Comments | gwendally: "We Took To The Woods" by Louise Dickinson Rich

gwendally

"We Took To The Woods" by Louise Dickinson Rich

Dec 17, 2011 12:02

In the late seventies there was a hippie movement to go "back to the land" that landed me on a mountaintop in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. My mother and step-father decided to build a subsistence-level homestead and I got pulled along for the ride - and to be cheap goat-tending labor. I have many stories and lessons from those days, but this ( Read more... )

intellectual liberal, homemaking, not killing my mother, winter is coming, history, hooverville, sustainable living, books, poor skills, bio

Comments 3

anonymous December 17 2011, 18:20:50 UTC

I love this book. The author reminds me of my Mom in her humble tomboy-yet-young-housewife style (although my mom kind of did it in reverse: we had a rustic summer cabin while I was growing up, and then once my Mom was on her own she moved there full time for the rest of her life).

I got a smile when I saw this on your blog today because I hardly ever see mention of the book. (Which is not to say I don't take your points as well.)

roasted_beets December 17 2011, 18:42:58 UTC

My mom gave me We Took To The Woods when I was 16. We both fell in love with Maine and neither of us had ever seen the ocean. My husband and I came up here from Ft. Devens and I saw Maine for the first time in 1975. (if coming as far as Kennebunkport counts as Maine)

Once we tried finding the rapid river and Rumford and other things mentioned in the book without success. It felt like we were very close - just missing her. I think she had already moved to Gouldsboro. It didn't really matter. I was near where it all happened and actually *seeing* the Maine I had only read about in her books. (I have all three of the *Woods* books.)

She was the first thing I knew about Maine and now here I am living a simpler life in my own little corner of Maine woods. This is my place.
I reread WTttW once every year. It makes me happy.

kayjayuu December 17 2011, 21:16:15 UTC

I shall pick this up. We did a poor job of living in the sticks, but it doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. It just means I didn't do it right or for the right reasons.

Can't say I'm not still tempted. I do live in North Dakota, after all, but in the middle of a small town. Some aspects of being "on your own" still apply up here. XD