Doniga Markagard - Dawn Again: Tracking the Wisdom of the Wild

Doniga Markegards 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. She observes, It appears that its up to humans to remember, right now, what it means to be humans. Dawn Again is a beautiful reminder that human survival and human joybeing humanderive from our connection to plants, animals, and the earth itself. Her story offers readers inspiration and direction.

Judith D. Schwartz, author of Water in Plain Sight and Cows Save the Planet

Earth care comes alive in this deeply moving personal story. With prose good enough to be called poetry, Doniga captures and explains the heart and soul of creation stewardship, bringing us on a profound journey of awakening and awareness.

Joel Salatin, author of Folks, This Aint Normal and You Can Farm

Our health and the health of the planet itself begins with the soil. Dawn Again, with its beautiful exploration of Donigas connection with nature and her joyful practice of sustainable farmingnourishing both her community and the ground we all depend onwill inspire all readers to tend to the soils in their own backyards.

Diana Rodgers, RD, author of The Homegrown Paleo Cookbook

Dawn Again is a deeply personal, touching, and intimate journey that opens a window into a hidden universe of exquisite natural beauty. With poetic prose and keen insights, Doniga Markegard gives us invaluable understanding to heal our souls and our world.

Josh Tickell, author of Kiss the Ground and director of Fuel

Dawn Again recounts one womans amazing bravery. But more importantly, it inspires one to be brave too.

Mark Elbroch, author of Behavior of North American Mammals and Mammal Tracks and Sign

Donigas love for the natural worldits animals, birds, plants, and soilshines brilliantly through the words in this frank and engaging memoir. Her intimacy with the interconnection of all life, however, goes far beyond words, for she has genuinely LIVED it, with authenticity, passion, determination, and an open heart.

Paul Rezendes, author of Tracking & the Art of Seeing and The Wild Within

Dawn Again is a magnificent story of one womans journey through adversity to wildness to vision and deep connection. Donigas blend of epic storytelling, eloquent nature writing, and bold vision are exactly what we need to face our current challenges. The ideas and deep wisdom laid out in this book give me hope.

Nate Summers, Program Director, Wilderness Awareness School

Although many men have attempted total nature immersion, some have succeeded while many failed. Doniga triumphs. She literally speaks to an ancient spirit that walks among us to provide a nourishment for the soul. Her story will be shared around many campfires. It epitomizes what we wish to become in a hero-less world.

Tony Ten Fingers, Oglala Lakota, author of Lakota Wisdom

DONIGA MARKEGARD

Copyright Doniga Markegard 2017

Foreword copyright Starhawk 2017

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing 2017

ISBN-13: 9781943370146

Library of Congress Control Number: to come

Propriometrics Press: propriometricspress.com

Cover and Interior Design: Zsofi Koller, liltcreative.co

Cover images: shutterstock/ YIK2007

Author photo: Lee Foster

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Markegard, Doniga, author.

Title: Dawn again / by Doniga Markegard.

Description: Sequim, Washington : Propriometrics Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017032519 (print) | LCCN 2017036247 (ebook) | ISBN

9781943370153 (ebook) | ISBN 9781943370146 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Markegard, Doniga. | Ranchers--California-- Biography. |

Wilderness survival--West (U.S.)--Anecdotes. | Nature-- Psychological aspects.

Classification: LCC SF194.2.M367 (ebook) | LCC SF194.2.M367 A3 2017 (print) |

DDC 636/.01092 [B] --dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017032519

For my mother and all the single mothers like her, whothrough the challenges of solo parenting, self-doubt, and overwhelmcontinue to love unconditionally.

I finished reading the manuscript of Dawn Again on the same weekend I went to see Wonder Woman. Doniga Markegard is a wonder woman, but shes no myth, shes the real thinga strong, sensitive, wild, loving, adventurous, nurturing real live womanand her story provides an inspiration and a healing role model for women and girls.

Trackers memoirs are generally written by menTom Brown Jr. and Donigas mentor Jon Young are examplesand while their stories are fascinating and inspiring, few women appear in them as anything but mothers or background figures. Doniga puts a womans story front and center, as she traces with great vulnerability and honesty her own transformation from a troubled teenager to a woman immersed in a deep, sensual connection to the natural world.

I grew up in the fifties, when adventures were something men had, and women were supposed to stand by loyally, admiring their courage and batting our eyes as we did their laundry and kept the house clean. I longed for adventure, for connection to the wild and the freedom that nature represented, but there were few avenues for girls. Boy Scouts went camping and tracking; the Girl Scout troop I tried to join made little raffia baskets and visited old peoples homesworthy occupations, but not wild and free! In the sixties, that urge to break bonds and cross boundaries led me to experiment, as many teenagers do, with the forms of danger and excitement our culture offersdrugs and sex. Fortunately, both Doniga and I found other avenues for growth and individuation, but many young people do not.

Donigas story shows the power of mentoring and initiation to help steer young people through the hazards of adolescence. Young people need to take risks and face danger in order to build their sense of self, but they also need guidance and preparation. Donigas guides and teachers provided real-life challenges, and the training to meet them, that build skill, knowledge, and confidence based on genuine achievement.

Wonder Woman is powerful, but her power is still ultimately that of fighting and killing. Donigas story shows us the development of a deeper, more regenerative power. She craves and finds danger, adventure, and excitement, but her challenges are all in service and protection of the earth. Her story shows the power that deep connection with the natural world can have to help young people integrate the full range of their emotions and aspirations. As she matures, she becomes more and more deeply involved in healing the land, nurturing and nourishing, turning her naturalist skills into work that builds a ranch that is a model of ecological farming, working to protect wildlife and to feed the human community, nourishing both body and spirit.