Author Wanda Ferguson of Rangeley, Maine

About Ayuh, That’s Life on the Moose Trail! Rangeley, Maine, natives Wanda and Holman Ferguson had no idea the land they bought in 1960, in Sandy River Plantation, had a well-established moose trail meandering through it. So, year after year, moose spy on them through the windows and trample Wanda’s gardens into worm food. Inquisitive bears pay unannounced visits, bobcats lounge in window flower boxes, and Charlie the Skunk is an expected winter guest in the root cellar.

In Ayuh, That’s Life on the Moose Trail, Wanda Ferguson reveals the tenacity and humor—as well as the many trials and errors—that it takes to coexist with forest animals in the mountains of western Maine. Part cultural history, part environmental advocacy, Wanda’s tales conjure up the natural world around us and show how it, with all its inhabitants, can keep us grounded and steady in the course of our lives. “Humans come and go,” she reminds us, “but the land remains.”

Praise for Ayuh, That’s Life on the Moose Trail!:

“I treasure reading about every adventure of Wanda’s in her family’s forest neighborhood, where animals are constant companions year-round. Here is a world where come-lately human beings have found a way to live with nature, accommodating its gifts and liabilities. Through all the Maine year’s dramatic seasons, the family carries on with ingenuity, determination, and appreciation.

“I also treasure Wanda Ferguson’s voice, homegrown like her garden. To her, storytelling is as natural as the land around her. What better image of delight than “feeling giddier than a cow lapping up silage syrup”? That voice comes from a clear, open-hearted relationship with nature—’the only way,’ as Wanda puts it, ‘to stay in touch with what is real, steadfast, and forever.'”

— Dr. Jo Radner of Lovell, Maine: folklorist, storyteller, writer  

Ayuh, That’s Life on the Moose Trail! is available at:

Ecopelagicon, 7 Pond St., Rangeley, ME,  207-864-2771 (Mail orders, too)

Books, Lines & Thinkers, 2511 Main St, Rangeley, ME,  207-864-4355

IGA grocery, Route 4, just east of Rangeley, ME

Devaney, Doak & Garrett Booksellers, 193 Broadway, Farmington, ME, 207-778-3454

And, from Wanda and Holman Ferguson, Rangeley, Maine.

Wanda and I are available for book signings and more. Email me at myocomATgmu.edu

Wanda Ferguson

About Wanda:  Born in 1932, a sixth-generation descendant of Luther Hoar, Rangeley’s first white settler, Wanda Ferguson has donned many hats, including those of wife, mother, homesteader, caregiver, secretary for Kay Mora, bookkeeper for Ferguson Excavating, Rangeley Library board member, laboratory worker at Orgonon for Wilhelm Reich, and treasurer of Sandy River Plantation. The passion of her life, though, is writing. “I’m going to write till I drop,” she promises.

Already known for her books Mountain Gardening and Over the Garden Fence: The Gardener’s Companion and Journal, Wanda’s new work takes a humorous turn. “My humor erupts mid-sentence, no matter what the topic,” she laughs. “I’m going to write till I drop!”

Peggy and Wanda working on “Ayuh, That’s Life on the Moose Trail!” in Wanda’s kitchen.

From me, Wanda’s editor: What fun I’m having serving as editor for Wanda’s  Ayuh, That’s Life on the Moose Trail! 

Thanks to Liongrass Editions, the publishing arm of Hohne-Werner Design of East Wilton for their imaginative and careful work with Wanda’s book. Thanks, also, to Walch Printing of Portland, Maine.

Now, we are on to her other projects–first, her novel “Winds of Desire” about a young apprentice to a traveling midwife, set in western Maine of the early 1900s and based on Wanda’s family stories. Then, who knows? Maybe her edition of her grand-uncle Sid Harden’s journal of his life amidst the lakes and forests of Rangeley.