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Nature Essays

A Profession of Hope

Farming on the Edge of the Grizzly Trail

by (author) Jenna Butler

Publisher
Wolsak and Wynn Publishers Ltd.
Initial publish date
Oct 2015
Category
Essays, Regional, Sustainable Agriculture
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781928088080
    Publish Date
    Oct 2015
    List Price
    $20.00

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Description

Winner of the Canadian Authors Association Exporting Alberta Award

Gold Medal for the Green Living category in the Living Now Book Awards

Finalist for the High Plains Book Award for creative nonfiction

"This is not the story of a ready-made farm, complete with generations of history, carefully tended tools and sturdy clapboard farmhouse." In 2006 Jenna Butler and her partner, Thomas, purchased "160 acres more or less" of rough northern bush. They knew they weren't purchasing anything more than hard work and hope but still they headed up every weekend to clear a spot in those woods where they could plant their first crops.

With the warm wit of Barbara Kingsolver and the stark beauty of Sharon Butala's writings on the prairie, Jenna Butler shares her journey with us. From beating a hasty retreat from the first overwhelming swarm of mosquitoes, to discussing worm poop with local farmers and becoming forever more the crazy hippie teachers, the stories of Larch Farm spill out of these pages. A Profession of Hope: Farming on the edge of the Grizzly Trail is a beguiling read, as rich and promising as freshly turned earth.

About the author

Jenna Butler is the author of three critically acclaimed books of poetry, Seldom Seen Road (NeWest Press, 2013), Wells (University of Alberta Press, 2012) and Aphelion (NeWest Press, 2010); an award-winning collection of ecological essays, A Profession of Hope: Farming on the Edge the of Grizzly Trail (Wolsak and Wynn, 2015); and a poetic travelogue, Magnetic North: Sea Voyage to Svalbard (University of Alberta Press, 2018).

Butler's research into endangered environments has taken her from America's Deep South to Ireland's Ring of Kerry, and from volcanic Tenerife to the Arctic Circle onboard an ice-class masted sailing vessel, exploring the ways in which we impact the landscapes we call home. A professor of creative writing and environmental writing at Red Deer College, she lives with seven resident moose and a den of coyotes on an off-grid organic farm in Alberta's North Country.

Jenna Butler's profile page

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