Blog and News

Some thoughts on writing

My friend Lynn Kanter asked if I wanted to participate in a blog tour for authors about their writing process, in which we answer four questions about the way we work and then pass the baton to one or more authors who also blog. I haven’t done anything like this in a while, so I said yes.

Food Desert

photo of a tilled field along the highway

I once found the sight of soil opened up to receive seed so delicious I could imagine tasting it. After all, it looks very much like unfrosted chocolate cake.

But now I know better. It's a food desert.

Beautiful Bees

Image: Mace Vaughan/Xerces Society courtesy modernfarmer.com

My Cleveland garden had a big clump of white speedwell (Veronica Spicata "Icycle"), a plant with white candelabra-like spikes. They were covered with bees from the time they blossomed-- from huge, lumbering bumblebees to clouds of bees so tiny it was hard to photograph them. The occasional honeybee, but clearly, all those other bees were doing most of the work.

Not Enough Chairs!

Photo of The Soil Will Save Us books on Powell's book shelf - Photo by Kristin Beadle

It's very exciting when they run out of chairs at your first public event following book release. Friends, family and strangers -- lots and lots of strangers! -- packed Powell's last night and listened intently as I talked (longer than I'd planned) about the amazing life beneath our feet and the opportunity for healing landscapes by respecting and working with that life.

Back in Blogland

Photo of Thuli Khumalo look at sculpture

I started my first blog in July of 2006, and it was fun: it gave me a chance to natter on about the things that interested me and that I might write about someday (or was writing about in some other venue). I named it Book of Marvels, after a favorite book from my childhood --Richard Halliburton’s Book of Marvels, which made me yearn for the world beyond California.

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