My Own Walden Pond

Henry David Thoreau’s Inspiration

A number of years ago, I read Walden or Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau. For two years Thoreau, a transcendentalist, naturalist, philosopher, and writer, lived in a cabin on the northern shore starting in the summer of 1845. Thoreau had been inspired by a former slave, Zilpah White who lived in a single room cabin that bordered Walden pond. She made her living spinning flax. The land was owned by Thoreau’s friend, another great author, Ralph Waldo Emerson.

His time in this setting has been an inspiration for those who wish to live a deliberate, ethical life. One of his most famous lines is “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

In the context of Walden, the line suggests that people can stop leading lives of desperation and improve upon it by renouncing luxuries, getting close to nature, meditation, self-reliance, and solitude.

Drawn to Nature

One of my dreams since childhood was to live in the country in a cabin away from civilization, writing and growing my own food and energy. I had purchased and lived on a number of different properties over the years and for one reason or another, I lost the property. The most recent was a 63-acre farm that my husband and I purchased in 2003 that we lost in 2009 because both lost our…