frank Cook was expanding his own path into holistic science and the transition town movement through his recently earned masters in science degree at Schumacher College in England.
Frank was very much alive when he passed, full of visions, work and inspiration. He was known to say, "I am done with end users," meaning that as we learned this knowledge and way of being he was teaching, it was now our responsibility to pass it on.
Below are some links to further learn about Frank’s work and tributes to him:
Schumacher College tribute to Frank (6th article down)
Article in New Yorker about wild ferments
Radio interview about Transition Town Movement
In August of 2009, Frank Cook passed away unexpectedly. You can learn more about his passing here.
Click here to see some of Frank's last journal entries.