Evelyn Searle Hess

This is a 2010 memoir by an Oregonian woman who must be in her early 70s or maybe 60s now. It's nature writing with a dash of rugged hippie individualism and theme of discovery of oneself by living in the woods. Hess and her architect husband in 1992 buy 20 acres of wooded land in the foothills of the Cascades outside Eugene. They keep their in-town house, but buy a junky small trailer to live in on the land. The plans are to have a nursery and greenhouse on the land, and gradually they move to renting their Eugene house to pay the mortgage and to living full time in the woods, with no electricity or plumbing; it sounds quite like camping full time. They learn to live frugally & pretty lightly on the earth (there's no room for anything in the trailer!), and in tune with nature, which sends their way lots of blackberries, ivy, invasive weeds, and critters who find nursery plants delicious. The writing is decent though not dazzling; the naturalist parts are the best, such as her description of finding baby jumping mice, seasonal changes, and observances of the plants and creatures that are attracted to their new irrigation pond. I'm left with a decreased desire to buy land in the country - oof, that's a lot of work! And if I do, I'll be sure to build a cabin or "tiny house" (http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/) because unlike the elderly writer, I just do not have the fortitude to live in a damp dilapidated trailer for so long! Wow.… (mehr)

This is a 2010 memoir by an Oregonian woman who must be in her early 70s or maybe 60s now. It's nature writing with a dash of rugged hippie individualism and theme of discovery of oneself by living in the woods. Hess and her architect husband in 1992 buy 20 acres of wooded land in the foothills of the Cascades outside Eugene. They keep their in-town house, but buy a junky small trailer to live in on the land. The plans are to have a nursery and greenhouse on the land, and gradually they move to renting their Eugene house to pay the mortgage and to living full time in the woods, with no electricity or plumbing; it sounds quite like camping full time. They learn to live frugally & pretty lightly on the earth (there's no room for anything in the trailer!), and in tune with nature, which sends their way lots of blackberries, ivy, invasive weeds, and critters who find nursery plants delicious. The writing is decent though not dazzling; the naturalist parts are the best, such as her description of finding baby jumping mice, seasonal changes, and observances of the plants and creatures that are attracted to their new irrigation pond. I'm left with a decreased desire to buy land in the country - oof, that's a lot of work! And if I do, I'll be sure to build a cabin or "tiny house" (http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/) because unlike the elderly writer, I just do not have the fortitude to live in a damp dilapidated trailer for so long! Wow.… (mehr)