I don't get excited, these days, about trips for the mail. Sure, it's a nice walk down the ridge, along the winding gravel road, but what typically awaits in our rural box is disappointing. Junk. Bills. Solicitations. If it wasn't for the exercise and the chance to listen to the birds, it wouldn't be worth it.
But not this week. This week I was looking for something. Something good.
I have had the great pleasure, these past couple years, to follow a captivating blog out of Australia - Rohan Anderson's wonderful Whole Larder Love. Now, to my great delight, he's published a book to accompany his online work that advocates and celebrates "the innate need for a relationship with nature through the soil, plants, water, and wildlife." It was delivered today.
There is a sense of satisfaction from getting your hands dirty, nurturing your food from seed, and enjoying something that nature has provided, while inevitably spending time outside in the elements to make it all happen. Our basic primeval needs can be satisfied with some time spent out in the fields, foraging in the forests, and hunting and fishing as our ancestors did. Our affluent, post-industrial-revolution society looks down its nose at this rugged lifestyle, preferring the conveniences the civilized world provides. I know which I prefer. - Rohan Anderson
Whole Larder Love, the book, is many things: cookbook, gardening primer, gear advisor, hunting and fishing journal, survival manual, education tool, father's gift to cherubic children. It's a dirt-to-table roadmap and a peek into the fascinating lifestyle of a gifted individual who's investing his soul into the pursuit of a simpler, healthier, more natural way to live.
And it's unbelievably beautiful. Roh's camerawork is as earthy and appealing as the natural lifestyle itself. It was this imagery that captured my attention two years ago and it continues to delight me today. If you're into that kind of thing, Whole Larder Love is a lovely addition to your coffee table, though that alone seems a terrible waste. It needs to be used.
So my mailbox trips have been rewarded and I'll dig deeply into this wonderful work in the coming days and weeks and years.
I just wonder what will motivate me to go down the hill tomorrow.
9 comments:
Roh's work is stunning...and salivating. I've been following along on his journey for awhile now, too. Must order this! It's becoming an awfully cold walk down to the mailbox these days...
You must indeed, Erin. It's a lovely thing to just leaf through. Salivating is the perfect word in so many ways.
And our walks to the box are only cool, not yet cold. But it won't be long.
Very cool to see there is a book. I've enjoyed the blog for a while now too. Thanks for sharing.
About a year or so ago I picked up Hank Shaws "Hunt, Gather, Cook" which would be worth your while too. Worth perusing his site.
I have recipe books for wild edibles dating back almost 100 years. Being a former city boy, I find it all fascinating. The things you can eat and the things that are medicinal too. It's interesting to compare recipes from years ago. They've gone well beyond the simple salt, pepper and fry it all up.
It's on my list.
Thanks.
cool, Jay. I was excited when it came out. Rohan's work is fabulous.
I'll check that out, Ken. Thanks. Perhaps Roh's title is homage...
You won't regret it, BT.
looks like a great book. I'm heading over to check it out now. You have an extra place at the table?lol
I can almost smell that bread. You live an attractive lifestyle, and this book seems instructive. I'll have to check it out.
There's always an extra place at the table, Joel. Come on down.
And our house regularly smells of fresh-baked bread, Mary Ann. Mary's baking is wonderful. We haven't had a store-bought loaf in years.
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