Highs and lows and everything in between. Getting the axe from a comfortable job, navigating a crisis located smack dab in the middle of life, publishing a book, working to gain traction on a second, farming, painting houses, fathering, husbanding (animals, wife, children), book marketing, being the proud spouse/booster of an artist, and striving each and … More Living as an Author Teetering Among Many Roles
I sell quite a few books at The Duluth Grill. Delivering them by bike requires a significant investment of time as it requires me to haul them across town. Occasionally, the need to replenish the stock comes at an inconvenient time, but always, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, the experience is the highlight of my week. This particular … More Inefficient, Crazy, and Utterly Delicious
It’s a cold, rainy day. I’m inside my “shack” enjoying the first fire of the season, and I can’t help but think about my friends toiling away in the fields beneath and within sheets of rain. With boots three times as heavy as normal from all the mud and relentless moisture dampening spirits, I suspect … More Gladly laboring for minimum wage down on the farm
That’s right people. I just earned cold hard cash by doing farm work! This was so important to me that I even biked 30 miles just to get to work today, and boy am I tired. This after just three hours of harvesting tomatoes and squash. It turns out that farming is tough work! I’m … More It’s official. I’m a bona fide farmer!
A thousand words and emotions are embedded in this image. My wife’s painting spent a month in the city council chambers a while back, and I was just now able to retrieve it from the Duluth Art Institute (by the way, leave all of February open to enjoy her upcoming show there — the Depot). Albert Woolson holds … More Weaving Community Connections On My Historic Bicycle
Like a ship bashing into a coral reef, my head was gashed and deeply pierced by the corner of a deck board today. With blood flowing liberally, I completed my paint job after running my head under the frigid water of the outdoor spigot to the point of numbness. Then, 30 minutes later I bashed … More Humanity blooms in struggle. Plus, home economics for a family of starving artists.
It was like I won the lottery. Picked as the lucky winner, I could pick virtually any book on Earth and have it shipped to me for FREE! Being a frequent user of the library, and facing a significant cash shortage, I haven’t purchased a book for myself in years. Such extravagance! Additionally, I’ve been … More Winning the Lottery With Berry, consuming The Grapes of Wrath, and Some Relevance for Labor Day
Glamorous. That’s the best word I can think of to describe life as a struggling author with a family to feed. Oh if these painter pants could talk! They’ve been with me since 1999—approximately 40% of my lifetime. That summer after graduating from college I took a job as a crew foreman for a house painting … More The Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous
I’ve been quiet lately. That’s ok, I think. Probably the most memorable experience of the past month was a trip the family took to pick strawberries together. We took the country route, rather than the busy highway. I was inspired by several farms, and stopped for grass fed beef and a full gallon of maple … More The Power of Place
Throughout the summer months, Duluth is regularly carpet-bombed by boxes of vegetables. The popularity of CSA’s (community supported agriculture) has exploded in recent years in these parts. Where previously this sort of labor-intensive, organic farming comprised a small, niche market, it now seems to be penetrating the outer periphery of the mainstream. Not only are … More A tale of three organic farms defying the odds, and one on the way
Ed's Big Adventure 