Tag Archives: Henry David Thoreau
FREE RANGE: FOOD, NATURE, PLACE, AND MORE
The meaning of meat
“It is true, I came as near as is possible to come to being a hunter and miss it, myself….” (Henry David Thoreau) I spent last weekend in the company of six heavily armed women at Madroño Ranch. Don ’t worry; … Continue reading
Posted in Food
Tagged bison, Dai Due, deer, farmers markets, feral hogs, Henry David Thoreau, hunting, Jesse Griffiths, Madroño Ranch, meat, Morgan Angelone, Sarah Palin, Sir Paul McCartney, Tink Pinkard, vegetarianism
3 Comments
A school of fish: Izaak Walton at Madroño Ranch
… doubt not, therefore, sir, that angling is an art, and an art worth your learning. The question is rather, whether you be capable of learning it? Inspired by the recent Freshwater Fly-Fishing School at Madroño Ranch, I’ve been rereading … Continue reading
Posted in More
Tagged Dai Due, fishing, Henry David Thoreau, Izaak Walton, Jesse Griffiths, Morgan Angelone, Thomas McGuane, Tink Pinkard
1 Comment
Of mothers and mountains
I’ve just introduced myself to the pleasures of Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There. Called the father of wildlife conservation in the United States, Leopold heard in the revving of the great American economic and … Continue reading
Posted in Nature
Tagged Aldo Leopold, Colorado, Henry David Thoreau, Isa Catto Shaw, Jessica Hobby Catto, John Catto, mountains, salvation, wildness, wolves
4 Comments
“A cup of tea, a warm bath, and a brisk walk”
A path is little more than a habit that comes with knowledge of a place. (Wendell Berry) If you are ready to leave father and mother, and brother and sister, and wife and child and friends, and never see them … Continue reading
Posted in Place
Tagged dogs, Henry David Thoreau, Madroño Ranch, Roaring Fork River, snakes, Texas Hill Country, walking, Wendell Berry
2 Comments
Mapping the geography of hope: our place in the wilderness
Last week, during a visit to San Francisco that also took us to the nearby Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Martin and I spent a day exploring the Point Reyes National Seashore with his childhood friends Brad and Hans. Before setting … Continue reading
Massachusetts, part III: take a walk on the wild side
A Very Long Time Ago, my mother brought home a Peter Max-style poster with this quotation from Henry David Thoreau: “In wilderness is the preservation of the world.” Each time we moved, its reappearance was an indication that I was … Continue reading
Posted in Nature
Tagged camels, David Quammen, Henry David Thoreau, Madroño Ranch, Massachusetts, nineteenth century, predators, walking, wildness
1 Comment
Massachusetts, part II: in defense of Thoreau
On our recent trip to snowy Massachusetts, as Heather told you last week, we carved out time for a pilgrimage to Walden Pond, just south of Concord, the very wellspring of American conservationism. Walden Pond, of course, is where that … Continue reading
Massachusetts, part I: of books and houses and hospitality
On our very brief trip to Massachusetts last weekend, Martin and I drove straight from Boston’s Logan Airport to Concord in hopes of glimpsing one of the hotbeds of American utopian thinking before the winter sun set. Driving through snowy … Continue reading
Posted in More
Tagged books, Bronson Alcott, Concord MA, Henry David Thoreau, hospitality, Louisa May Alcott, Massachusetts, Ralph Waldo Emerson, tohu-bohu, Transcendentalism, Walden
4 Comments