I don’t feel comfortable writing about Wendell Berry, but I’ll give it a shot.
When I moved to Kentucky in 2000, not knowing who Wendell Berry was, I would hear his name on the radio, on TV, and in random conversations, but I had no idea who he was. The reverence used around his character was such that I didn’t even think he was still living. I assumed he was a deceased naturalist, philosopher, writer, poet, and farmer of the echelon of John Muir, Ralph Waldo Emerson, or Edward Abbey. When I found out he was still alive, I was even more intrigued and decided to learn more about him and his books, poems, and food theories in farming. Then, when I found out he was instrumental in protecting the Red River Gorge from being dammed and lost forever, I raised him to my highest pedestal.
His influence is evident in my work on our South Fork Farm, where I could see firsthand the damage from improper farming practices. For more on that, you can read my blog posts on “Restoring Habitat” and “1000 Trees” to learn about a few things I’ve done.
I didn’t buy this farm to rent out cabins, but sometimes life unfolds in mysterious ways. After remodeling the Farmhouse and opening it up for people to visit the Red River Gorge, I found it so rewarding that I added the See Rocks Log Cabin. When Covid spread across the globe, I decided to take the isolation and lack of activities as an opportunity to design and build our See Rocks Vista Cabin. After completion, I finished the interior design, and my son and I created most of the furniture and artwork.
As for me, I’m not a hoarder, but I would say I am an afflicted collector who finds nothing more rewarding than hanging onto an object and then finding it a home. Deep in the hollow, at the top of the property, was the Daniel’s Junkyard, a place where Larry Daniels (neighbor) would take his old vehicles to rest and rust. Upon buying the property, I cleaned out the junkyard, leaving one small item as memorabilia to its original location. It was the large red hood to Larry Daniels’ logging truck. I would pass that hood hiking in for over a decade, and only after completing the new cabin did I realize its new purpose in life. I knew I would use it as a canvas, and my creative process landed on Wendell Berry as the subject matter. What better way can I pay homage to someone I respect and do so in a way to help promote him and his contributions to the Red River Gorge.
When I moved to Kentucky in 2000, not knowing who Wendell Berry was, I would hear his name on the radio, on TV, and in random conversations, but I had no idea who he was. The reverence used around his character was such that I didn’t even think he was still living. I assumed he was a deceased naturalist, philosopher, writer, poet, and farmer of the echelon of John Muir, Ralph Waldo Emerson, or Edward Abbey. When I found out he was still alive, I was even more intrigued and decided to learn more about him and his books, poems, and food theories in farming. Then, when I found out he was instrumental in protecting the Red River Gorge from being dammed and lost forever, I raised him to my highest pedestal.
His influence is evident in my work on our South Fork Farm, where I could see firsthand the damage from improper farming practices. For more on that, you can read my blog posts on “Restoring Habitat” and “1000 Trees” to learn about a few things I’ve done.
I didn’t buy this farm to rent out cabins, but sometimes life unfolds in mysterious ways. After remodeling the Farmhouse and opening it up for people to visit the Red River Gorge, I found it so rewarding that I added the See Rocks Log Cabin. When Covid spread across the globe, I decided to take the isolation and lack of activities as an opportunity to design and build our See Rocks Vista Cabin. After completion, I finished the interior design, and my son and I created most of the furniture and artwork.
As for me, I’m not a hoarder, but I would say I am an afflicted collector who finds nothing more rewarding than hanging onto an object and then finding it a home. Deep in the hollow, at the top of the property, was the Daniel’s Junkyard, a place where Larry Daniels (neighbor) would take his old vehicles to rest and rust. Upon buying the property, I cleaned out the junkyard, leaving one small item as memorabilia to its original location. It was the large red hood to Larry Daniels’ logging truck. I would pass that hood hiking in for over a decade, and only after completing the new cabin did I realize its new purpose in life. I knew I would use it as a canvas, and my creative process landed on Wendell Berry as the subject matter. What better way can I pay homage to someone I respect and do so in a way to help promote him and his contributions to the Red River Gorge.
