Clean shaven in summer. Bearded in winter. Prickly year round.
In a perfect world, I might have hiked to Canada on the Superior Hiking Trail by now. Distractions are legion. Spring and Summer were devoted to staining this fence and virtually every piece of bare wood on the property: Fall was devoted (and devotion is still the operating concept) to picking up the pieces of … More Fantasia
A thick depression settled in after publishing Lit Up late last year. There’s something about the cover, or my inability to quickly describe that it’s about grappling toward a sustainable locally-based life, that fails to draw prospective readers in. I see the lack of interest as a light goes out behind their eyes. I wish … More The Joy of Minimalist Accounting. What??
A bunch of years ago I received an artist fellowship grant to write a book about, “Living locally.” $7,000 meant the world as I entered the long winter, my first season of hard-core farming concluded. I thought my second book would be easier. Quicker. Problem was, our family needed to build a sustainable life. Forging … More Lit Up: Out of the cubicle and into the real world
The dust storm bore down like something out of the Sahara. Before being swallowed up, I turned my head toward the clear skies in which logging truck was headed at breakneck speed along gravel road, and had the brilliant idea of following. Serendipity’s nudge shortened my bike ride from 13 miles to 7.5. I’d no … More After laboring these 18 years it’s time for a walk
This typewriter joined our family after going unloved for several decades in storage as a technological revolution swept the world. Incorporating it into daily life has revolutionized my life. 8. I’m writing more freely, less concerned with finding that perfect word, phrase, etc. That all can be done in the re-writing process. Might this be … More 15 ways a typewriter changed my life in just 9 days.
Installing that clothesline atop our deck, after arguing over options for 18 months, feels amazing. Our entire household economy depends upon learning to use this space we’re stewarding, a 113-year-old home set upon a 50 X 140-foot lot, most effectively. All our income is generated from a three-legged stool—farm, art, writing—in this place of surprisingly … More Eccentricities Open a Portal
Prognosticating, 18 years ago, I saw this day coming as a lumbering freight train. Impossible to stop. Inbound with a load of depression to feather our nest. Outbound with all our kids. Always in the distant future, I didn’t think about it much… Twindom overwhelmed us for centuries, it seemed. From day 1, we felt … More How to make a decision
Running into this beaver yesterday, in the most unlikely of places, reminds me of Duluth’s answer to Donald Trump: The entrepreneur/property mogul/recording artist quietly goes about his work, lunch pail in hand as blue collar as they come, with humility, grace, and generosity. His persevering spirit, paired with an innate urge to create and share … More Duluth’s Duluthiest Entrepreneur Embodies Artistic Success
Harvest day was too damp and cold for Shawna to pack adjacent to the walk-in cooler, forcing me to make a hundred+ back and forth trips. On each journey, hauling cut microgreens in large totes (back-and-forth three times for every stem), I paused to appreciate the tulips. Both coming and going. Before this, I hadn’t … More Simple Beauty Carries You
We sat across the table from perhaps the most stunningly attractive woman in the room. Campus Day organizers programmed virtually every minute of the day, so the four of us had just 10 minutes to eat and connect. I focused on protein. Thrisha’s father, an immigrant from India, reached out to us. Rapturously, I erupted … More A first swing home run.
Ed's Big Adventure 