Adults of all ages are invited to join Kris and Richard Gosnell from Resting Tree Studios as we explore the stories of two individuals from the same region of Vermont. A forester and a shepherd share their very different journeys of working with their parcels of land to reclaim and make them whole again.

How to Love a Forest by Ethan Tapper     
This collection walks us through the fragile and resilient community that is a forest, introducing us to wolf trees and spring ephemerals, to the cryptic creatures of the rhizosphere and the necro sphere. It helps us reimagine what forests are and what it means to care for them. This world, Tapper writes, is degraded both by people who do too much and by those who do nothing. As the ecosystems that sustain all life struggle, we straddle a status quo that treats ecosystems as commodities and opposing claims that the only true expression of love for the natural world is to leave it alone.

The Salt Stones by Helen Whybrow
In prose both vivid and lean, The Salt Stones offers an intimate and profoundly moving story of what it means to care for a flock and truly inhabit a piece of land. The shepherd’s life unfolds for Whybrow in the seasons and cycles of farming and family—birthing lambs, fending off coyotes, rescuing lost sheep in a storm, and raising children while witnessing her mother’s decline. Exploring the interdependence of animals, as well as of the earth and ourselves, Whybrow reflects on the ways sheep connect her to place, to herself and to the ancient practice of shepherding.

Over the course of three sessions, the book club will meet at the Cambridge Springs Public Library from 6:30 to 7:30 pm on Monday evenings to discuss these books (see schedule below).  The book club group size is limited, so please register with the library (814)398-2123. 

Meeting dates:
July 13th: Meeting 1 - Discuss How to Love a Forest
July 20th: Meeting 2 – Zoom meeting with author Ethan Tapper
July 27th: Meeting 3 – Discuss The Salt Stones