In 1992 I settled at Sunnyfield Herb Farm, on Sunnyfield Road, in Minnetrista, thirty miles west of downtown Minneapolis. The seventeen acres were dedicated to herbs, wildflowers, fields, woods, and swamps. A short time later political issues pushed me to begin a monthly editorial in The Edge, a Twin Cities magazine dedicated to complementary and alternative medicine. The issue at hand was the Dietary Supplement and Education Act, successfully passed in 1994, I believe it was, protecting the rights of the public to access to vitamin, mineral, and herbal supplements and products. I keep writing. Life on my new and beloved farm was an adventure. Some of these articles are archived under Green Writ, elsewhere on this website. More will appear in the future.
In 1999 ‘Aunt Esther,’ the aunt of the heirs from whom I purchased the farm died. She had a life estate in the guest house on the farm. With her death, the little threefold community of Esther, myself, and her son Sam dissolved. Sam moved to the city. Some of my apprentices occupied the guest house for a while. I began to travel as much as twice a month on a regular basis, teaching classes across the country. The old leisure time I spent in my library, meditating, looking on the window, writing on the computer, was gone.
In 2004 a mentally ill ‘guest’ in the guest house burned it down. That was a watershed. It was time to move. My articles were at an end. I planned one more (never written) to explain the changes at Sunnyfield. I’m not sure anyone cares anymore, but I will be picking up the narrative back there with the fire, the sale of Sunnyfield, and the beginning of my new life. As usual, the herbs will accompany us on the literary trail.