For readers of The Stranger in the Woods and H Is For Hawk, a beautifully written and emotionally rewarding memoir about a father, his three sons, and a scrappy 100-acre piece of land in Upper Michigan.

Bruce Kuipers had never been much of a father or husband. Distant, angry, and a serial cheater, he shoved away his three sons--journalist Dean, forester Brett, and troubled Joe--and alienated his wife. But Bruce did succeed in imparting to his sons his love of the outdoors and the fishing and hunting skills involved in that passion.

In 1989, Bruce purchased a 100-acre property as a way to lure his sons back after a divorce that had done further damage to an already damaged family. The land was the perfect bait, but the moment the sons arrived, conflicts arose over whether the land--which had been degraded and reduced to a few stands of pine and blowing sand--should be left alone or be actively restored. After an impasse of years, Bruce acquiesced, and his sons proceeded with their restoration plan. What happened next was a miracle of nature.

Dean Kuipers weaves a beautiful and surprising story about the restorative power of land and of his own family, which so desperately needed healing. Heartwarming and profound, The Deer Camp is the perfect story of fathers, sons, and the beauty of the natural world.

A follow-up to Black Dog's bestselling "Country Wisdom and Know-How," the "Country Wisdom Almanac" provides hundreds of ideas and methods for living the good and simple life, plus information on weather, gardening, buying produce and cooking by season, holidays, frost dates, moon phases, and more.
Divided into the four seasons and then organized into 373 individual tips, the "Country Wisdom Almanac" presents a wide variety of ways to live a simpler, more self-sustained life year round. Each season offers home-improvement ideas (wallpaper a room in the Fall or build a stone wall in the Spring), crafts (create gorgeous homemade decorations for Christmas, Halloween, or the Fourth of July), recipes (use seasonal produce to create fresh, healthy meals), gardening advice (what and when to plant in order to get the maximum results from your land), and more.
Also included is year-round advice on caring for pets, creating your own health and beauty remedies, canning and preserving food, and more. Each season opens with a list of holidays and a guide to in-season produce. Appendices cover average weather by city and month, frost dates, and moon phases.

Handy little full colour map of Broads National Park. Detailed mapping and visitor information to the National Park along with a selection of photographs. Map at a scale of 1:91,000 (1.45 miles to 1 inch or 0.91 km to 1cm). The perfect way to explore this beautiful area of East Anglia. This small map gives a great overview of the Broads National Park. Clear, detailed mapping Key park, tourist and travel information Ideal for planning visits to the National Park Index to help locate and plan your trip This and the Broads Park Rangers Favourite Walks (ISBN: 9780008462727) are the perfect companions for exploring this superb walking area of East Anglia.

'An intriguing and mesmerising book' Ben Fogle My life is free, random and spontaneous. This in itself creates enormous energy and clarity in body and mind - Miriam Lancewood Miriam Lancewood is a young Dutch woman living a primitive, nomadic life in the heart of the mountains with her New Zealand husband. She lives simply in a tent or hut and survives by hunting wild animals, foraging edible plants and using minimal supplies. For the last six years she has lived this way, through all seasons, often cold, hungry and isolated in the bush. She loves her life and feels free, connected to the land and happy. This book tells her story, including the very practical aspects of such a life: her difficulties learning to hunt with a bow and arrow, struggles to create a warm environment in which to live, attempts to cross raging rivers safely and find ways through the rugged mountains and dense bush. This is interwoven with her adjustment to a very slow pace of life, her relationship with her much older husband, her interactions with the few other people they encounter, and her growing awareness of a strong spiritual connection to the natural world.

A DAILY MAIL BOOK OF THE WEEK: 'particularly enjoyable' 'Somehow laugh-out-loud funny - passionate, warm and full of fascinating insights into the eccentric world of the field naturalist.' - Isabella Tree, author of Wilding Water voles are small, brownish, bewhiskered and charming. Made famous by 'Ratty' in The Wind in the Willows, once they were a ubiquitous part of our waterways. They were a totem of our rivers. Now, however, they are nearly gone. This is their story, and the story of a conservationist with a wild hope: that he could bring them back. Tom Moorhouse spent eleven years beside rivers, fens, canals, lakes and streams, researching British wildlife. Quite a lot of it tried to bite him. He studied four main species - two native and endangered, two invasive and endangering - beginning with water voles. He wanted to solve their conservation problems. He wanted to put things right. This book is about whether it worked, and what he learnt - and about what those lessons mean, not just for water voles but for all the world's wildlife. It is a book for anyone who has watched ripples spread on lazy waters, and wondered what moves beneath. Or who has waited in quiet hope for a rustle in the reeds, the munch of a stem, or the patter of unseen paws. Praise for Tom Moorhouse: 'The pages of this book are shot through with quicksilver light reflected from wet fur - not a lament for our rivers but a chorus of hope for their future.' - Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path 'Beautiful and important. Tom's book is extraordinary in its gentle curiosity and sympathy for his subjects. I love this book.' - Sir Tim Smit KBE, Executive Vice-Chairman and Co-founder of the Eden Project 'Terrific. Lightly but beautifully written. Very moving. Water voles are adorable little beasts. They are also tough, randy and stroppy, as Tom Moorhouse makes clear in this wry, amusing account of the often bloody, painful and frustrating business of conservation fieldwork. 'I hold stubbornly to optimism,' he declares, and his Elegy for a River demands that we do the same.' - Christopher Somerville, walking correspondent for The Times and author of The January Man

Dorothy Hartley (1893 - 1985) is an author revered by enthusiasts for old English food and cookery and English country life. Her many books on these subjects, often illustrated with her own drawings, are collectors' items. Her greatest book, Food in England, has remained in print since its first appearance in 1954. During 1933 - 1936, she was commissioned by the Daily Sketch newspaper to write articles describing the English countryside, old English crafts and customs, country foods and country ways (with the odd excursion to Wales, Scotland and Ireand). She did her research in the British Museum (she had by then written several books of social history) and on the ground, travelling around the country on her sturdy bicycle, staying with her subjects or under hedges. These articles were to form her knowledge-bank which she used in several books that came out during the 1930s and beyond (particularly Here's England, 1935), but they have never been seen as they were first written. We offer a selection, with a foreword by Lucy Worsley (who is presenting the BBC TV documentary on Hartley to be transmitted this autumn) and introduced by the writer Adrian Bailey (who befriended Dorothy Hartley in her later life). The 60 articles are illustrated with some of Hartley's own snapshots which she kept as notes for future reference. The subjects range widely on matters as various as thatching, clog-making, eels, the country chemist, marram grass, sand shoes, crabs, sheep shearing, spring-cleaning, country kitchens, ploughing, weather lore, and elevenses. It will be classic.

In Working with the Curlew Trevor Robinson shares his enthusiasm and joy for his work as a shepherd on the moor at Great Whernside in Yorkshire and later as a farmhand near Leominster in Hereford: "A lovely environment, very busy and hard work with no lorries, no electric motors, no tractors, just nature's own sounds." He celebrates the intricate details of traditional farm life: selling rabbits at tuppence each, the village hop, sheep shearing, lambing, shire horses, haymaking, the warm welcome taste of tea on a snow-bound moor, muck spreading, cheese and bread making, trout-tickling, and killing the pig, a quiet job well done. During one severe Yorkshire winter six hundred sheep were lost, and he had to leave the job he loved, 'the call of the curlew was still over two months away, when it came I was not there to hear it'. His new job in Herefordshire brought different skills: hedge laying, ploughing matches, haymaking, chain harrowing and crop rotation, and inevitably, the arrival of tractor and combine harvester.

A wonderful resource book for any Waldorf or Waldorf-inspired kindergarten. Encourage children to engage with the seasons as they build bird boxes, use plant dyes, make earthworm boxes, grow and cook fresh herbs, create Easter bowls and care for butterflies. As well as fun nature activities -- both indoor and outside -- for children, this book also includes valuable background reading and advice for teachers, such as how to create your own kindergarten garden. All the activities in this book are based on practical experience from the Children's Nature and Garden Centre in Germany, and are fully tried and tested.

'Lots of ideas for making gifts and decorations but not spending tons of money buying them' Jenni Murray Celebrating midwinter is not about what you buy or how much you spend - it's about your attitude to life. Turn away from the frenetic consumerism of Christmas and rediscover the authentic and meaningful realities of this, the oldest and most precious celebration of the year. The true significance of midwinter is not found in any individual spiritual or religious belief or practice. Instead, the winter solstice provides an opportunity to celebrate what we as humans share; to set aside our differences and come together with a sense of community and cheer. Merry Midwinter is a cornucopia of ideas for how to make your own decorations (kissing boughs, advent wreaths, crackers, stockings and more); your own alternative gifts which cost nothing except your time and thought; your own entertainments and games; and simple, seasonal recipes from years gone by.

Mr Edgar Finchley, unmarried clerk, aged 45, is told to take a holiday for the first time in his life. He decides to go to the seaside. But Fate has other plans in store... From his abduction by a cheerful crook, to his smuggling escapade off the south coast, the timid but plucky Mr Finchley is plunged into a series of the most astonishing and extraordinary adventures. His rural adventure takes him gradually westward through the English countryside and back, via a smuggling yacht, to London. This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway bestseller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today. It has been dramatized twice for BBC Radio, with the 1990 series regularly repeated. What people are saying about the Mr Finchley series: 'Wonderful character from a kinder slower England between the wars.' 'An overlooked gem. An innocent picaresque novel set in an arcadian version of mid 20th century England. The literary equivalent of naive painting, it narrates the adventures of a respectable upper middle-aged man who takes retirement.' 'An antidote to the rush of the early 21st century.' 'A thoroughly enjoyable stroll through a vanished England with some lovable characters. Don't expect modern, fashionable agonisings, here there is good, evil, and understanding. A lovely reminiscent wallow of a read.' 'Gentle well told simple story, full of pleasant surprises, and a mild mannered believable hero. Loved it to bits.' 'So gentle, it hurts.' 'There is a freshness about the writing which is charming and that disarms criticism. Don't expect any great profundities, a gripping plot or inter-character tensions - these books are of the world of Billy Bunter and William Brown - but do expect a very well-written and enjoyable romp through early twentieth-century England in the company of an engaging protagonist.' 'A delightful story of a man who finds himself jolted out of his comfort zone and taken on a journey beyond his wildest imaginings.' 'Another lovely book detailing the adventures of Mr Finchley in altogether far too short a series. Full of humour and a book I was sorry to finish as I wanted it to go on and on.' 'Highly recommended for anyone seeking an entertaining amusing read.' 'A delight to be transported to an England I never knew despite growing up in the 1950s and to experience the countryside through the sharp eyes of the author who obviously had a great love of all things rural.' Editorial reviews: 'Quite delightful, with an atmosphere of quiet contentment and humour that cannot fail to charm ... The longer we travel with Mr Finchley, the better we come to love him. He makes us share his bread and cheese, and beer and pipe. His delight at the beauties of the countryside and his mild astonishment at the strange ways of men are infectious.' Daily Telegraph 'His gift of story-telling is obviously innate. Rarely does one come on so satisfying an amalgam of plot, characterisation and good writing.' Punch 'A paean to the beauties of the English countryside and the lovable oddities of the English character... [Mr Finchley] runs into one astonishing situation after another, sticking gamely to his resolve that he must take things as they come and accept them.' New York Times 'What counts for most in the story, as it did for Mr Finchley, is his mounting pleasure in vagabondage and the English scene.' The Times 'There is such a gentle humour in the book ... Mr Finchley is the ideal Englishman.' Daily Sketch

American scientist and author Rachel Carson is said to have sparked the modern day environmental movement with the publication of Silent Spring in 1962. She made vivid the prospect of life without birdsong. But has her warning been heeded? Fifty years on, Conor Mark Jameson reflects on the growth of environmentalism since Silent Spring was published. His revealing and engaging tale plots milestone events in conservation, popular culture and political history in the British Isles and beyond, tracing a path through the half century since 'zero hour', 1962. Around this he weaves his own observations and touching personal experiences, seeking to answer the question: what happened to the birds, and birdsong, and why does it matter?

Discover wilderness as nature intended - the pristine places on our beautiful planet that still remain untouched by human hands. Explore the rugged mountains, clear waters and dense forests of the great outdoors, from the Himalayas to the Rockies, from icy fjord and to desert plateau and everything between. Including information on the best trails and trips to take around the globe, and inspirational quotes from explorers, conservationists and writers, this bitesize book will help wanderers of all walking speeds reconnect with the wonderful world outside their windows. SAMPLE FACT: Blaze: When wanderlusting in the wilderness, and lost, look to the trees to help you find a path. A blaze is a coloured marker, usually painted or nailed to a tree. It helps guide hikers when a trail becomes difficult to follow or makes an abrupt turn.

Longlisted for the Highland Book Prize 2021 In 1995 the National Trust for Scotland acquired Mar Lodge Estate in the heart of the Cairngorms. Home to over 5,000 species, this vast expanse of Caledonian woodlands, subarctic mountains, bogs, moors, roaring burns and frozen lochs could be a place where environmental conservation and Highland field sports would exist in harmony. The only problem was that due to centuries of abuse by human hands, the ancient Caledonian pinewoods were dying, and it would take radical measures to save them. After 25 years of extremely hard work, the pinewoods, bogs, moors and mountains are returning to their former glory. Regeneration is the story of this success, featuring not only the people who are protecting the land and quietly working to undo the wrongs of the past, but also the myriad creatures which inspire them to do so. In addition, it also tackles current controversies such as raptor persecution, deer management and rewilding and asks bigger questions about the nature of conservation itself: what do we see when we look at our wild places? What should we see?

A marvelously illustrated reference to the natural wonders of one of the most spectacular places on earth Separated from Africa's mainland for tens of millions of years, Madagascar has evolved a breathtaking wealth of biodiversity, becoming home to thousands of species found nowhere else on the planet. The New Natural History of Madagascar provides the most comprehensive, up-to-date synthesis available of this island nation's priceless biological treasures. Now fully revised and expanded, this beautifully illustrated compendium features contributions by more than 600 globally renowned experts who cover the history of scientific exploration in Madagascar, as well as the island's geology and soils, climate, forest ecology, human ecology, marine and coastal ecosystems, plants, invertebrates, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. This invaluable two-volume reference also includes detailed discussions of conservation efforts in Madagascar that showcase several successful protected area programs that can serve as models for threatened ecosystems throughout the world. Provides the most comprehensive overview of Madagascar's rich natural history Coedited by 18 different specialists Features hundreds of new contributions by world-class experts Includes hundreds of new illustrations Covers a broad array of topics, from geology and climate to animals, plants, and marine life Sheds light on newly discovered species and draws on the latest science An essential resource for anyone interested in Madagascar or tropical ecosystems in general, from biologists and conservationists to ecotourists and armchair naturalists

AS FEATURED ON 'BBC RADIO 4 'GOOD READS'. Woodlands Awards 2019: Woodland Books of the Year 'The oak is the wooden tie between heaven and earth. It is the lynch pin of the British landscape.' The oak is our most beloved and most common tree. It has roots that stretch back to all the old European cultures but Britain has more ancient oaks than all the other European countries put together. More than half the ancient oaks in the world are in Britain. Many of our ancestors - the Angles, the Saxons, the Norse - came to the British Isles in longships made of oak. For centuries the oak touched every part of a Briton's life - from cradle to coffin It was oak that made the 'wooden walls' of Nelson's navy, and the navy that allowed Britain to rule the world. Even in the digital Apple age, the real oak has resonance - the word speaks of fortitude, antiquity, pastoralism. The Glorious Life of the Oak explores our long relationship with this iconic tree; it considers the life-cycle of the oak, the flora and fauna that depend on the oak, the oak as medicine, food and drink, where Britain's mightiest oaks can be found, and it tells of oak stories from folklore, myth and legend.

Few have written more beautifully about the British countryside than Francis Kilvert. A country clergyman born in 1840, Kilvert spent much of his time visiting parishioners, walking the lanes and fields of Herefordshire and writing in his diary. Full of passionate delight in the natural world and the glory of the changing seasons, his diaries are as generous, spontaneous and vivacious as Kilvert himself. He is an irresistible companion. This new edition of William Plomer's original selection contains new archival material as well as a fascinating introduction illuminating Kilvert's world and the history of the diaries. 'One of the best books in English' Sunday Times 'Kilvert has touched and delighted (and mildly shocked) readers of his diaries ever since they were first published. New readers are in for a treat' Alan Bennett

#1 - The Best Country and Rural Living Books* #1 - 15 Best Homesteading Books for Beginners in 2021** For more than 50 years, this homesteading classic is the essential book of basic skills and country wisdom for living off the land, being prepared, and doing it yourself. Keep your family healthy, safe, and independent--no matter what's going on in the world. From homesteaders to urban farmers, and everyone in between, there is a desire for a simpler way of life: a healthier, greener, more self-sustaining, and holistic approach that allows you to survive and thrive-even in uncertain times. With its origins in the back-to-the-land movement of the late 1960s, Carla Emery's landmark book has grown into a comprehensive guide to living a self-sustaining lifestyle. Learn how to live independently in this comprehensive guide, including how to: * Can, dry, and preserve food * Plan your garden * Grow your own food * Make 20-minute cheese * Make your own natural skincare products * Bake bread * Cook on a wood stove * Learn beekeeping * Raise chickens, goats, and pigs * Create natural skincare products * Make organic bug spray * Treat your family with homemade remedies * Make fruit leather * Forage for wild food * Spin wool into yarn * Mill your own flour * Tap a maple tree And more! Basic, thorough, and reliable, this book deserves a place in urban and rural homes alike. This 50th anniversary edition includes updated resources. * Bookscrolling ** OutdoorHappens

Now, when this unwritten history of our relationship with the land is under persistent attack from development, agrochemicals and genetic engineering, poetry raises questions about the real partnership between humankind and nature that fields represent. This anthology brings together the work of more than ninety poets, ancient and modern, including Wendell Berry, John Betjeman, John Burnside, Helen Dunmore, Ivor Gurney, Seamus Heaney, Elizabeth Jennings, John Keats, Alice Oswald, Kathleen Raine and Walt Whitman.

In 2001, Adam Henson was chosen from 3,500 applicants to become a presenter on Countryfile. Adam's agricultural knowledge and open manner soon made him a popular figure and when the programme moved to its current Sunday evening slot in 2009, he began to present a weekly report from his own farm in the Cotswolds. There, the ups and downs of the farming calendar, as told in Adam's straight-talking fashion, soon became one of the most popular parts of the programme as viewers watched him endure the stress of TB testing and his sadness at losing valuable cattle as well as the highs of spring lambing. This is the first book by Adam Henson, and it is an enthralling, first-person account of the drama, emotion and sheer hard work that is life on Adam's Farm.

A revelatory uncovering of a vanished agricultural way of life by bestselling nature writer Sally Coulthard. 'A gem of a book' Country Smallholding 'Engaging and filled with gentle humour and fascinating facts' Get History 'Shows us the beauty and rich history of everyday things' Country Walking Magazine Across the foldyard from Sally Coulthard's North Yorkshire farmhouse, stands an old stone barn. When she discovered a set of witches' marks on one of its internal walls, she began to wonder about the lives of the people who had once lived and worked there. Both the intimate story of a building and its hinterland, and a wider social history, The Barn explores a hidden corner of rural Britain that has witnessed remarkable changes. From the eighteenth-century Enclosures to the Second World War, the fortunes of the Barn have been blown, like a leaf in a gale, by the unstoppable forces of new agriculture and industry. Seismic shifts in almost every area of society were all played out here in miniature - against a backdrop of scattered limestone villages and the softly rolling Howardian Hills.

Widely considered to be the foundational text of the American landscape tradition, Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature urges Americans to value and immerse themselves in their country's landscape, to build American culture from America's nature. Nearly two centuries after the original publication of the essay Nature by Emerson, this captivating book by critic and historian Tyler Green brings together a selection of artistic works in dialog with Emerson's text for the first time. Green also offers his own fascinating take on Nature through new research into how the essay was informed by Emerson's experiences of art and, in turn, how it informed American art well into the twentieth century. The result is a unique melding of essay, art, and ideas that will draw new readers to Emerson's writings, while also introducing a fresh perspective on a critical contribution to the American canon and showing what impact Emerson's text still has for the US to this day.

Escape to Cornwall... 'Wonderful. A love story with a mystery at its heart, it will make you laugh, cry and yearn for Cornwall. I loved it!' Miranda Dickinson Summer in Cornwall is the perfect time for a fresh start... Seven years ago, Marina Hudson's husband was lost at sea. She vowed to love him forever - but when kind-hearted Lachlan arrives in Porthmellow, should she deny herself another chance at happiness? Tiff Trescott was living life to the full as a journalist in London - until her boyfriend's betrayal brought it all crashing down. Fleeing to her cousin Marina's cottage, Tiff feels like a fish out of water. And when brooding local Dirk wins a day with her in a charity auction, she's thrown headfirst into Cornish life. This summer promises new beginnings for both Tiff and Marina. But are they too good to be true? Escape to Cornwall with this emotional, uplifting read from the bestselling author of A Perfect Cornish Summer and A Perfect Cornish Christmas. Perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan and Trisha Ashley. 'A slice of Cornish sunshine. Gorgeously romantic, with plenty of twists to keep me turning the pages. Absolutely loved it' Holly Martin 'Escapist and uplifting' Woman & Home

Sheep have to be one of the most versatile livestock animals on the planet. All-in-one grazing and fertilising machines, they provide meat and milk for our tables, wool for clothing, carpets, and insulation, skins for leather and rugs, and a whole host of other products. If you have recently acquired sheep or are thinking of starting a small flock, this book is for you. The Sheep Manual is a quick-reference, up-to-date, and easy-to-read guide which helps you choose the right breed for your land, provides essential health and welfare information, and guides you through your first breeding and lambing season.

'Always engaging, charming, funny and often moving . . . It made me want to pull on my stoutest boots and follow in his footsteps' Stephen Fry 'Beautiful, funny, fascinating, impossible-to-categorise . . . Like going on a great ramble with a knowledgeable, witty, engaging friend. Tom Cox brings magic to the most mundane of subjects' Marian Keyes 'Sheer bloody genius . . . I loved it. Then I loved it more' John Lewis-Stempel, author of Meadowland A hill is not a mountain. You climb it for you, then you put it quietly inside you, in a cupboard marked 'Quite A Lot Of Hills' where it makes its infinitesimal mark on who you are.Ring the Hill is a book written around, and about, hills: it includes a northern hill, a hill that never ends and the smallest hill in England. Each chapter takes a type of hill - whether it's a knoll, cap, cliff, tor or even a mere bump - as a starting point for one of Tom's characteristically unpredictable and wide-ranging explorations. Tom's lyrical, candid prose roams from an intimate relationship with a particular cove on the south coast, to meditations on his great-grandmother and a lesson on what goes into the mapping of hills themselves. Because a good walk in the hills is never just about the hills: you never know where it might lead.