 20051115 Eugene Wyatt's Newsletter
I've been meaning to post this link for months ...It's the archive of a newsletter called Baa! written by Eugene Wyatt, the farmer of the Catskills Merino wool farm. I first read a copy of his weekly newsletter a couple of summers ago when I went to the farmer's market in Union Square (Quicktime 4.2mb, FYI - It's not my video) where he sold hand-dyed yarn at a stand several days each week. I visited the market this summer to look for him, but no luck. After some Googling, I found the archive -- and what a find. If you ever enjoyed reading a Steinbeck book, especially East of Eden, then you'll look forward to Eugene's letters. Every week he updates his readers (I counted 7 subscribers on his Yahoo! group) with farming advice, local history, angry feelings for politicians, and anecdotes that make his life seem genuine and desirable. The stories are honest ... and so well-written and wise that I imagine that he might have been a college professor who went to Woodstock and just never left the area. Anyway, print out one of the letters and subscribe if you like it. I think he would get a real kick out of seeing his readership increase. PS. At the archive, there's a link to a page where you can sign up to receive future messages via email. 2
Comments:
cloois said... zach - a hearty thanks. i've only read the first few, but so far they do delight. what a wonderful style and wit. the very first one made me want to pick up and pursue an internship at the Catskills Merino farm, which inkling i'm still entertaining, though now, the weight of reality has settled in and perhaps just a visit might suffice sometime in the future, about which i dream. for now the cold comfort of this cathode tube must serve as a poor substitute for the gentle mewing of newly birthed ewe; the harsh fluorescent lighting for the brisk tickle of autumn sun skittering across a staid pond. i concur: a boosting of Mr. Wyatt's readership is most certainly in order. 11:56 AM sarah said... From a farmer ( me): Sounds like you might enjoy e. B. White's "One Man's Meat". Also, Verlyn Klingenborg ( sometimes writer for the NYT) books, especially ( my favorite) Making Hay. A loving ode to hay, alfalfa, and tractors. Farming is fun 11:57 AM Post a Comment |
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 Hi, I'm Zach. I grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana and graduated from Wake Forest. After college, I moved to Manhattan to get serious about a company I ran with friends. We sold it to Barry Diller's InterActiveCorp in 2006. I just wrapped up with a project I co-founded called Vimeo and left CV to focus on being a twenty-five year old. I have another blog called Copy and Taste, where I post about learning to cook. I live in Brooklyn now.  Del.icio.us My Flickr Me on Flickr Last.fm Linked in MySpace Netflix History Vimeo  Amir Blumenfeld Chris Bodenner Mareen Fischinger Fort Wayne Observed Nick Gray Hype Machine Jake and Amir Jakob Lodwick Oh My Rockness Jonathan Marcus Youngna Park Megan Scheminske Eliot Shepard Shorpy Signal vs. Noise Alex Soth Stereogum Ricky Van Veen Khoi Vinh Eugene Wyatt   Postal Skype SMS (via AIM) |