As a child I was drawn to the forest by its aesthetics. I felt as if I were wandering through a masterpiece painting. As I grew older, I wanted to know more about the many working parts of nature. I quickly learned this: If I wanted to know nature intimately, I needed to know what the Native Americans knew. After years of study and honing skills, I undertook seasonal, self-imposed “survival trips” in remote areas of the National Forest. As an adult I served as a naturalist for the Georgia Conservancy, wilderness director for High Meadows Camp, and as director of my own wilderness school – Medicine Bow – in the Appalachian Mountains.
This comprehensive study of North American plants leads the reader through proper identification of 100 common botanical species and how to use them as foods, medicines, craft materials, soaps, and insect repellents borrowing primarily from Native American traditions and backing up those ancient uses by modern research. Also covered are weather-proof shelter building, primitive cooking techniques, hunting with a throwing stick, water purification without metal cookware, and more.
Not only does this book appeal to the newcomer to survival skills by immersing him/her into the fine details of woods lore, it is also written for the teacher, parent, scout leader, park ranger, and nature center educator by presenting a lesson plan for over 200 projects or activities designed to edify and inspire young ones to return to nature.
The McPhersons cover a lot of ground: tool making, hide tanning, fire making, cooking, traps, containers, shelters, all of it geared mostly toward the Great Plains since they live in Kansas. I found the accompanying photographs to be a big plus, making the skills easier to replicate for the reader. The voice of the authors is personable and believable.
For a basic understanding of how the plant world functions and fits into the web of life, this book will give the reader a good foundation for entering into the vast domain of botany. The study of plants should be the first undertaking of the survival student. Why? Because plants provide most of your resource materials, and – unlike animals – they are accessible all the time. Meaning, they don’t run away.
The most critical stage of using plants is identification. An error in naming a plant could result in tragedy. Nature manufactures many chemicals harmful to humans. A plant practitioner must never guess. An ID must be positive. For that purpose, any woodsman/woman needs a reliable field guide with a user key that allows the reader to determine the name of a plant before any part of it is harvested. Mr. Newcomb has developed a user-friendly key for the layperson. It is much more efficient than most field guides without overwhelming the reader with intricate botanical vocabulary.
Lawrence Newcomb's system of identification on wild flowers is based on natural structural features that are easily visible to the untrained eye and enables amateurs and experts to identify almost any wildflower quickly and accurately.
Because Mr. Newcomb’s book (above) covers only herbs, shrubs, and vines, the survival student needs a good tree identifier (field guide) to cover “the standing people.” (The Cherokee name for “trees.”) Because I live in Georgia, this book serves me well. If you live outside of the Southeast, you’ll want to find a book germane to your area. Trees of Georgia contains good photographs of leaves, bark, flowers, buds, and fruits of over 200 species.
This field guide identifies 205 species and varieties, with plant descriptions that highlight differences between similar taxa. It also includes range maps and botanical keys for summer and winter.
Putting a wild plant into one’s mouth must be preceded by positive identification. This book’s text and photos offer guidance and recipes. It doesn’t try to cover a huge number of plant species, but the plants that are included are covered in more detail than in most plant books. The introduction alone, in my opinion, is worth the price of this book.
Already a huge success in previous editions, this must-have field guide now features a fresh new cover, as well as nearly 400 color photos and detailed information on more than 200 species of edible plants all across North America. With all the plants conveniently organized by season, enthusiasts will find it very simple to locate and identify their desired ingredients. Each entry includes images, plus facts on the plants habitat, physical properties, harvesting, preparation, and poisonous look-alikes. The introduction contains tempting recipes and theres a quick-reference seasonal key for each plant.
Season-by-season guide to identification, harvest, and preparation of more…
Adventures in the Radio Trade documents a life in radio, largely at Canada's public broadcaster. It's for people who love CBC Radio, those interested in the history of Canadian Broadcasting, and those who want to hear about close encounters with numerous luminaries such as Margaret Atwood, J. Michael Straczynski, Stuart McLean, Joni Mitchell, Peter Gzowski, and more. And it's for people who want to know how to make radio.
Crafted with gentle humour and thoughtfulness, this is more than just a glimpse into the internal workings of CBC Radio. It's also a prose ode to the people and shows that make CBC Radio great.
"In dozens of amiable, frequently humorous vignettes... Mahoney fondly recalls his career as a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio technician in this memoir... amusing and highly informative." — Kirkus Reviews
"What a wonderful book! If you love CBC Radio, you'll love Adventures in the Radio Trade. Joe Mahoney's honest, wise, and funny stories from his three decades in broadcasting make for absolutely delightful reading! — Robert J. Sawyer, author of The Oppenheimer Alternative''
"No other book makes me love the CBC more." — Gary Dunford, Page Six *** Adventures in the Radio Trade documents a life in radio, largely at Canada's…
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