This page-turner for nature lovers will captivate readers who have harbored fantasies of moving back to the land and who will appreciate its mingling of environmental theory, policy prescription and vivid personal anecdote. Inspired by Aldo Leopold's Sand County Almanac
, Apfelbaum, founder and president of Applied Ecological Services, “dreamt of a home that would allow me... to become deeply involved with the land, where I could live simply.” He founded Stone Prairie Farm in southern Wisconsin on 80 acres, surrounded by cornfields, farm machinery and grazing cattle. The book relates the 30-year adventure of restoring the farm to prairie, following the author as he befriends the neighbors and finds a mate. With her, he gathers native seeds by bicycle, engages in controlled—and some not-so-controlled—burning, negotiates with hunters and gardeners as the land becomes a prime spot for deer and wild turkeys, and inspires his local community, as well as the reader, to consider a more ecologically friendly and spiritually satisfying relationship with the land. (Feb.)
