We are so excited to host two authors talking about their very different--but also in many ways similar--experiences living far from the urban life and easy access to goods and assistance. Both recount the hardships involved but also revel in the beauty and pleasures such a life afforded them--one a youngster in life and the other a seasoned adult.
When Sarah Neidhardt was a child, her family moved to an isolated piece of land deep in the Arkansas Ozarks where they built a cabin, grew crops, and strove for eight years to live self-sufficiently. In her recently published memoir, Sarah reveals the treasures and tolls of unconventional, pastoral lives, Her insightful reflections offer a fresh perspective on what it means to aspire to pre-industrial lifestyles in a modern world. Sarah has worked as a bookseller, secretary, paralegal, copyeditor, and stay-at-home mother. She grew up in Arkansas and Northern California and now lives in Portland with her husband and teenage son. She is a graduate of Oberlin College.
When Caroll Simpson fell in love with a cabin located on pristine Babine Lake in British Columbia, many miles away from her home in Washington State, she knew her life was about to change. On the shores of this wilderness, with water access only, Simpson operated a successful fishing business for more than twenty years. Her heartfelt memoir tells of living in the remote wilderness and managing the lodge, becoming an accidental environmental activist, fending off wild animals, working as an angling guide, and finally, at the height of her career, fighting off a proposed mining operation and participating in the development of a government land plan as a spokesperson for the wilderness tourism industry. Before moving to Babine Lake Caroll taught First Nations art and drama to grade-school children. She has also written and illustrated books for young readers celebrating the legends and art of the Canadian Northwest Coast. She currently lives on Vancouver Island with her husband, Helmut.
