A Patch in the Forest by Elisabeth West (2001)

 

 

I bought this book years ago, but it is now out of print and second hand copies sell for 50 to 60 Euro's. The book has a few illustrations and no maps.

When Elizabeth West finished Garden in the Hills  she and Alan were preparing to leave their Hovel in the Hills because there was no way they could make a living there. Also they found that new roads and increased traffic meant they could no longer live there in peace. "We promised ourselves that one day, as soon as we were entitled to a state old-age pension, we would find another patch of land in a wild and lonely place and make another garden." In the early 90's, when they are both receiving pensions, the time has come to find a new place to live.

"Now that the time to make our plans had arrived we found that the passing years had modified our ideas. With old age ahead we didn't want our patch to be wild and lonely, nor did we reckon on coping with more than an acre of land. A place on the outskirts of a village or hamlet would be ideal - preferably on a no-through road and within a half-mile walk of a post office and bus service". After an 18 month search they buy a small house in the Forest of Dean. It has a garden with an enormous oak tree in it.

 

In 1993 they move in. The house was built in the early 1960's. Everywhere they look they find "workmanship of such incompetence that we almost begin to suspect malicious intent." So Alan does a lot of repairs. They create a kitchen and "back kitchen", remove some of the 24 doors, and rip out all the complicated water pipes and central heating, and "start again". They install an Aga in the kitchen, have an open fire in the living room and use electric heaters, when needed, in other rooms. They are allowed to gather brushwood in the forest and also buy locally dug coal.

The garden is about half an acre (on a slope). It does not get much direct sunlight, suffers from mists and frost and has bad soil (clay mixed with rubbish to level the site). Nevertheless they manage to create a beautiful garden there.  Their aim is to attract as much wildlife as possible. Part of the garden they leave "rough", part is a meadow (mown 3 or 4 times a year), there is a vegetable garden and a pond close to the house, with the rest of the garden given over to "flowers, shrubs and interesting plants." Strangely enough these include Japanese knotweed: "which we like, in spite of what the experts say." (Japanese knotweed is considered to be one of the most invasive species, which can displace many native plants).

Elizabeth describes all the vegetables they grow, stressing "this is how we do it and not suggesting how you should." They can be largely self-sufficient for most of the summer and autumn, but in winter they need the greengrocer. They grow (and dry) a lot of herbs, eat some weeds (like dandelion and chickweed), gather mushrooms and nuts.

Elizabeth and Alan clearly revel in living close to nature as becomes clear in the chapters on their observations of and encounters with birds, butterflies and other animals of the forest.

"Looking out for the birds that visit the garden is, of course, a non-stop activity in this household. We chat to them if they approach us and we mutter greetings if they are about their business in the hedge. If they are flying across the sky or soaring overhead we watch in silent admiration. This looking-out-for-the-birds activity continues even when the weather keeps us indoors, which means we spend a lot of time gazing from the windows."

"Our concern that butterflies should have food and appropiate facilities to carry out their complicated life cycles means that flowers are left to bloom for as long as they are useful and that plenty of rough grass, nettles and bramble thickets are available. We have noticed that chives are usually the earliest vegetable plants to bloom and they are very attractive to bees and butterlies. If we want to have plenty of chive leaves to eat we should really trim off the flower stalks, but we don't. The only answer is to have more chives."

Animals in the forest around them include deer, badgers, adders and squirrels. Elizabeth writes of the plans to introduce pine martens (a natural enemy to the grey squirrel) to the Forest, fearing it will mean a diminishing bird population (note: in 2019 18 pine martens were released in the Forest of Dean). Bats, frogs, toads and hedgehogs visit their garden.

"This invitation to our garden does not extend to that most ubiquitous Forest of Dean animal, the wandering sheep. " (...) "The men who own these sheep belong to a Commoner's Association through which they defend their rights to run sheep in the forest." Attempts to regulate grazing by sheep are not very successful (this still seems to be an issue today).

Elizabeth and Alan don't get many visitors, nor do they go away often. "Having spent most of our working lives engaged in various forms of humble employment (in between periods of unemployment) the need to earn a living had always occupied a lot of our time, thoughts and energies. But we no longer have to work for money, and the sense of freedom in exhilarating." They enjoy their own company, spending time in the garden, listening to music and reading. Elizabeth has become a fan of the bands and choirs in the Forest. And of course they often go for walks.

This book is a must for everyone who has enjoyed Hovel in the Hills and Garden in the Hills. Here's hoping Logastan Press will reprint!

We Took to the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich (1942)

Who can resist a book with a cover like this?


Louise Dickinson Rich took to the woods during the 1930’s and wrote this book to answer the many questions her friends were always asking her.
„During most of my adolescence  (…) I said, when asked what I was going to do with my life, that I was going to live alone in a cabin in the Maine woods and write.”
She did end up in a cabin in Maine (though not on her own), but completely by accident: on a canoeing trip she met Ralph Rich who had recently moved  there.  Shortly after they were married. And so she moved to the Northwestern-most corner of Maine (with a resident population of about a dozen) where there are few roads and where the lakes are the main thoroughfares. This means that every autumn and spring they are cut off from the rest of the world for a few weeks. During the „fall freeze up” the ice is not yet strong enough to walk or drive on, during the „spring break up” the ice is too thin but boats can’t be used yet. During winter the place is hard to reach too, so all in all, except for summer when the visitors come, they live pretty isolated lives. And that's how Louise likes it. "Emily Dickinson once said of a little niece who had been shut up in a closet as punishment, and was discovered there hours later, perfectly composed and happy, "But no one could ever punish a Dickinson by shutting her up alone!" That applied to Emily herself. And it applies to this obscure Dickinson. It applies to my ability to be contented here, away from the world, and to the truth underlying Ralph's and my relationship: that being with Ralph is just exactly as good as being alone. Now that's written, it looks terrible; and I meant it to be the nicest thing I could say!

 

 

 

Like Helen Hoover, Louise has a Winter and a Summer House, plus various sheds and an outhouse, as there is no plumbing. Gerrish, the „hired help” works for them, he has his own house.
I would imagine that Louise writes the way she talks, so explaining what it is like to live in the woods means lots of stories: on being an official Maine Guide (Ralph), how Louise disliked school, on deer hunting, on searching for deer hunters lost in the woods, cutting ice, visiting lumberjacks, fire wardens and the annual log drive. Early in the book Louise mentions that Ralph had sold some patent rights before he came to live at Forest Lodge, so I assume he had some kind of income. Apart from that they make a living doing all kinds of work: transporting people and goods, taking in boarders, repairing the road, cooking, knitting, car trading (Ralph’s speciality) and writing.
Louise relishes living where she does and does not miss „outside”. She especially does not miss having to bother about clothes and gives us a list of her wardrobe:

 

I was interested in the prices Louise mentions:  adjusted for inflation, $1.00 in 1942 is equal to $16.80 in 2021.

 

As we learned from Helen Hoover’s book living in the woods is hard work, and the line between work and spare time is blurred. There is always something to do, like tending the vegetable garden, painting the boats or tapping trees for maple syrup. From November to January they cut wood (after the leaves fall, before the snow gets too deep). Then there is the problem of having enough supplies, as they never know when the "freeze up" will be. Every once in a while they are caught out and Louise will have to make something out of almost nothing in her kitchen.
Unlike the Hoovers Louise and Ralph seem to be completely at ease with and accepted by the people around them. They don’t believe in making wild animals pets, nor do they feed them in winter like the Hoovers did. Only one animal becomes their pet, by accident : ons day Ralph brings home an orphaned baby skunk. This animal becomes an unlikely but much loved pet named Rollo. Rollo is "raised" by Cookie, their dog, who had puppies at the time. When Rollo becomes angry he stamps his feet, but he only once makes a smell when he thinks the cat is stealing his food (the cat escapes and never returns).

The one thing that frightens them is the danger of a forest fire. They know exactly what they will take and where they will go if they have to evacuate. They are never sick („ we are living in a sort of reverse quarantine, which the germs locked out instead of in”). This is just as well, as they have no easy access to a doctor or a hospital. And just as well that baby Rufus arrives without incident. Louise, who had planned to go to hospital to have her baby, gives birth a few weeks early.  Her son Rufus was born with only Ralph in attendance on the 18th of December at 2.55 a.m. with the thermometer down to 10° F above zero (minus 12° C). To make things worse they were still in the (hard to heat) Summer House, Ralph having planned to move things to the Winter House while Louise was in hospital
„I can see him now, with a wool cap pulled over his ears, his mackinaw collar turned up to meet it, and his mittens on, reading by lantern light a little book called „If Baby Comes Ahead of Doctor”. Perspiration was running down his face. You see, he knew the doctor couldn’t possibly get there for ten hours or more.” To quell Ralph’s nerves she gives him things to do, like heat lots of water (though she had no idea what for). Then he heats up a blanket and places it in the laundry basket. „ When he came back, five minutes later, he was a father”. 

 

We Took to the Woods is one of my favourites, not least because of the wonderful map. Sometimes Louise is a little long-winded. It made me wonder is any editor was involved or if the manuscript was just accepted as it was. Then again, it makes you feel Louise is just chatting to you. 

Louise went on to write many more books. I have ordered her biography and I will return to her in future posts.