Wildwoods Wisdom: Encounters with the Natural World
With the easy voice of a country storyteller, Elliott draws on his own adventures – hitchhiking across the country, sketching in the Rocky Mountains, capturing snakes, tracking animals, hunting the mystical, medicinal ginseng plant and searching out the wisdom of country folk and native peoples – to show how the natural world provides us not only with food, clothing and shelter but also the spiritual truths that can enrich and transform our lives.
In these pages you'll view nature through the eyes of many people from different walks of life, some who embody ancient wisdom, others with scientific knowledge, and still others who have been touched deeply by an encounter with the natural world. You'll hang out with Native Americans, Appalachian mountain men and biologists. And you'll hear stories of Pentecostal snake handlers, hoodoo root doctors, possum breeders, and even a New York stockbroker to name a few. Join "Ranger" Doug as he stalks old time apples, hoots with owls, sips nectar from tulip tree blossoms, disciplines coons, stalks groundhogs and befriends possums. Watch as he reveals beauty in unexpected places – like the fleshy bald head of a buzzard or the graceful dancing ladies on a turtle's shell – and Truth in the depths of a beehive. Listen as he recounts Beaver Legends and Coyote Tales, The Night of the Living Skunk, The Serpent and the Egg and much more. Beautifully illustrated with over 100 drawings by the author, Wildwoods Wisdom is a journey of awakening, of being at home in a world we may not often see, but to which we are forever joined.