Northern Farm: A Chronicle of Maine is a 1948 book by naturalist/writer Henry Beston. Originally written for The Progressive as a series of columns on country-living, it chronicles a season on a small Maine farm.[1][2] Beston is also the author of The Outermost House. Northern Farm has been less commercially successful but still important as environmental writing and popular among Mainers.[3]

First edition (publ Rinehart)

Published in 1948, it is a series of short essays inspired by his life and observations at Chimney Farm, an 88-acre farm in Nobleboro that Beston and his wife, the late poet Elizabeth Coatsworth, purchased in 1931. ... It has long been out of print, except for a facsimile edition published in 2006 to raise funds for the preservation of the farm property, which in 2007 was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.[3]

Annie Dillard's journal entry

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The Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Dillard made a journal entry concerning Northern Farm:[4]

It was a bore. Not only did nothing happen, okay, but there was no trace of mind. As a naturalist he didn't teach me a thing. He didn't even bother to look up fireflies. As an observer of the social scene, which is a boring thing to be in the 1st place, he's ordinary and conservative. No imagination.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Northern Farm by writer/naturalist Henry Beston". henrybeston.com.
  2. ^ "Review of Northern Farm by Henry Beston". Kirkus Reviews. 4 November 1948.
  3. ^ a b Haskell, Meg (29 May 2017). "Biography offers glimpse into the life of 'Northern Farm' naturalist Henry Beston and his deep ties to Maine". Bangor Daily News.
  4. ^ a b Saverin, Diana (5 February 2015). "The Thoreau of the Suburbs". The Atlantic.
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