FINDING A CLEAR PATH [Paperback]

Finding a Clear Pathintertwines literature, agriculture, and ecology as author Jim Minick takes the reader on many journeys, allowing you to float on a pond, fly with a titmouse, gather ginseng, and grow the lowly potato. The reader visits monarch butterflies and morel mushrooms, encountering beavers, black snakes, and bloodroot along the way. Using his background as a blueberry farmer, gardener and naturalist, Minick explores the Appalachian region and also introduces information that can be appreciated from a scientific point of view, explaining, for example, the ears of an owl, or the problems with the typical Christmas tree. Reading this collection of essays invites you to search for ways to better understand and appreciate this marvelous world, opening paths for journeys of your own.

Jim Minicklives, writes and farms in southwest Virginia, while also teaching writing and literature at Radford University. His poems and essays have appeared in many books and periodicals includingOrion,Shenandoah,YES!,Natural Home,Encyclopedia of Appalachia,Appalachian Journal,Appalachian Heritage, andWind. Since 1996, Minick has written a regular column forThe Roanoke Times New River Currentas well as other articles that have appeared in major newspapers throughout the south.