"A rewarding and enriching fusion of traditional wisdom, science and first-hand experience." -Tristan Gooley, author of The Natural Navigator, and How to Read Nature Drawing from a similar lifestyle and environmental ethic as Henry D. Thoreau and Aldo Leopold, Babcock has lived more than two decades off-grid deep in the forest near the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Here he has discovered a balance in the interconnectedness of all life in the woods, and derived his sustenance from hunting, fishing, gardening, gathering wild food, providing water from a hand-pump well and minimal electricity from the sun. He befriended an Ojibwe Elder, Chi-Ma'iingan (Big Wolf), from whom he learned the Seven Grandfather Teachings (Wisdom, Love, Respect, Courage, Honesty, Humility, and Truth). Each of these seven teachings are represented by an animal. In this collection, Babcock shares his love of the natural world through a unique land ethic that combines the ideology of Thoreau and Leopold, and that which he learned from Chi-Ma'iingan. Babcock proposes a radical shift in how Americans support our environment and wildlife. He was recently featured in the documentary films: MEDICINE OF THE WOLF, and WOLF SPIRIT. From these pages: "We must stop seeing the natural world as a commodity and start seeing it as we would see a family member-something to love, protect, care for, and cherish."

"We do not own these woods. They own us" - Timothy Goodwin "(This book) is arresting, like the wee lesson at the end of an Aesop's fable. All who spend time in the woods ... will deeply appreciate this book." –Minneapolis Star Tribune Goodwin's book is an intimate journey into the Northwoods. As a biologist, musician and artist, he explores the diversity of life, from flora to fauna, who live in the forest near his cabin in the woods. This book is truly like taking a walk in nature with a good friend who has a scientific eye and the soul of an artist. Includes 60 original illustrations by the author.

2020 Montana Book Award Honor Book “(These) stories should be required reading.� -Montana Book Award Committee  Tom “Harp� Harpole was a horse logger working from remote mountain camps and living in wall tents until an accident suggested a change of lifestyle. He took to his other avocation – writing, and studied abroad in Ireland. He began publishing stories in periodicals such as Smithsonian Air & Space, Sports Illustrated, Crocodil, Montana Quarterly, Whitefish Review, and more. In 1986 his story “The Last of Butch� (Faber & Faber, London) was selected as The Best Short Story in the British Isles. His work has been short-listed for the National Magazine Award twice, and translated into six languages. He has been a guest reader on NPR more than a dozen times. Harpole writes in a voice that uses his natural wit and humor to shed light on a life of stories that bring readers to the edge of danger. “Tom Harpole is what you might call a thinking man’s Evel Knievel,� - Aaron Parrett, author of Montana: Then & Now Certain magazines that assigned Harp feature articles knew early on that he would try anything that involved physical/emotional risks. He regarded himself as a Survivor’s Euphoria aficionado. His willingness and perspective on dalliances with danger range from an N.F.L. record, to horse logging, to skydiving with Russian cosmonauts, to getting a black bear stoned, to his compassion as a volunteer EMT in rural Montana, to protesting Gorbachev in 1990, to driving ice roads above the Arctic circle, and more. This book is a collection of sixteen of his most popular stories.