I recently bumped into the writings of John Burroughs, a nature essayist and early homesteader who built a house in the woods that he called "Slabsides".

He wrote, as I have discovered, volumes. I have just begun to read them. But I wanted to share with you this quote that gives you a sense of his artistry, and captures the nexus between the natural and built environment. How wonderful it would be if we all knew the quarries where our stones came from, or had walked the woods where our lumber was felled. Or witnessed the furnace where our steel was shaped.

How strong, how rich, would the bond between ourselves and our homes be then?

“It seems to me that I built into my house every one of those superb autumn days which I spent in the woods getting out stone. I quarried the delicious weather into memories to adorn my walls. Every load that was sent home carried my heart and happiness with it.”

(John Burroughs, Roof-tree, Signs and Seasons 7:247-263)