Main Page Courses Enrollment Information Registration Form About the Instructors Course Pictures & Student Comments Merchandise Books, DVDs, Videos Drums, Obsidian Bison Bi-Products Jewelery Miscellaneous Items Rawhide Supplies Articles by Mors Kochanski Magazine Articles Rat Root Rendezvous Comments from 2006 Dates for 2007 What you need to know How to find us Flintknapping with Adrian Lori's Blog Resources	Clothing & Sleeping Bags Nothing out ranks clothing as the most significant factor in successful survival in the Northern Forest.  How much clothing and what types work best in the Northern Forest?  Sleep is often neglected by many people, but it ranks in the top 3 for a successful wilderness living, survival episode.  What is a good sleeping bag?  What thickness do you need as the temperature drops? Question and answer sheets are included with the video and on the DVD. Bush Knots Are you knot literate?  What type of knot do we need?  How do I tie it?  Knots are one of those skills that you need practice at.  Here is an easy how to learn going step by step by one of the top instructors in North America.  Learn the most useful knots that will hold two to 20 sticks together and easy to tie.  Learn the tricks from a master. Question and answer sheets are included with the video and on the DVD.
Blades: Sharpening and Safe Use A dull knife is dangerous.  How many times have we heard this?  Learn how to sharpen knives and axes to a shaving sharpness.  Learn about the most common injuries with the knife and axe and how to avoid these painful and embarrassing cuts.  Learn how to sharpen a Swede saw and more importantly how to handle a Swede saw safely. Question and answer sheets are included with the video and on the DVD.
Sticks as Tools and Implements Snowshoes, pack frames, saw frames and axe handles.  Exceptionally  handy tools for Wilderness Living that will make your stay in the woods more comfortable.  Learn how to make snowshoes from  small trees, pack frames from 3 sticks to carry those awkward loads, saw frames from 1 stick for those Swede saw blades, to fall large trees.  How to build an axe handle from a birch tree. Question and answer sheets are included with the video and on the DVD.
DVD - $32.00 each Video - $24.95 each 4 Volume DVD Set - $118.00 4 Volume Video Set - $90.00 Video's are duplicated in NTCS Videos available in: PAL - $29.95 each
		Fur Management, An Introduction Fur, What Canada was built on.  Ross Hinter is a seasoned professional fur manager giving you the latest in technology; explaining why we need to manage fur.  His respect and admiration is always prevalent for these fur bearers.  This video covers the ethics and humanness that one should consider when controlling fur bearers.  The animals of concern in this video include beaver, coyote, muskrat, ermine, squirrel, varying hare, and marten giving you a definite perspective of how these fur bearers live and the effect we are having on them! No Longer Available on Video Coming Soon on DVD

A Plant Walk Series
with Mors Kochanski

Hints on Using the Plant Identification Videos & DVDs: Reviews and Exams:  Generally, after about seven plants are covered there is a short review.  The paperwork accompanying the video provides a list that can be matched to the letters on the video.  A series of questions that are based on what is covered in the videos have been compiled to be used after each seven plant segment or in other ways.  The answers are provided for your convenience. In spite of any good intentions to learn how to identify the plants, few of us have the opportunity to be in the right place at the right time to work with them in the out of doors.  Hopefully, these plant videos will help solve this problem by allowing you to master their identification at your convenience so that you will know their names the next time you see them in their natural setting. Expect that your identification skills will pick up:  As you progress through the videos you will likely find that the accumulation of knowledge may seem laborious at first, especially mastering the Latin names; then it should begin to snowball as more and more plants are covered.  In the end when you really get rolling you may experience a profound disappointment that in reality there are so few plants.  It may help to know that most of the plants have at least one definite feature establishing their identification which is usually clearly seen in the videos of the plants.

Name differences:  Occasionally, the written name flashed on the screen is different from that used by the instructor.  Both names are valid, except the one flashed on the screen comes from reliant, more readily available books. Expect some variation in the plants:  When you encounter plants from the same species, keep in mind that they are not all cast from the same mould.  Expect some variation within a given species and weigh the evidence provided by the other features. When you plan to use a plant as a medicine or a food be absolutely sure you have identified it correctly. Latin names are important:  Mastering the Latin names of the plants may be a great challenge, but if you persist they will grow on you.  The names may be incorporated into Language Arts by studying the origin and derivation of the names.  It can be a very effective way of extending one's grasp of the English language.

 

VOLUME 1 of A Plant Walk with Mors Kochanski Plants identified are: Silverweed, Marsh Hedge Nettle, Plantain, Brown Eyed Susan, Yellow Ladies Slipper, Meadow Buttercup, Alpine Bistort, Pink Pussytoes, Cream-Colored Peavine, Purple Vetch or Common Vetch, Canada Thistle, Arrowleaf and Palmated Coltsfoot, Sundew,  Round Leaf Orchid, Caraway, Ox-Eye Daisy, Wire Rush, Macoun's Buttercup, Heart-Leaved Alexanders, Blue- Eyed Grass, Common Red Paint Brush, Alpine Milk-Vetch, Bear Root, Western Wood Lily, Wild Lily of the Valley, Smooth Fleabane, Purple Avens,  Drummond's Thistle, Mealy Primrose, Balsam Groundsel, Northern Green Bog Orchid, Elephant's- Head, Pink Pyrola, Bunchberry and Fireweed.  70 minutes. VOLUME 2 Plants identified are: Death Camus, Wood Betony, Alpine Rock Jasmine, Cusick's Paint-brush, Yellow Columbine, Lance Leaved Stonecrop, Alpine Goldenrod, Monkshood (Mountain), Moss Campion, Wooly Lousewort, Marsh Valarian, Tall Larkspur, Shooting Star, Field Chickweed, Alpine Pussytoes, Sheep Sorrel, Sweet Grass, Showy Locoweed, Yellow Rattle, Short Beaked Agoseris, Elk Thistle, Yellow Mountain Avens, Common Bladder Campion, Northern Gentian, Richardson's Geranium, Tall Jacob's Ladder, Smooth Blue Beardtongue, Pasture Sagewort, Toad Flax, Tansy, Timothy, Quack Grass, White/Red/Alsike Clover, Stiff Club Moss/Ground Pine and Yarrow. 68 minutes. VOLUME 3 Plants identified are: Water Smartweed, Nodding Beggarticks, Rough Hair Grass, Water Arum, Small Fruited Bulrush, Marsh Marigold, Marsh Cinquefoil, Canada Anemone, Calla Lily, Buckbean, Marsh Skullcap, Tule Reed (Great Bulrush), Giant Burreed, Floating Bog, Common Cattail, Bulbiferous Hemlock, Water Parsnip, Water Hemlock, Rat Root (Sweet Flag),  Cow Parsnip, Western Dock, Blue Columbine, Veiny Meadow Rue, Western Canada Violet, Strawberry, Dewberry,Stinging Nettle, MacKenzie's Hedysarum, Wild Sarsaparilla, Blue Bells. 77 minutes. VOLUME 4 Plants identified are: Nodding Onion, Common Greater Burdock, Fringed Aster, Pasture Sage, Rabbitbrush, Goat's Beard, Baby's-Breath, Old Man Sage, Prickly Pear, Curly Cup Gumweed, Tufted White Prairie Aster, Giant Wild Rye Grass, Three Tip Sagebrush, Common Mullein, Crested Wheat Grass, Common Wormwood, Milkweed, Spreading Dogbane, Gromwell or Yellow Puccoon, Wolf Lichen, Pearly Everlasting, Hooded Ladies Tresses, Pink Pyrola, Spotted Knapweed, Bull Thistle, Greater Northern Aster, Skunk Cabbage, Self Heal, False Box, False Hellebore, False Solomon's Seal, Sweet Scented Bedstraw, Eyebright, Wild Catnip and Fairy Bells. 56 minutes VOLUME 5 Plants identified are:  Buckbrush, Snowberry, Bracted Honeysuckle, Twining Honeysuckle, High Bush Cranberry, Red Raspberry, Buckbrush, Red Osier Dogwood, Bebb's Willow, Alder, Labrador Tea, Bog Rosemary, Northern Gooseberry, Northern Black Currant, Pin Cherry, Choke Cherry, Saskatoon, Bog Birch, Yellow Witches Broom, White Spruce, Black Spruce, Spruce Resin, Balsam Fir, Balsam Fir Cones, Tamarack. 87 minutes VOLUME 6 The plants identified are:  Limber Pine, Western Hemlock, Western Red Cedar, Douglas Maple, Hazelnut, Western Mountain Ash, Engelmann Spruce, Sub Alpine Fir, Dwarf Birch, Shrubby Cinquefoil, Yellow Mountain Heather (Heath), Hoary Willow, Buffalo Berry, Pink Spirea, White Admiral (butterfly), Thimble Berry, Red Elderberry, Spiny Wood Fern, Goat's Beard, Bracken Fern, Red Osier Dogwood, White Spruce, Pear-Shaped Puffball, Ponderosa Pine, Black Hawthorn, Oregon Grape, Snowberry, Prickly Rose, White Virgin's Bower, Great Burdock and an identification talk on cones of the Limber Pine, Lodgepole Pine, Jack Pine, Tamarack, Ponderosa Pine, Fir, Balsam Fir, White Spruce, Black Spruce and Engelmann. 71 minutes VOLUME 7 The plants identified are: Aspen, Choke Cherry, Dogbane, Common Juniper, Devil's Club, Baneberry, Paper Birch, Spider, White Poplar/Black Poplar, Aspen Conk, Aspen Stocking Moss, Aspen Burl, Fire Killed Lodgepole Pine, Ants in Lodgepole Pine, Woodland Agaric, Belted Conk, Fairy Stool, Aspen Rough Stem, Field Mushroom, Fluted White Elfin Saddle, Brown Cup, Grasshopper, Smoky Polypore, Aspen Rough Stem, Sketch Pad Fungus, Orange Jelly, Delicious Lactarius, Low Bush Cranberry, Crowberry, Prickly Wild Rose, Mountain Cranberry/Small Bog Cranberry, Hemp Nettle, Red Elderberry/Stinging Elderberry, Wolf Willow and a Group Identification. 70 minutes The Master Tape This is an incredible 55 minute video covering 240 slides  in 40 minutes.  Each plant is on for ten seconds, giving you the opportunity to challenge your knowledge.  Then if you think you are really good, all 240 slides are on for less than 10 minutes.  Sheets with the Common and Latin names of all 240 slides are included with this video.

DVD - $32.00 each Video - $24.95 each 8 Volume DVD Set - $236.00 8 Volume Video Set - $180.00 Video's are duplicated in NTCS Videos available in: PAL - $29.95 each

Comments about A Plant Walk Series

"Mors Kochanski is a true master woodsman.  His knowledge is founded in years of both intensive study and experimentation.  He is revered by his students and peers for his ability to bring knowledge about the wild outdoors to a point best understood by all levels of outdoor enthusiast.  Mors is a master teacher, providing insights and interpretative information that help us better understand the living outdoor world.  His encyclopedic recall is best suited to teaching what he has to share.  The tradition of oral presentation is what has kept in tact most of the knowledge we have about the living world.  Mors holds membership in a lineage of this traditional teaching style and enlivens all his students by helping them to appreciate the inter-relatedness of all living things.      A Word of Warning:  "All of the genera represented in the tapes were found not only in the boreal forest, but throughout the entire Rocky Mountain region. Due to the similarities brought about by latitude and altitude, the same life zones exist in many locations.  Even though the genera were common, specific species were not.  It is up to the viewer to establish what edible and medicinal properties are found in species found in their area.  Do not assume that properties from one species can be safely generalized to another.  Don't guess, know your local plants before attempting to use them". David Wescott, Idaho Education Director, Boulder Outdoor Survival School Managing Editor, Bulletin of Primitive Technology

"Viewers of these videos will recognise Mors Kochanski as an enthusiastic, experienced author and instructor, who has devoted a lifetime to the study, research, experimentation and practice of Wilderness Living Skills". T. A. Roycraft, Alberta Canadian Military Civilian Survival Instructor (ret.)

" 'A Plant Walk with Mors Kochanski' I have found it a wonderful visual resource; perfect for teaching and reviewing a variety of plants in a classroom setting with the added benefit of being able to go back and review particular specimens". Neil Usher Administrator of the Bennett Centre,  Edmonton Public Schools

If you have lost or misplaced your question and answer sheets for the plant walk video series you can purchase another set for $3.00 per video.   DVD's have the questions listed on them.  If you can't find the answers on the DVD from Mors comments, there are printable pdf files below.
8 Volume Set covering the plants,  shrubs and trees identified and generally found in the shaded areas.	A Plant Walk Volume 1      Volume 1 Answer Sheets - pdf file A Plant Walk Volume 2     Volume 2 Answer Sheets - pdf file A Plant Walk Volume 3      Volume 3 Answer Sheets - pdf file A Plant Walk Volume 4      Volume 4 Answer Sheets - pdf file A Plant Walk Volume 5      Volume 5 Answer Sheets - pdf file A Plant Walk Volume 6      Volume 6 Answer Sheets - pdf file A Plant Walk Volume 7      Volume 7 Answer Sheets - pdf file A Plant Walk - The Master Tape     Master Tape Listing of Common and Latin Names - pdf file
Wilderness Living Skills Answer Sheets Bush Knots (Are You Knot Literate?) - pdf file Sticks as Tools and Implements - pdf file Blades: Sharpening & Safe Use - pdf file Clothing, Sleeping Bag & Sleep - pdf file