Who is "Bones"
What really gets me fired up is helping to instill a curiosity of our natural world in others.
Raised by a family and neighborhood full of explorers, adventurers, readers, activists, passion seekers and connoisseurs of life, I headed to Maine in my late teens to continue a life of tending crops, working with animals and messing about in the woods.
After nearly forty growing seasons in a row, farming was beginning to feel like work and seriously getting in the way of my meanderings in the hills.
There was way too much going on out there to be missed while planting, weeding and harvesting. I love you vegetables, but it was time for me to start seeing others!
I would like to inspire you to wonder and wander more, immerse yourself in the complex beauty of our world, and become so comfortable out there in the woods that a newfound sense of deep belonging frees you up to expand into a greater, more honest version of yourself.
Though I have enjoyed plenty of outings over the years, both local and far afield, and shared the things I’ve learned with many, it was time for me to switch things up and focus my intentions on manifesting THE dream job – woods explores with people like you who feel a hunger to connect with and learn about our surroundings.
Broadening my understanding of our home and those who inhabit it is my greatest passion, but what really gets me fired up is helping to instill this curiosity in others.
Now, besides all the fun woods adventures we experience together, I can be your End of Life Doula! That’s right, after three years of study and practice, I became Maine’s first certified Death Guide! Taking Death Guide clients on woods moseys is pure magic...
One client may wish to spend more time in Nature before “heading out”, another may find base camp to be the perfect place to talk of the recent loss of a loved one, or begin to process the inevitable. Combining an expedition with a Death Guide creates an effective combo platter for grief work, planning a good death or checking off a bucket list adventure!
Of course many of my clients are too “far gone” to consider physical activity, but there is much to experience in the dying process, that I would be honored to guide you through.
Please check out the heading Death Guide in my menu to learn of these services. Though my family named me Bones for being a scrawny little shit, it sure makes a fitting tag for the work I so love!
How I "Teach"
If you want to go totally wild, I will free you from the likes of tents, well water, matches and store-bought food.
My studio has a pretty fair sized natural history library, a microscope and varying collections of cool stuff to check out. We will use it as a home base to delve further into our finds. My intention is that you will leave our farm with a deep sense of place and self and an eagerness to learn more.
These are just some of the things I am excited to explore with you on our expeditions: Lost-proofing, the art of moseying, observation smarts, how to get chummy with the woods, camping comfortably without too much heavy stuff, cooking over an open fire, and how to read the landscape for the stories it has to tell.
Learn outdoor living skills
Get intimate with your natural world
And, If you want to go totally wild, I can guide you into the practice of skills which will free you from the likes of tents, well water, matches and store-bought food.
Most importantly, I wish to ignite in you a curiosity which leads to a life long friendship with the plants, animals and other neighbors around you through becoming familiar with their appearances, behaviors and habitats.
The Merrifield Farm
Surrounded by miles of uninterrupted woods and a smattering of friendly human neighbors, [Merrifield Farm] has been a spectacular place to grow, explore and raise daughters.
Not long before falling in love with Johnny Pease, my favorite guy and mate of over thirty-five years, a dear friend and I came upon what was to become an extension of my very flesh while ramming around the backroads in our wreck of a car.
The month was May and as we bounced along, headlights shut off to enjoy the full moon, suddenly an open expanse of fertile land, set up high like a bowl of deep soil placed in the hands of wooded ridges, appeared to the west. An ancient apple tree glowed in full bloom under the moon and the field was coming in nicely with a thick crop of hay. Three brooks surrounded the place and talked with each other as we lay mesmerized on our backs next to the tree, a light smell of blossoms giving me the odd sense of floating in mid-air towards the moon.
This is where John and I live and farm. Surrounded by miles of uninterrupted woods and a smattering of friendly human neighbors, it has been a spectacular place to grow, explore and raise our two daughters - now young women with farms of their own. I am eager to share this paradise with you as we wander along its ridges and beyond.
Our family and the land which supports us has hosted hundreds of farm apprentices, vagabonds, wayward souls, and joy seekers over the past thirty years or so. This place draws them in like bees to honey and I would have it no other way.