What is Old is New Again

Gardens and beehive on my mountainside land in Vermont

My first book, The Education of a Flatlander,¹ was never published, and thank goodness. I loved writing it, but I will be forever grateful to the many editors who said “No, not for us” because they were right. That book was not for anyone else. It was for me.

I wrote Flatlander as I learned from my native New Hampshire and Vermont farmer-neighbors how to garden, raise chickens, milk cows, improve my acre of New Hampshire land and grow my own food.

It was the first project I had to write, that woke me up in the middle of the night and demanded not just my mental space but my sustained, effortful attention to getting the words down on the page.

Twenty years later, I’ve returned to the subject matter of Flatlander while working toward a master gardener certification and installing my first beehive.

I love the circularity and timing of it all. Back when I was writing Flatlander I never could have imagined I’d have a New York Times bestseller and an award-winning book on substance use prevention to my name, let alone a formal education as a master gardener.

My response to the overwhelming fear and pain and uncertainty I feel right now has been to go outside and plunge my hands and heart back into the land I love so much. I’m doing the other things as well, fighting and advocating in the ways I’m best prepared to fight and advocate, but I have long found solace in the earth and the sustenance it provides.

In honor of this satisfying return, I will be posting a few of the best excerpts from Flatlander to mark where I started and measure how far I’ve come.

But first, regard my bees! I’ve been learning about beekeeping for a decade now, and thanks to mentors like my friend Jim, who decided to put his entire beekeeping education on his YouTube channel, I’m finally ready. I’ve been tweaking the succession planting in my pollinator meadow and this past winter, I inherited a new hive and assorted beekeeping equipment from a friend.

While the suit isn’t precisely the right size, the gift is a perfect fit.

1. What’s a Flatlander, you ask? It’s what people from northern New England call people from away, from those flatter places down south.