The following is an excerpt from my latest book, Becoming Nature: Learning the Language of Wild Animals and Plants. To learn more or to order your own copy, visit my Amazon.com page here. I learned to connect with animals nonverbally when I went to live with Wolves. At first, I thought we spoke different languages, as I couldn’t understand…
Tag: Nature
The Probiotics Gold Mine
Yogurt, a great source of probiotics, is a boon to health because it helps establish healthy intestinal flora, right? The same is true of kombucha and other cultured foods, isn’t it? And how about probiotic capsules with billions of live cultures and dozens of strains? This is what the food industry would have us believe,…
How to Become Invisible
The following is an excerpt from my latest book, Becoming Nature: Learning the Language of Wild Animals and Plants which can be found in Step 7, Turn Invisible and Instill No Fear. I remember standing at the upper end of a shallow pool on a tiny stream early one morning and watching a large Snapping Turtle…
Remember Nature Speak, the First Language
The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming book, Becoming Nature: Learning the Language of Wild Animals and Plants, scheduled for release on March 31st, and is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com. Every plant and animal is speaking all the time. They are talking to you, and me, and all we have to do…
Rewilding is a State Of Mind
Shevik is a friend of mine from New York City. About thirty-five years ago, he came here to the Wisconsin wilds to join with a group of us latter-day Natives in a hunter-gatherer inspired community I founded that was called Coldfoot Creek. After a few months, the excitement of the new lifestyle wore off and…
Become the Animal
The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming book, Becoming Nature: Learning the Language of Wild Animals and Plants, scheduled to be released this upcoming spring with Inner Traditions. You wrap yourself in the skin of an animal and move within her movements. You see through the bright of her eyes and feel through the…
Seeing Through Our Biggest Blinders: Prejudice and Fear
The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming book, Becoming Nature: Learning the Language of Wild Animals and Plants, scheduled to be released this upcoming spring with Inner Traditions. When we Become Nature, we are at-one with our surroundings. We move among the animals and plants as if the forest were our home. Our sense…
Why Harleys Rock
Three Harley-Davidsons just went rumbling by, and they enlivened something deep inside of me. No, it wasn’t the lure of the road or the biker mystique, and it wasn’t even the desire to get attention. It was something deeper than that. I quit thinking about it and let myself feel. Right away, I came to…
Abundance Everywhere
Recently, a woman asked what I would do in an extreme survival situation, such as being stuck in a place where I couldn’t find food or shelter. I thrive on challenge, so right there I looked out the window and caught sight of the big white pine tree about thirty paces out from the house. I…
The Original Symphony
One of my most memorable early-morning experiences occurred recently as I sat out in the backyard to await the dawn. Before I could detect any light, a single White-throated Sparrow broke the silence by singing his species’ classic pure-sweet-Canada-Canada-Canada in an Aspen grove bordering the yard (last year I heard a White-throated repeat Canada twenty-seven…