Community farms. Mud spas. Mineral paints. Nematodes. The world is waking up to the beauty and mystery of dirt. This anthology celebrates the Earth's generous crust, bringing together essays by award-winning scientists, authors, artists, and dirt lovers to tell dirt's exuberant tales.
Geographically broad and topically diverse, these essays reveal life as lived by dirt fanatics--admiring the first worm of spring, taking a childhood twirl across a dusty Kansas farm, calculating how soil breathes, or baking mud pies. Essayists build a dirt house, center a marriage around dirt, sink down into marshy heaven, and learn to read dirt's own language. Scientists usher us deep underground with the worms and mycorrhizae to explore the vast and largely ignored natural processes occurring beneath our feet. Whether taking a trek to Venezuela to touch the oldest dirt in the world or reveling in the blessings of our own native soils, these muscular essays answer the important question: How do you get down with dirt?
A literary homage to dirt and its significance in our lives, this book will interest hikers, gardeners, teachers, urbanites, farmers, environmentalists, ecologists, and others intrigued by our planet's alluring skin.
Essayists include Elias Amidon, Julene Bair, Bob Cannard, Fred Cline, Atina Diffley, Deborah Koons Garcia, Eban Goodstein, Bernd Heinrich, Peter Heller, Linda Hogan, Pam Houston, Wes Jackson, Edward Kanze, John Keeble, Lisa Knopp, Marilyn Krysl, Chris Larson, BK Loren, David R. Montgomery, Erica Olsen, John T. Price, Laura Pritchett, Janisse Ray, Barbara Richardson, Jana Richman, Jeanne Rogers, Carl Rosen, Don Schueler, Vandana Shiva, Kayann Short, Liz Stephens, Roxanne Swentzell, Carrie Visintainer, Tyler Volk, Karen Washington, and Tom Wessels.
Barbara Richardson is the author of two novels: Tributary, which won a Utah Book Award and was a 2013 WILL Award finalist in historical fiction, and Guest House, a 2010 Eric Hoffer Award finalist in fiction. Her work also has appeared in Northwest Reivew, Cimarron Review, Epiphany, Windhorse Review, and Dialogue. She lives in Kamas, Utah.
Jana Richman is the author of a memoir, Riding in the Shadows of Saints: A Woman’s Story of Motorcycling the Mormon Trail, and two novels, The Last Cowgirl, which won the 2009 Willa Award for Contemporary Fiction, and The Ordinary Truth. Jana’s provocative prose has been compared to that of Pam Houston, Barbara Kingsolver and Pat Conroy.
