free library

By Rae Pecore-Valdez Find a tree and sit awhile, a shrub or any plant will do. Look closely as if to draw it later:greens and browns of leaf, the textures of bark. Listen, does it rustle in a breeze?Then close your eyes,imagine your tree. Ask yourself, what do I feel?Make this place your very own…

To feed the birds or not? I ask myself this question every year when temperatures drop below freezing. Each night I imagine the little birds with their high metabolisms converting seeds into heat to get through the night. Some don’t make it. The question is as much about birds as it is about my role…

If you like to step outside on summer days and see butterflies, birds and bees, then consider creating a patch in your garden for these critters. The main components of habitat are shelter, water, food and spaces to nest and rest. Winter is a great time to dream and design your garden habitat patch. All…

What was nature to you as a child? Was nature a park, backyard, farm, summer camp, a favorite tree or distant forest? Looking back, nature to me was where I hid for solitude, peace and relief from the chatter of humans. Growing up I shared a big bedroom with my two sisters. My family belonged…

You are the hands of my father filleting steaks, smell of alder in the smokehouse, roar of a diesel engine chugging upriver, ocean salt melting in my mouth. Where the salmon run, I am home.

1,200 miles retracing the remarkable journey of an ordinary wolf. In 2014, I had the opportunity to retrace the remarkable journey of an ordinary wolf and catch the stories of people learning to live in wolf country once again. In September 2011, a young wolf left his pack in NE Oregon and within a few…