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Five Months on the Missouri River
Paddling a Dugout Canoe
By Thomas J. Elpel
Thomas J. Elpel had the rare opportunity to carve a dugout canoe with Churchill Clark, the great-great-great-great grandson of Captain Clark. Together they whittled a 10,000 lb. Douglas fir log down to a 500+ lb. canoe. Enlisting friends with additional canoes to join the adventure, Tom led a five-month "Missouri River Corps of Rediscovery Expedition," paddling the 2,341-mile Missouri River segment of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail from Montana to St. Louis. A stray puppy joined the five-man expedition en route, growing up on the canoes as the adventurers proceeded downriver. [Read more...] |
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Living Homes
Stone Masonry, Log, and Strawbale Construction
By Thomas J. Elpel
The house of your Dreams does not have to be expensive. The key is all in the planning. How much a house costs, how it looks, how comfortable it is, how energy-efficient it is--all these things occur on paper before you pick up even one tool. A little extra time in the planning process can save you tens of thousands of dollars in construction and maintenance. That is time well spent! Living Homes takes you through the planning process to design an energy and resource efficient home that won't break the bank. Then, from the footings on up to the roof, Thomas J. Elpel guides you through the nuts and bolts of construction. [Read more...] |
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Roadmap to Reality
Consciousness, Worldviews, and the Blossoming of Human Spirit
By Thomas J. Elpel, Illustrated by Bonnie Andrich
What if our entire experience of reality were based on an assumption that could be proven false? In Roadmap to Reality, Thomas J. Elpel tests the assumption that we are a sentient (self-aware) species, and finds evidence suggesting otherwise. Like automatons, we copy beliefs and behaviors from generation to generation without consciously evaluating why we do what we do. Roadmap to Reality is the quest to unravel the illusions to discover what reality really is. The journey follows the link between technology and thought, showing how hunter-gatherer, agricultural, industrial, and informational societies define reality in predictable ways. [Read more...] |
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Green Prosperity
Quit Your Job, Live Your Dreams
By Thomas J. Elpel
Little actual work is required to provide for most human needs such as shelter, clothing, warmth, food, and water, and even new necessities, such as mobile phones and transportation. However, surplus time and idle hands represent a fundamental threat to society. The mechanism of control, subconsciously implemented throughout history, is to occupy people with meaningless work.
Due to population growth and technological development, unneccesary work now consumes our resource base at an unsustainable rate and threatens all life on earth. The solution? Quit your job. Green Prosperity is a manual to sidestep the treadmill of meaningless work and break free from the machine, outlining concrete steps to take control of your life and live your own Dreams. [Read more...] |
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Participating in Nature
Wilderness Survival and Primitive Living Skills
By Thomas J. Elpel
Get in touch with your wild side! Primitive living is a way of learning about nature by participating in it. Instead of merely camping in the wilderness or passing through it, you can become part of the process. You learn about nature by using it to meet your needs for shelter, fire, water, and food. You set aside the trappings of modern culture and step directly into nature with little or nothing, to experience nature on its own terms. [Read more...] |
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Foraging the Mountain West
Gourmet Edible Plants, Mushrooms, and Meat
By Thomas J. Elpel and Kris Reed
There's food in them thar hills! There is also food in the valleys, meadows, swamps, and all around town, too... maybe even in your own backyard. Foraging the Mountain West is a guide to harvesting and celebrating nature's abundance. Reach out and explore the world with your taste buds. Discover new delights you will never find at the store. Connect with nature on a deeper level by meeting, greeting, and eating the plants, fungi, and creatures that share the neighborhood. Become a little more self-sufficient, and a lot more aware. [Read more...] |
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Botany in a Day
The Patterns Method of Plant Identification
By Thomas J. Elpel
Botany in a Day is changing the way people learn about plants! Tom's book has gained a nationwide audience almost exclusively by word-of-mouth. It is now used as a text at universities and high schools as well as herbal and wilderness schools across North America. Instead of presenting individual plants, Botany in a Day unveils the patterns of identification and uses among related plants, giving readers simple tools to rapidly unlock the mysteries of the new species they encounter throughout the continent. [Read more...] |
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Shanleya's Quest (Book 1)
A Botany Adventure for Kids Ages 9 to 99
By Thomas J. Elpel. Illustrated by Gloria Brown
In a mythical world where time is a liquid that falls as rain upon the land, young Shanleya paddles her canoe out to the "Tree Islands" to learn the plant traditions of her people. Each island is home to a separate family of plants and an unforgettable Guardian with lessons to teach about the identification and uses of those plants.
Shanleya's Quest is a truly unique educational book that presents botanical concepts and plant identification skills in an easy and fun metaphorical format for children as well as for adults who are young at heart. [Read more...] |
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Shanleya's Quest (Card Game 1)
Patterns in Plants Card Game
By Thomas J. Elpel
The Patterns in Plants Card Game is a fun way to test your skills at identifying the family patterns described in Shanleya's Quest. Learn to see the patterns in the game. Then you will be able to recognize them in the real world! Many different plant identification games are possible with this deck of cards. [Read more...] |
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La Búsqueda de Shanleya (Book)
Una aventura botánica para niños de 9 a 99 años
Escrito por Thomas J. Elpel, ilustrado por Gloria Brown.
Traducido por Janeth Warg
En un mundo mítico donde el Tiempo es un líquido que cae en forma de lluvia, Shanleya remó su canoa hacia "Las Islas del Árbol" para aprender las tradiciones de las plantas de su pueblo. Cada isla es el hogar de una familia diferente de plantas y de un Guardián inolvidable, con lecciones para aprender acerca de la identificación y uso de esas plantas.
La Búsqueda de Shanleya es un libro único verdaderamente educativo, que presenta conceptos botánicos y habilidades de identificación de plantas en un formato metafórico fácil y divertido para los niños y adultos. [Read More...] |
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Shanleya's Quest 2 (Book 2)
Botany Adventure at the Fallen Tree
By Thomas J. Elpel. Illustrated by Bonnie Andrich
The Adventure Continues... After hearing tales of adventure at the Great Tree in Shanleya's Quest, Adelia, Katyln, and Peter now embark on a magical journey back in time to meet the legendary botanist. Together they explore the world that bloomed after the fall of the Great Tree. They examine old flower fossils, discover new plant families and their guardians, and experience the wonderful world of plants. [Read more...] |
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Shanleya's Quest 2 (Card Game 2)
Patterns in Plants Card Game
By Thomas J. Elpel
The Patterns in Plants Card Game is a fun way to test your skills at identifying the family patterns described in Shanleya's Quest 2. Learn to see the patterns in the game. Then you will be able to recognize them in the real world! Many different plant identification games are possible with this deck of cards. [Read more...] |
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I'm a Medicine Woman, Too!
A Tale of Herbal Wisdom and Personal Empowerment for Budding Healers and Daydream Believers
By Jesse Wolf Hardin
I'm a Medicine Woman, Too! is a colorful and soulful book of self discovery and personal empowerment for budding healers, as well as every kid heeding a calling or pursuing a dream. Rhiannon is the inspiration and model for this tale of realization and growth, as she first resists believing she could ever be a Medicine Woman like the herbalists and healers she's met... but then realizes the ways in which she is already the woman of power she hopes to be. [Read more...] |
Jan Elpel Books
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Berrigan's Ride
A novel by Jan Elpel
Berrigan's Ride is a novel of love, abandonment and acceptance set primarily in Hot Spring District, Madison County, in southwestern Montana (Norris), 1866 - 1868, and a drama of symbolic healing between North and South after the Civil War. [Read more...] |
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Healers of Big Butte
A novel by Jan Elpel
Healers of Big Butte is a light-hearted story of relationships and inner struggles during a little-known period of silver mining in Big Butte, Montana Territory, 1875-1877. But historic events intrude on the once pristine mile-high bowl on the Continental Divide, where miners and cattlemen come into conflict, and tensions lead up to the Nez Perce War. [Read more...] |
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Heirloom China
A novel by Jan Elpel
Heirloom China is a murder mystery that pits Patrick Colter's obsession against unknown forces in the silver mining town of Butte, Montana Territory, 1877 - 1879. Patrick risks all for a chance to solve a cold case in revenge of his role model and mentor, a man who inspired him to attend Harvard and bring law and justice to the Territory. [Read more...] |
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Journals of the Psyche
by Jan Elpel
Journals of the Psyche explores the nature of our inner conscious and unconscious processes in narrative poetry, depth psychology distilled in images and metaphors, an often playful means of reflecting Who We Are, Who I Am. The Journals represent the power of the psyche, the Muse, to create, to dream, to reveal the spiritual and mystical nature of each of us. [Read more...] |
Also by Thomas J. Elpel
K - 12 Outdoor Skills Online Curriculum Guide
For Schools, Scouts, Nature Centers, and Families
Existing curriculum guides and lesson plans about outdoor and environmental education are almost universally activity-book oriented, rather than interactive and experiential. Instead of going outside, teachers are instructed to talk about nature, and the students participate by doing activity pages. While such guides are well-intended, they do nothing to connect students with the real world. The lesson plans here are intended to be more interactive with the real world, and above all, stimulating and fun. [Read more... ]
Dear Tom,
It has been way too long since I communicated with you. I last saw you about 10 years when Carla Emery gave a presentation at your place. I spent the night in your tipi. I was living near Helena at the time. I live Jackson Hole, Wyoming now, and am an environmental educator with Teton Science Schools. I think of you often, and the great work that you are doing and the significant positive impacts that you are having on this planet.
I have been very impressed with your book Foraging the Mountain West. My wife gave it to me for Father's Day this year. How fitting is that since one of my goals as a Dad is to ensure that my daughter knows and understands where her food comes (not to mention her clothing, shelter, tools, etc). When we grow it, gather it, or hunt it, it is inherent to use it conservatively, wisely, thoughtfully. I have a lot of edible plant guides on the shelf, however, yours is unique in its approach to "foraging", including fungi, road killed animals, and dumpster diving. And if I didn't already know your work, it would be incredibly clear to me that you wrote this book after spending a tremendous amount of "dirt time". I am also impressed with your research of the current science and taxonomy.
I hope you are well. Thanks for all that you do.
Kevin Taylor
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