Wolf Girl: Finding Myself in the Wild

by Doniga Markegard

Overview

Through the Pacific Northwest forests and along the rugged coastal shores of California, a young environmentalist’s coming-of-age story about learning, discovery, and survival

Wolf Girl takes readers on Doniga’s journey: from the wilderness immersion school where she was taught by Indigenous elders and wildlife trackers, to hitchhiking across the Pacific Northwest, to Alaska, where she fell in love with tracking wolves.

These experiences shaped and inspired Doniga to become the leader in the regenerative agricultural movement that she is today. Today’s youth are at the forefront of climate change activism, and will see themselves in Doniga’s story, in the message that you can find yourself by finding—and fighting for—your place within the world at large.

Youth aren’t just the activists of tomorrow—they’re the activists of today. Wolf Girl is an inspiring memoir of a young girl’s quest to save the planet. —-Michelle Roehm McCann, author of Enough is Enough: How Students Can Join the Fight for Gun Safety and the Girls Who Rocked the World series

Wolf Girl makes a great gift for any young person wanting to make a difference.

Publisher’s note: This is a young adult adaptation of Doniga Markegard’s Dawn Again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781943370184
Publisher:	Propriometrics Press
Publication date:	04/01/2020
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Doniga Markegard is a wildlife tracker, regenerative rancher, speaker, and the author of Dawn Again: Tracking the Wisdom of the Wild and the young adult adaptation, Wolf Girl: Finding Myself in the Wild. Her teen years in nature school started her on a path that led to a career in animal tracking and then permaculture and ranching on her farm in California, Markegard Family Grass-Fed, where she works to regenerate both soil and community through farming. Using the innovative, carbon-storing methods of regenerative ranching, she’s restoring the land she tends, bringing back native grasses and wildlife.

Doniga is a consultant and guest instructor at Nature Awareness Programs around the country, has led retreats in places such as 1440 Multiversity and Canyon Ranch and is a regular speaker at events such as the Bioneers Conference, Food Inspiration Trendsummit, and The Grassfed Exchange. She is a certified educator with Holistic Management International. She has worked with companies such as Patagonia, Tesla and Google, and has been profiled in articles from Civil Eats, FastCompany, GreenBiz, The San Francisco Examiner, and NPR. Doniga was also featured in the award-winning documentary film Kiss the Ground, available on Netflix.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Part 1

Chapter 1 Trapped 2

Chapter 2 Freedom 14

Chapter 3 Calling 22

Chapter 4 Awareness 34

Five tracking tips to take wherever you go, even your own backyard 58

Chapter 5 Language of Nature 62

Chapter 6 Lone Wolf 77

Chapter 7 Pack 88

Three things we can all learn from wolves 111

Chapter 8 Vision 114

Part 2

Chapter 9 Food 144

Chapter 10 Permaculture 168

Easy ways to start eating like a regenetarian 182

Chapter 11 Home 185

Chapter 12 Family 220

Three things you can track almost anywhere 230

Chapter 13 Fire 233

Epilogue 243

References 247

Acknowledgments 252

About the Author 254

Editorial Reviews

"A wonderful book that shines a light on an exciting path that will inspire many."—Tristan Gooley, author of The Natural Navigator, The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs, and The Nature Instinct

"Youth aren’t just the activists of tomorrow―they’re the activists of today. Wolf Girl is an inspiring memoir of a young girl’s quest to save the planet."—Michelle Roehm McCann, author of Enough is Enough: How Students Can Join the Fight for Gun Safety and the Girls Who Rocked the World series

"Wolf Girl is much more than a coming of age story. It is an inspiring story of how one can overcome adversity, connect with nature, pursue their passion, follow synchronicity and discover a life filled with purpose and meaning. As a father of two teen girls, I believe these are the types of stories that are essential for our young people to read. Doniga is an amazing role model whose story will give teens hope and inspire them to become the next generation of nature-connected leaders and stewards that our world desperately needs."-―Warren Moon, Executive Director, Wilderness Awareness School

“Doniga Markegard’s remarkable and highly unconventional journey from a teenager badly out-of-sync with her world to a rancher and mother working closely with nature is an inspiring story about finding your purpose in life. In an era of gloomy news and uncertain visions of the future, Doniga’s book is a breath of fresh, joyous air!”-―Courtney White, author of Grass, Soil, Hope and co-founder of the Quivira Coalition

“Doniga Markegard's journey from teen runaway to expert tracker and on to mother, rancher, and activist artfully conveys what it means to be fully alive to the natural world. In Wolf Girl, she sets out a path for readers seeking grounding and direction during a confusing time. Written with love and hard-won insight, this book is as inspiring as it is beautiful.”-―Judith D. Schwartz, author of Cows Save the Planet: And Other Improbable Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth

"With prose good enough to be called poetry, she brings us on a deeply moving and profound journey of awakening and awareness."-―Joel Salatin, farmer, lecturer, and author of Folks, This Ain't Normal, You Can Farm, and Salad Bar Beef

"Wolf Girl is a delicate balance of thrilling narrative and meditative reflection that echoes the precious ecological balances Doniga Markegard comes to understand as a teenager and later mimics as an adult on a regenerative ranch. As Markegard learns to track animals, she also tracks the edges of her humanity and spirituality in relation to the natural world. Reminiscent of Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Wolf Girl is a tale of environmental awakening that will inspire the same curiosity, wonder, and back-to-the-land perspective in readers searching for meaning and avenues to action in a time of ecological chaos.”-―Stephanie Anderson, author of One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl’s Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture

“This poignant and moving call to humans to reconnect with nature is a book for our times. While it is written for young adults―that increasingly activist generation who seek to clean up the mess of we previous generations―it will have a far wider appeal. This book deserves to be a best-seller.”-―Charles Massy, author of Call of the Reed Warbler

“Doniga Markegard has an overwhelmingly beautiful and resilient spirit. Her experiences as recounted in Wolf Girl shape her into a positive person with an intense love for the planet. Doniga’s strong character is an example for every human on earth who hopes to leave the planet in better shape for future generations."—Indies Today

From the Publisher

04/01/2020

Gr 9 Up—This instructional memoir from naturalist and rancher Markegard will guide teen readers struggling to come of age at a time when the natural world faces immense challenges. The author's awakening to nature as a wildlife tracker is chronicled in detail. What she discovered in the wilds of the North American West led her to gain a deeper knowledge of permaculture, regeneration, and the many shapes of spiritualism that inform those practices. Some of the most compelling passages capture Markegard on the trail of a wolf, bobcat, or mountain lion. Readers become privy to how her senses heightened as she shifted her brain closer towards animal thinking. Readers smell the trees, taste the dirt, and watch the ground. Over the course of 13 chapters, Markegard's theses about finding purpose and happiness in the natural world do grow repetitive. VERDICT Readers seeking more complex stories of women in the wilderness would do well to read Ellen Meloy or Terry Tempest Williams. However, Markegard's life is deeply unique, and she has vast acres of knowledge and adventure tales to share.—Sierra Dickey, Center for New Americans, Northampton, MA

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