A Return to the Stack
Memoir and farm news, I’m back!
When I created a substack, apparently three years ago, I was in the midst of many changes. Some of those were explored in the posts I shared here, questions about what rural living is really about, how interlaced homesteading and fear are, and the changing political nature of the back-to-the-land movement. Some changes took place in other writings, I leaned into journalism and began to focus on issues of sustainability and food production, leading to some amazing opportunities and interviews over the years.
I also did some other random things that entirely changed my life, like becoming an obsessive organizer and planner, documenting everything and bringing my datebook with me everywhere (and never missing meetings or deadlines again). I took up running which taught my brain how to push through intense discomfort and remain focused on a bigger goal. My husband and I started traveling a lot more, opening ourselves to the experiences and — especially — the flavors of the world.
When we moved rurally ten years ago, I was to a large degree running away. I was afraid of social pressures and expectations, I was afraid of choosing how to make a living, I was afraid of cities and the overwhelm they caused in me, I was afraid of highway driving and loud crowds. And the way I handled being afraid was to turn away, to block out and get away from whatever was scary.
Through my experiences homesteading I have — very, very slowly — learned that the only way to address fear is to confront it head on, to move through it and find confidence on the other side. To strive to understand how things work so that they cannot frighten me through simple ignorance. How I handle fear has changed entirely in the past decade, from something I run from to something I face with curiosity.
And one thing that gives me a little shiver of fear, but also a great big rush of excitement, is the fact I am now working on a memoir about our time living in rural Maine. I have a literary agent, something I always dreamed of, and will have a manuscript completed before the new year.
The memoir writing process has me looking back at our experiences, reconsidering what rural living means once again, and examining with a more critical eye some of the encounters we have had in a place aptly called ‘hostile valley’. When we moved rurally we had certain expectations that have been shattered and others that have been affirmed.
So I am bringing back the substack!
I want to use this space to share some of the looser thoughts about rural living, some of the memories that don’t make it in the memoir, and also as an outlet for more thoughts about nature, politics, maybe some fiction, and my greatest passion: food.
If that interests you, feel free to subscribe or even (gasp!) pledge. I hope to keep this updated regularly, and I look forward to connecting with you!