Adam, this is wonderful. Again, your words give me goosebumps (aka truth tingles). So much resonance and inspiration in this short pitch. This book is so needed, so important, I pray that it finds its way to the hearts of those who need it and thank you for your courage in living and writing it.
Carly, it's an honor to give someone goosebumps from an ocean away. Words are powerful business, eh? I'm looking forward to part 2 and 3 of your essay.
I love this and the first sentence ("This is a book of longings.") is so visceral and feels important, because, as a grateful reader of your work, what you write is about sustainable agriculture and farming and food-giving, and also so much more. The stories you share are offerings for self-reflection (as a reader) and evoke feeling entryways that can lead into each of our personal and specific inner worlds. The places where our hearts are met with infinite love and ultimate mystery.
Sounds well needed, love the term “book of longings” feel a strong resonance between that and the book i’m trying to bring into being “the forest calls us home”
Thank you, Jay. "The forest calls us home." That's how longing works. It's not us doing it. I think we'd have about 1000 things to discuss on this thread. Until then, all thanks. Adam
I love the first sentence, too. But by the end of the summary, I still don't feel like you've put into words exactly what the longing is for. Ideally that should be clear by the end of the first paragraph.
I think I've got the sentence. "The movement for sustainable agriculture began like this, with a vision of healed relationships between humans and land."
Kind of... I realise the confusion might come from the double uncertainty that using a word like longing conjures: Whose longing? Longing for what?
I enjoy reading your letters exactly because you have a very earnest and thoughtful tone of voice that really matches your values. But I don't really feel like the summary manages to bring that across. I feel like it ends up indirectly erasing you as a person ("the author"), thereby hiding your personal journey – and the longings that are at the centre of the story.
Maybe I don't understand the summary format, but when I wrote the summary of my book I wrote it from a first person perspective: "This is the story of my journey, etc" – it felt more honest like that. More like what I would say if somebody asked me to tell them what my book is about.
What do you say when people ask you about your book?
I apologize for not responding to any of your posts. I hadn't been feeling great lately and ended up having a heart attack on Wednesday, March 5, due to a congenital disease I have (troponin levels over 1,000); I didn't go to the hospital that night because of how I was treated with basically the same symptoms earlier in January. My dad brought me in the next day, and I had another heart attack after being put in an ambulance and sent to another hospital (troponin levels almost 1,300). I only tell you this because I got home on Tuesday, and this is the first piece I've read since getting home. They said no News or stress, and your pieces are quite the opposite for me. Your writing is warm and uplifting, and I am so excited about your book. It will be wonderful and one of the only gifts I give after its release. Please know your work and words are meaningful and healing, even to a 48-year-old woman with child-like optimism and hope in small-town Minnesota. Thank you for being so generous with all of your gifts! (FYI: the summary is fantastic!) I wish you and yours all the best and hope you are well. 🕊️♥️🤲
Thank you for sharing. I (and I suspect many here) see your work not only as necessary but as prophetic. I do believe that mysterious forces are moving us toward a new imagination around land and food, grateful then that the spirit is pushing through you and that you have let yourself be pushed! I've been thinking and working through this for a long time now. Considering the bible opens with the story of a tree whose fruit is wrongly taken and ends with the story of the fruit that heals, it deff seems that the judeo-christian God is strongly pushing us to think about what we eat. Anyway, Recently I was reading the work of a Rabbi I enjoy and came across an ancient rabbinic exegesis around the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. (If you remember, there is both the tree of knowledge from whom we took the fruit and the tree of Life. that God had to keep us away from post-fruit consumption). One of the rabbinic readings holds that these are not two trees but one, with two dimensions. On one hand the tree itself provides life while on the other hand it's fruit provides knowledge. The issue then is that Gods desire was for man to approach that particular tree, as a tree of life. To approach It first not for its utilitarian purpose but for its life giving essence, a tree to behold, a tree to inhale, a tree that was Good company, a tree to be viewed reverently. The tragedy is born when we see the world around us first from the utilitarian perspective. God then had to ask man to leave the garden, for he was afraid that he might (having eaten the fruit) proceed to destroy the actual tree, and with it the Ruach. It's breath giving spirit.
Adam, this is wonderful. Again, your words give me goosebumps (aka truth tingles). So much resonance and inspiration in this short pitch. This book is so needed, so important, I pray that it finds its way to the hearts of those who need it and thank you for your courage in living and writing it.
And thank you for the kind mention!
Carly, it's an honor to give someone goosebumps from an ocean away. Words are powerful business, eh? I'm looking forward to part 2 and 3 of your essay.
I love this and the first sentence ("This is a book of longings.") is so visceral and feels important, because, as a grateful reader of your work, what you write is about sustainable agriculture and farming and food-giving, and also so much more. The stories you share are offerings for self-reflection (as a reader) and evoke feeling entryways that can lead into each of our personal and specific inner worlds. The places where our hearts are met with infinite love and ultimate mystery.
Very inspiring. Thank you.
Food was my entry point because it's what I trained to do. You are astute in noticing that there are infinite points of entry.
Looking forward to reading the book Adam!
Thank you, Leon. I've started into the Peasant book now. Will likely write about it before long.
Yeah I’m enjoying. If you have any others along the same lines that jump to mind I’d love some recommendations (to add to the endless list haha)
Sounds well needed, love the term “book of longings” feel a strong resonance between that and the book i’m trying to bring into being “the forest calls us home”
Thank you, Jay. "The forest calls us home." That's how longing works. It's not us doing it. I think we'd have about 1000 things to discuss on this thread. Until then, all thanks. Adam
I love the first sentence, too. But by the end of the summary, I still don't feel like you've put into words exactly what the longing is for. Ideally that should be clear by the end of the first paragraph.
I think I've got the sentence. "The movement for sustainable agriculture began like this, with a vision of healed relationships between humans and land."
Does that flush it out a bit, Andreas?
Kind of... I realise the confusion might come from the double uncertainty that using a word like longing conjures: Whose longing? Longing for what?
I enjoy reading your letters exactly because you have a very earnest and thoughtful tone of voice that really matches your values. But I don't really feel like the summary manages to bring that across. I feel like it ends up indirectly erasing you as a person ("the author"), thereby hiding your personal journey – and the longings that are at the centre of the story.
Maybe I don't understand the summary format, but when I wrote the summary of my book I wrote it from a first person perspective: "This is the story of my journey, etc" – it felt more honest like that. More like what I would say if somebody asked me to tell them what my book is about.
What do you say when people ask you about your book?
I apologize for not responding to any of your posts. I hadn't been feeling great lately and ended up having a heart attack on Wednesday, March 5, due to a congenital disease I have (troponin levels over 1,000); I didn't go to the hospital that night because of how I was treated with basically the same symptoms earlier in January. My dad brought me in the next day, and I had another heart attack after being put in an ambulance and sent to another hospital (troponin levels almost 1,300). I only tell you this because I got home on Tuesday, and this is the first piece I've read since getting home. They said no News or stress, and your pieces are quite the opposite for me. Your writing is warm and uplifting, and I am so excited about your book. It will be wonderful and one of the only gifts I give after its release. Please know your work and words are meaningful and healing, even to a 48-year-old woman with child-like optimism and hope in small-town Minnesota. Thank you for being so generous with all of your gifts! (FYI: the summary is fantastic!) I wish you and yours all the best and hope you are well. 🕊️♥️🤲
Thank you for this Adam. Leaves me longing for more…
Hello Adam,
Thank you for sharing. I (and I suspect many here) see your work not only as necessary but as prophetic. I do believe that mysterious forces are moving us toward a new imagination around land and food, grateful then that the spirit is pushing through you and that you have let yourself be pushed! I've been thinking and working through this for a long time now. Considering the bible opens with the story of a tree whose fruit is wrongly taken and ends with the story of the fruit that heals, it deff seems that the judeo-christian God is strongly pushing us to think about what we eat. Anyway, Recently I was reading the work of a Rabbi I enjoy and came across an ancient rabbinic exegesis around the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. (If you remember, there is both the tree of knowledge from whom we took the fruit and the tree of Life. that God had to keep us away from post-fruit consumption). One of the rabbinic readings holds that these are not two trees but one, with two dimensions. On one hand the tree itself provides life while on the other hand it's fruit provides knowledge. The issue then is that Gods desire was for man to approach that particular tree, as a tree of life. To approach It first not for its utilitarian purpose but for its life giving essence, a tree to behold, a tree to inhale, a tree that was Good company, a tree to be viewed reverently. The tragedy is born when we see the world around us first from the utilitarian perspective. God then had to ask man to leave the garden, for he was afraid that he might (having eaten the fruit) proceed to destroy the actual tree, and with it the Ruach. It's breath giving spirit.