Relocating to a new "here"

"What We Need is Here"

Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.

Wendell Berry

 In a matter of days I'll be starting over again; not for the first time ever, but for the first time in a while. I'm packing up and moving to a yurt in the woods where I'll be for at least the next 6-8 months.

This blog is for me to keep track of this next year of my life while I'm working and living on a farm in southwestern Virginia. In the end most of what you'll find here are photos of my plants and animals along with tidbits from my daily life and ruminations on life's bigger questions (which I'll no doubt be pondering ad nauseum in my ample free time in the woods). 

I don't have any pictures to share just yet, but I do have a huge stack of books I've collected to take with me this summer. Here's my reading list so far:

Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community: Eight Essays, Wendell Berry

Home Economics, Wendell Berry

The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian essays of Wendell Berry, Wendell Berry

The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture, Wendell Berry

The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land, Norman Wirzba

Last Child In the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, Richard Louv

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, Haruki Murakami

The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon

La autopista del sur y otros cuentos, Julio Cortazar

Storey's Guide to Raising Turkeys, Leonard Mercia

Whittling Twigs and Branches, Chris Lubkemann