Blue Ridge Highlander Contributing Writers

Welcome to the Blue Ridge Highlander Library of "Contributing Writers" a new feature in the Highlander. We have been blessed to find an assortment of very talented writers that will be contributing to the Highlander with valuable editorials within their realm of expertise. The Highlander is very thankful for their contributions and know you will enjoy their valuable input.

Below is a photo and short description about each story, click the photo or title to go to the full story. New stories and writers will continue to be added, so check back occasionally to enjoy the new additions.

Primitive Survival Self Made Shelter by Mark Warren The earth giveth. And the earth taketh away - especially when it comes to body heat. The cold ground saps a mammal of its precious warmth. When you need to stay overnight in the wild unexpectedly, you need to know how to protect yourself from hypothermia. The materials necessary to accomplish this are abundant, waiting in the forest. So once again, the earth giveth.

Mark Warren owner and director of Medicine Bow Wilderness School,
teaching nature classes and Native American survival skills in the mountains of north Georgia.

Hemlocks, The gifts of the forest are legion. Today those gifts are thought of as arcane anecdotes to a fast and furious culture disconnected from its environment. Just five centuries ago, the lore of plant foods and medicines and craft materials was the mainstay of the everyday. Every man, woman and child held this knowledge with an intimacy born of pragmatic use and reverence.

by Mark Warren owner and director of Medicine Bow Wilderness School,
teaching nature classes and Native American survival skills in the mountains of north Georgia.

The physicality of satisfying our essential needs today is virtually effortless – like strolling through the aisles of a grocery store or turning a knob to heat an oven. So why turn back history and roam forest and field to dig up edible roots? Why twirl a stick in your hands to near exhaustion in the quest for fire? Isn’t all that ancient lore out-dated? No. And here are three reasons why...

by Mark Warren owner and director of Medicine Bow Wilderness School,
teaching nature classes and Native American survival skills in the mountains of north Georgia.

Santa by Dr. Ellen K. Rudolph The first thing Santa said to me as we warmed our hands in front of the fire is that he does the Christmas thing to keep children believing. "Yes," he said in a somber voice, "without hope for the future and a bit of joy in their lives, children suffer."

He worries that the world is not always a hospitable place for children; that Princes and Princesses and Kings and Queens and Presidents are all failing to buffer children from the discontents of their elders.

Article by Dr. Ellen K. Rudolph, photojournalist, public speaker, and family therapist.

Creating Butterfly Gardens...the perfect nectar menu for butterflies fluttering about in the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains can be created in an existing garden area or in a spot you choose for new beginnings...read on...

Article by Lynda Gougler of Sunshine Mountain Butterfly Farms

Fishing in the Mountains It pains me that some children don’t experience nature as I have. A recent book by Richard Louv, called Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, has brought into the national dialogue the condition of today’s children and in particular their poverty of outdoors experiences.

The Cornell study of 2,000 adults by professors Nancy Wells and Kristi Lekies revealed in the journal, Children, Youth and Environments, that kids that fish and have unstructured time outdoors grow into adults who care more about conservation and the environment.

by Dr. Mamie Parker, Assistant Director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington DC, an avid angler, and member of the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame.

Take a look at the other stories in the Highlander...