Hi–I’m Lyanda Lynn Haupt, mother of Claire, wife of Tom (who blogs at Bikejuju), and a nature writer based in Seattle. Though my new book, Crow Planet, celebrates urban nature, I never meant to live in a city. As a young, tree-hugging, earth-mother-to-be, I was sure I would end up in some funky cabin-esque home, surrounded by meadows and woodlands, frolicking barefoot with my daughter as the bell on our cow tinkled. That’s not at all what happened. My husband Tom and I settled in Seattle where I worked for an environmental organization, and he worked in global health for the University of Washington. I birthed the presaged girl, cut back my work hours, and wrote my first book from our tiny house during Claire’s naps. To stave off latent cow yearnings, we installed a backyard chicken coop with four beautiful laying hens, and grew a huge garden.
A couple of years ago we bought a bigger house, a 1920s restored farmhouse, surrounded by the smaller houses that grew up around it in the 1940s. I began to grasp the fact that a rural childhood for my daughter (who is now ten) was not looking likely. One day, during one of my whiny-crying fits over this realization, Tom asked, “What would you really do differently if we lived out of the city? I mean, I know you want space, and quiet, but what else? How would you spend your days?” I told him that I wanted to knit, and bake bread, and garden, and make jam. “Um, honey…” he said, clearly confused, “You already knit and bake bread and garden and make jam. Hell, you even sew Claire’s pajamas.“ “Yes, but I want to do more.” “So do more.” I could almost hear the unspoken, “Duh.”
So that’s what we’re doing. And in experimenting with ways to grow an artful, sustaining, urban home, we are in terrific company. All over the country, even in the most densely urban places, families and individuals are acting upon a deeply rooted impulse to produce a part of their household’s sustenance. Clearly it’s not just about “making more jam.” It’s about cultivating habits within our homes and communities that are authentic, joyful, local, life-giving, and—above all—practical.
I consider such practices to be of-a-piece with an ecological sensibility, bringing our lives into a lovely continuity with the wilder, more-than-human world.
At The Tangled Nest, we’ll explore radical home economics, “urban homesteading,” and our relationship with close-to-home wild nature through projects, musings, news, reviews, adventures and misadventures. I hope you’ll join us, leave a comment, share your thoughts…
For more about The Tangled Nest philosophy, see my first post–Home Restoration, Phase II.
Click on the covers below to learn more about my books, including Crow Planet, my newest book.
Peace,
Lyanda
David // Mar 10, 2009 at 10:41 PM
What a terrific idea, you’re such a wonderful resource.
Joe // Jul 26, 2009 at 8:24 AM
Saw this article in today’s Washington Post (7/26/09) and thought you would be interested in it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/25/AR2009072502170.html
lyanda // Jul 26, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Wonderful. Thanks Joe!
Robert Weber // Aug 10, 2009 at 11:07 PM
Lyanda,
The most wonderful story about a crow is Silverspot the Story of a crow by Ernest Seton Thompson in Wild Animals I have known
http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=seton&book=wild&story=silverspot
great tales, crow facts, sheet music to crow vocalizations and illustrations.
I enjoyed your Crow Planet talk at the Hawthorne Powells Monday.
I enjoy the crowcacaphony each morning in our redwood near Laurelhurst park in Portland.
Art Emlen // Aug 11, 2009 at 10:17 AM
Lyanda,
Bitsy and I enjoyed your talk immensely and look forward dto reading the book. I don’t know much about Crows and am glad to have found the remedy. I have a cousin Stokes who wrote books about bird behavior, but in his chapter on Crows he confessed “not much known.” That was a couple of decades ago. I see a lot of Crows in the woods where I walk and pick up Great Horned Owl feathers. Now I will be more observant and appreciative of the Crows. I have loved your last two books and know I will this one too. Good for you!!
Art
Chris Smith // Aug 24, 2009 at 5:20 AM
Lyanda –
Just wanted to let you know that CROW PLANET is the featured review in the current issue of THE ENGLEWOOD REVIEW OF BOOKS:
http://englewoodreview.org/?p=468
Thanks for your excellent work!
Chris Smith
Editor
— also an aspiring urban naturalist
http://urbannaturalism.com/
Ollie // Sep 8, 2009 at 5:47 PM
Hi. I just purchased Crow Planet after reading a review in a recent Sunday New York Times Book Review. This purchase was ‘triggered’ by a comment made to me a few weeks ago by the spouse of a good friend my wife and I were visiting in Maine. This good soul commented, words to the effect: “I wish to come back as a crow; they are smart birds”.
Hmmm, well, we’ll see. I need to read your book first. LOL.
Ollie
Jamie Schelz // Sep 26, 2009 at 2:18 PM
I just finished Crow Planet and enjoyed it tremendously. Is “enjoyed” the right word? Certainly the book is written well, it flows, unfolds, and flies all smoothly, and covers a lot of ground in easy, generous prose. But it’s also an important, necessary book that carries a vital message. I did enjoy it, but to leave it at that is insufficient. I was shamed, jolted, encouraged and inspired by Crow Planet. I was also greatly moved. Working at a bookstore for the time being, I’m pleased to have sold a few copies to folks who otherwise might never have heard of it.
I can’t resist mentioning my surprise, in reading the last chapter, with its talk of hope and its mention of Emily Dickinson in the very last paragraph, that you declined to include any part of Dickinson’s famous poem, entitled Hope, in it:
Hope
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
Crow Planet is a beautiful book. Thank you.
lyanda // Sep 27, 2009 at 7:01 PM
Thanks so much for all you kind thoughts, Jamie (and everyone else). I love Ms. Dickinson, and would quote her more, but getting rights to her poetry is VERY expensive. I can only afford a line here and there!
Jilyan // Oct 8, 2009 at 4:11 PM
Hi Lyanda,
I am 2/3rds through ‘Crow Planet’ right now. I love it so much! Congratulations on writing such a magnificent book. I was shocked when I went to mark my place with the back jacket flap and saw your face. You’re a regular here at Coffee to a Tea! Ironically, our artist for next month’s Art Walk specializes in painting crows (check her out at caragranger.com). I would love love love it if you would consider doing a reading/signing here during the Art Walk (second Thursday of November, the 12th). I don’t know if this is something you could participate in but I think it would be really cool.
Let me know if you have any thoughts regarding the possibility!
Thanks,
Jilyan
Rafael Montserrat // Dec 6, 2009 at 9:25 AM
Lyanda,
I just listened to your interview on KALW in San Franciso. Thanks. I learned a lot about crows, ravens and the others. I live on a boat and the coots are coming into the marina for the winter, I think because the water’s warmer.
Best wishes,
Rafael
Lyanda // Dec 6, 2009 at 11:11 AM
Thank you Rafael. That was a fun interview to do, and yes–coots are fun little birds. I love their feet.
helen // Dec 24, 2009 at 11:30 AM
nice pics!
Sustainable Eats // Jan 20, 2010 at 11:35 AM
I just found your blog after reading the Mother Earth News article about coffee chaff. I’m on the SURF list and many of us just got the chaff as well.
Love your blog and what you are doing! I have created an urban farm inside Seattle as well but still pine for more ruralness. I’m committed to feeding us from mainly our tiny yard though. I look forward to following your chronicles!
lyanda // Jan 20, 2010 at 12:14 PM
Great to hear from you–your blog is wonderful! Let us know how you like the chaff. There are pros and cons to be sure, but I’m staying with it for now!
Susan Chiang // Jan 20, 2010 at 10:04 PM
I live in an old macadamia tree grove in east San Diego county. The crows around here have figured out an ingenious way to crack open literally the “toughest nut to crack.” I have seen them do it:
They pull the nuts from the trees and drop them in the street, right where the tires of a car will run them over. When a car passes and the shells are crushed, the crows descend to their meal.
I thought you might appreciate this!
Colorful chicken coop — YOTD | Yardhacker // Feb 23, 2010 at 7:16 PM
[...] Yard of the Day comes from nature writer Lyanda Lynn Haupt’s colorful backyard chicken coop located in Western Seattle. You can read about the build [...]
Debbie Jacobsen // Apr 28, 2010 at 4:42 PM
Hi, Lyanda. I feel like I’ve found the Seattle friend I’ve been looking for. I’m a transplant from Leavenworth, WA who is not growing well, and your book is giving me hope that perhaps I can be happy here. Yesterday I took a great photo of a crow at Discovery Park – I’ve never paid attention to crows before your book – and I’m researching square-foot gardening for my backyard. I’m glad you have a blog and will look for other like-minded souls here. Thank you very much for writing your book.
lyanda // Apr 29, 2010 at 5:13 PM
Hi Debbie. Thanks so much for your kind thoughts. I have every faith that you will come to flourish here in Seattle. You might like to visit the Seattle Tilth Edible Plant Sale at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford this weekend–they’ll be selling all kinds of plants that will do well in your new garden, suited to our climate. Enjoy, and I’m glad you found the Tangled Nest! L