09/02/2026
Rest in peace, Wendell Berry…
The ‘Peace of Wild Things’ is one of many of Wendell Berry’s poems/essays/works that struck a soul nerve for me when I first read it. This recording of me by Chimacum Creek is from six years ago, during the pandemic, when reciting poems by the Creek became my way of holding my heart together and of holding it open to the wider community. I can’t count the number of times that this poem has pulled me through a rough patch… The rhythm and wisdom of its words helping to ground my heart.
In fact, it’s fair to say that there’s a powerful throughline for Keith and I —from our first meeting as environmental educators in a national park to reading Berry’s book “The Unsettling of America” in our early 20s together to returning to his home state of Washington to deciding to become organic farmers in Chimacum to becoming two of Finnriver’s cofounders and then returning to Keith‘s farming heritage with Chimacum Valley Grainery. And being together for over 30 years!
With Wendell Berry’s recent passing, I was touched to receive many notes from friends and neighbors who remembered his influence on our life course. That very thing highlights some of his lessons for us — the reaching out with care and condolences, the neighborly relations, the community-based relationship— that intentional cultivation of connection, that fidelity to what feeds us. Wendelll Berry inspired us to more deeply consider how we could live a life very close to the land and how to have our life work and love be rooted in place.
One of my Life highlights was being able to have a letter correspondence with Wendell Berry a handful of years ago thanks to then director of the WSU BREAD LAB, Dr. Steven Jones. Of course those letters from Wendell were written in pencil in long hand and were a profound gift. I will continue to cherish those words and Wendell Berry’s wisdom for all of my days, and I’m grateful to him and to all of those tending the roots out there.🌀CK
WSU Breadlab
