I still remember very clearly the first 24 hours after my first daughter was born. All of the reality seemed lit by an incredible light, and I felt like a different person. I remember dropping my wife and our newborn Katie off at the house and then getting ready to rush to the grocery store. […]
Why do I love dandelions so much? You know, I could write a book on that. For now, let’s just say dandelions are another one of those amazingly delicious and nutritious herbs. Dandelion is the plant that inspired me to study herbal medicine. So it MUST be an incredible herb! “If you want to take […]
It’s that time of year again: The time when I dream of eating a hearty bowl of venison-chanterelle stew. And while we’re at it, let’s add some homemade bread and a mug of dandelion tea. Now, this isn’t a stew that came from a can or one of those soymilk-looking containers. This is a stew […]
I began this program with a relationship to fire similar to others who have grown up camping and enjoying the occasional winter night by the living room fire. I loved playing music with friends and family around a fire pit at the campsite. I loved making a fire in the fireplace on a chilly December […]
We joined the Wilderness Awareness School 7 years ago. We stumbled upon this gem when we moved to the Pacific Northwest and I was looking for an engaging “activity” for my daughter. At the time, Emily was 4 years old and she entered the Roots and Wings Program. We were impressed by the school’s focus […]
Imagine for a moment that first day of spring, when you wake up in the morning and the sun is rising in the east, the new green plants and shoots are emerging from the earth. The lovely songbirds have returned from their winter migration and are singing in the bushes outside your house. This is […]
Amphibians are key players in ecosystems on every continent except Antarctica. They contribute to both terrestrial and aquatic nutrient cycling and energy flows that hold ecosystems together. In particular, they are excellent and efficient converters of food energy into growth and reproduction and serve as both predators and prey. Tadpoles, for example, convert detritus (decaying […]
Don’t kill, spray, tear up, or destroy the weeds in your garden, yard, and fence rows. Many of them are actually highly-regarded, widely-used, and extremely-valuable medicinal herbs! What could be easier than growing an herb garden with no effort? Of course, you’ll have to harvest your edible weeds, but you would do that anyhow: it’s […]
As summer nights lengthen into autumn, the forests of the Catskill mountains in upstate New York fill with magical, mystical, medicinal, and edible wild mushrooms. “Toadstool” is a quaint name for the many mushrooms that spring forth between rains, while “fungi” is the more technical term. Fungi are plants, but plants without flowers, or roots, […]
Feeding wild birds doesn’t have to be expensive but once you start you should not stop feeding during the winter, once the birds become used to your feeding stations. You can stop feeding in the spring once insects and other fruits become available. Once most people start feeding wild birds, they don’t want to stop […]