Book Review by Hannah Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide: 33 Healing Herbs to Know, Grow, and Use is a staple book to have at home. It is suitable for all levels of herbal experience and contains recipes applicable for all members of the family. If you are a beginner herbalist or curious to…
Cattails are pretty amazing plants! The common marsh, lake, pond and ditch plant is actually a very valuable and multipurpose plant, with technology, food, permaculture and even medicinal uses. → Click here to read Wolf College’s comprehensive Cattail guide, including how to find, identify, harvest, transplant, and cook cattails. Cattails: Top Survival Food At Wolf…
No first-aid kit is complete without a medicinal salve. A salve is an ointment used topically (externally) that helps to heal and protect our skin. It is a natural herbal remedy that is easy to make and can be used for a variety of skin troubles — from sunburns to bee stings to eczema and…
Lorraine Olivas-Romey with Hericlum Abietis – Lion’s Mane Mushrooms[/caption Guest writer Lorraine Olivas-Romey is treasurer of the Snohomish County Mycological Society through which you can join her and other members on mushroom forays and their incredible October Mushroom Show. Wild Edible Mushroom Hunting Foraging for mushrooms has recently become quite popular. Is it due to…
Read More “Top 5 Wild Edible Mushrooms for Wilderness Survival in the Northwest” »
Book Review by Patrick Wiley When I received an unexpected email detailing the upcoming release of Nikki van Schyndel’s Becoming Wild, I was ecstatic. I had heard about the book seven years prior, but it had practically become an urban legend. Drawing upon my own experience and occasional lack of follow through, I had long…
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Living near the Pacific coast, we have the luxury of being in close proximity to countless numbers of seaweed (edible algea) including kelp species, each with their own flavors and uses. One of my all-time favorite seaweeds to use is kelps such as kombu (laminaria spp.) in the creation of dashi stock – the flavorful base…
Read More “Making Healthy Natural Miso Soup with Kombu Kelp Seaweed” »
Check out other cooking blog posts by Wolf College wilderness chef Charles Borrowman including How to Cook for Backpacking Trips and more. When on a backcountry wilderness or backpacking expedition, it doesn’t take much more than the thought of yet another night of eating half soggy, half crunchy freeze-dried disaster to wrinkle one’s nose up…
Please click here to read critical introductory material in Hiking & Backpacking Leadership Part I – Outdoor Risk Management including how to Engage the Frontal Cortex, recognize the difference between Perceived & Actual Risk, and mitigating the Eight Great Outdoor Hazards. These articles are designed to help the outdoor leaders cut the chaff, and start…
If you would like intensive, hands-on training to become a highly effective outdoor leader, join us in mid June for our annual OUTDOOR LEADERSHIP TRAINING EXPEDITION: Backpacking into Wolf Country course or stay all summer and graduate from one of our six unique residential summer Environmental Education Apprenticeships on Outdoor Leadership & Nature Guiding, on Ethnobotany…
Read More “Hiking & Backpacking Leadership Part I – Outdoor Risk Management” »
Do you get a vague feeling that you hike past a lot of wildlife without seeing it – the deer hiding in the thicket, the coyote silently watching your every move, or the minutes-old cougar tracks saying she heard you coming? Do you wish you could be as good as those wildlife photographers or famous…
Read More “Sensory Awareness – If You Learn Nothing Else!” »
It All Comes Back To Tracking – The Most Critical Outdoor Skill If you can find it, you don’t have to make it. But what’s more, tracking is exciting as a mystery. You can discover the story of what happened in nature before you got there, so next time you’re on the trail, see if…
Read More “Tracking Animals for Fun, Photography and the Hunt” »
This article is being published in honor of the 2014 Great Backyard Bird Count. Check out its great video instructions and online submissions tool. Identifying Birds by Sound & Behavior < If you’re not already excited by birds and bird voices, check out my previous article on bird language which will teach you when predators…
This article is being published in honor of the 2014 Great Backyard Bird Count. Check out its great video instructions and online submissions tool. Nature’s Internet Of all animals, birds in particular are in constant communication with one another. We can take advantage of their vocalizations to find not only them, but also to find…
Read More “Why Birds Sing & What Birds Say – Their Languages, Voices & Vocalizations” »
The American Camping Association slogan says “camp gives kids a world of good” and it’s so true. Good camps expose children to a safe, uplifting world of diversity, challenge, fun and success. Nowadays, there are specialized camps for every interest. But no matter the camp, it should include experiences rarely encountered in traditional schools which…
Read More “CAMP IS KEY – Why Summer Camp Is Critical For Childhood Development” »
It’s been a long time coming. The great Haitian-American naturalist John James Audubon hand-painted The Birds of America between 1927-1939 and with it, he set the standard for modern field guides. Now there are several excellent field guides to the birds, but it has only been recently that field guides to plants and other animals…
Read More “Reviews of the Top 10 Professional Wildlife Tracking Books” »
Beaked Hazelnuts (corylus cornuta) also cultivated and sold by the name Filberts, are found throughout much of North America, and they are one of just a couple native nuts available in Western Washington. Assuming you can beat the squirrels and jays to the harvest, or if you cultivate hazelnuts in your yard and protect them…
Read More “Filbert / Hazelnut Milk & Truffle Dessert Recipes” »
Click for camps, classes and workshops. Those of us living in the Pacific Northwest (and many other regions around the world) are fortunate to be gifted every spring with an abundance of Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica). While it’s sting can be unpleasant, it teaches us to pay attention to our surroundings and I believe that’s…
Read More “Stinging Nettle: Harvesting, Processing and Recipes” »
What are herbs and why might my chickens need them? An herb or herbaceous plant is generally defined as “any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume.” Herbs can be used to prevent both internal and external parasites (via ingestion or externally when a chicken rubs against/brushes when walking by…
Read More “Herbal and Critter Forage for Healthy Chickens” »
All of us have eaten insects, whether we knew it or not. As a kid, I even ate a worm on the playground to impress and gross out my friends. It’s not really a big deal. Unfortunately, adults who spent their whole lives growing up in western culture, now consider the notion of eating insects…
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