R.D. (Robert David) Symons was a Saskatchewan naturalist, and painter, revered for his memoirs, nature writing, paintings, and illustrations. He was also a rancher and game warden. For the first time in print, Symons' memoir of his formative years, and his early years in Canada, are captured in the same compelling style and flair that brought him to the forefront as an author. In A Country Boy, Symons writes of his remarkable upbringing in Sussex, England, learning to paint at his father's knee, and nurturing a love of nature that would become a lifelong passion. Here is a book that will restore R.D. Symons to his rightful place as a master, portraying life in nature, and nature in life.

R. D. Symons was born in England in 1898, and came to Canada as a teenager to work on a ranch. Here he tells of his initiation into the life of the cowboy: learning to herd cattle, saddle a horse in the dark, tell time by the stars, help a cow give birth, train a cow pony, and endure long hours in the saddle. He brings to life the characters he met and worked with, including ranch owner "Scotty" Gow, range riders Banjo Pete and Chuck Dennis, horse rustler Coyote Bill, straw boss Lee Blackwell, M�tis cowboy and horse trader Isadore Trottier, and many others. His lush and graphic descriptions of blizzards, storms, drought and other environmental hazards, of the many horses he knew and loved and of the cowboy's creature comforts, such as a breakfast of hotcakes, bacon, biscuits and syrup before a hard day's work, immerse us in a world long past.

R.D. Symons' profile page

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"A new memoir by R.D. Symons? This is one of the most exciting bits of publishing news I have hear in a long time. Symons spoke passionately on behalf of prairie ecology and prairie culture. He has become a foundational inspiration for contemporary prairie environmentalists and writers." Trevor Herriot