Thursday, January 14, 2016

RMB UPDATE!: Edible and Medicinal Survival Plants of the Rocky Mountains


Hey friends!

It's now official. My "secret" outside project is finally finished. Due to a non-disclosure agreement, I had to keep this under wraps until it was completed. Last April, I was lucky enough to be signed to Waterford Press, the largest seller of outdoor pocket guides in North America. Waterford has previously produced guides for Jeff Corwin, Dave Canterbury and National Geographic, so it is indeed a huge honor to be working with them. The guides are finally finished, and are slated to be released come April!


My philosophy for creating these was simple -- provide a set of handy, yet realistic reference guides that will help hikers and backpackers lost in the Rocky Mountains forage for food, or treat injuries and ailments using wild plants and trees.

The plants were selected because they are widespread, easy to identify, and cover a wide range of seasons, environments, and life zones (Plains to Alpine Zones, etc).





Understanding that most survival situations are short term (usually 3-7 days), I wrote these with the philosophy that even though most wild edibles provide only limited calories, what they provide, most importantly, is a sense of hope when all hope seems lost. As many of you know, the psychological game is the most important factor in a survival situation. Possessing the knowledge to forage or to treat injuries would be an excellent morale booster in such a situation. These plants can also provide a small but critical energy boost if you need to crest a ridge in order to signal a helicopter or flag down a search and rescue team, for instance.

Aside from using the guides for survival purposes, they are great to take along if you want to learn to identify edible and medicinal plants. The guides are also helpful for practicing bushcraft or for emergency preparedness (I added little tidbits of information to many of the plant descriptions on how to use them for these purposes).

(click to enlarge)

If you would like to order a copy, the guides are $7.95 a piece, and are scheduled to ship in April (EDIT- Guides are available now!). I am taking pre-orders right now through our Paypal account, which accepts Debit and Credit Cards, Paypal, and eChecks. Shipping within the US is a flat $3.95 for up to four guides, and $5.95 for shipping to Canada.

To buy the Edibles guide click HERE, to buy the Medicinals guide click HERE

If you're outside the US or Canada and you'd like to order, or would like to order a larger number of guides and need a shipping quote, email me at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without the spaces) for more details.

Thanks again to Waterford Press for making this happen, and to our readers, who've stuck by us over the past four years.

Cheers!

Jason

About the author
Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)

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