Book Review: Closer to the Ground by Dylan Tomine

 These days, it's not unusual to witness two teenagers sitting together on a couch texting—to each other. While technology certainly brings its advantages (speed, intensity), it also brings its burdens (speed, intensity), leaving many of us longing to get back to nature, and take our kids with us.

Dylan Tomine, a Patagonia Fly Fishing Ambassador, conservation advocate and noted outdoor writer, saw those two teenagers texting on a couch. And that was the moment he decided to establish a different life for his children: more unplugged, more in tune with the rhythms of tide, weather and season. Less screen time, more oyster-shucking and gardening time. In his memoir Closer to the Ground: An Outdoor Family's Year on the Water, In the Woods, and at the Table (Patagonia Books, October 2012, hardcover, $29.95), he tells the story of a family learning to live a life more wild.
Filled with weather, natural history and delicious meals, Tomine encourages us to think about our relationship with nature, but in an accessible way. "It's about regular people trying to live a little closer to nature—especially through the process of food—with their kids," says Tomine.
Tomine and his wife left high-rise Seattle for a house in the woods on an island in Puget Sound. There, they raise their children in a way that keeps them in touch with their surroundings—searching for firewood, oysters, and mushrooms.

Part parenting memoir, part food narrative, in Closer to the Ground the author shares his experience exploring nature daily with his kids, ages three and six. The book walks readers through four seasons of family foraging, cooking, and eating from the woods and sea. Together, the Tomine Family hunts chanterelles, fishes for salmon, digs clams and gathers at the kitchen table (mouths watering), to enjoy the fruits of their labor. A surprising result of their fishing and foraging life: the kids see healthy food, like salmon and homegrown vegetables, as delicious treats.

Closer to the Ground carries a timely message, addressing the current—and growing—interest in local food, childhood “nature deficit disorder,” conservation of natural resources, and the general desire to live in closer contact with the earth. It explores a more personal side of subjects covered in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Last Child In The Woods.

"This is leading by example; and the quiet message is to learn to live with the things that really matter, the eternal things about the earth and each other," writes acclaimed author and outdoorsman Thomas McGuane, in the foreword.

Patagonia founder and owner Yvon Chouinard says "Closer to the Ground is a lot more than your usual tribute to local food or to a local sense of place, or how to manipulate your kids into doing what you want them to do. Closer is a good-humored guide to teaching our kids how to learn from nature as teacher and mentor. Chief among nature’s lessons is self-reliance. You can see in Dylan’s kids, the more time they spend foraging and fishing with their dad, just how different their relation is to the food they eat, and how they develop a confidence anyone of any age could envy."

About the Author

DYLAN TOMINE is a writer, conservation advocate and speaker for wild fish and water. He serves as a Fly Fishing Ambassador for Patagonia and a trustee with The Wild Steelhead Coalition. A noted outdoor writer, his stories have appeared in The Flyfish Journal, The Drake, The New York Times, and other publications. He lives with his wife and kids, now five and eight years old, on an island in Puget Sound where they run Bainbridge Island Blueberry Co., a U-Pick blueberry farm.

 Where to Buy

Get your copy of Closer to the Ground on Amazon for only $19.77 for print copies or $9.95 for the e-book.

Anne's Thoughts

Closer to the Ground is a book by Dylan Tomine about his family - not only their experiences, but their way of life.  When the pitch to review came in to New Age Mama, I asked for it because the intro sounded a lot like my family.  It covers a year in the life with all sorts of outdoor experiences – salmon fishing, crabbing, digging for oysters, mushroom hunting, deer hunting, gardening, procuring firewood, harvesting, storing, and eating the bounty . . . how they manage it all together as a family.

At first I admit I thought it a bit wordy; I laughed as I commented it’s like there’s 2 adjectives for every single noun!  But, that is kind of the point – too often society no longer notices the beauty around us, we are so busy with the mundane details of our everyday lives that it’s easy to forget nature is out there, waiting for us to explore it yet preserving it for future generations.   A few chapters into it, it didn’t seem wordy anymore, and I was asking myself why the F WE don’t live there:  near the ocean digging clams, out on the water setting crab pots . . . We do enjoy some of the same activites here though – gardening, fishing, hunting, and wild crafting.  In case you are unfamiliar with the term, wild crafting is the harvesting plants in their natural habitat for food or medicine.  I like to call it mushroom hunting.  Or asparagus hunting.  Or berry hunting.  Or whatever I’m trying to find!

Later I really began to appreciate the descriptiveness as Dylan doesn’t hesitate to share tried and tested brands of gear, and what is best suited to what.  It’s not advertising, it’s speaking from experience.  We’ve been wanting to install a wood stove and I’m taking tips! There were also many laugh-out-loud moments as he describes particular incidents.  I don’t want to sound like a typical book critic saying it’s “funny and insightful” but it is funny, and it is insightful.  “Like carry a compass, dumbass.”

Overall I think my favorite aspect of the book is how involved his family is in their way of life.  I loved reading the experiences of the kids out on the water and in the woods as that is what we do, and will continue to do with our son.  The closer to the end of the book, the more I wished there was of it to read.  I hope that our experiences, too, make memories that our son will remember for the rest of his life.

Don’t just take the time - make the time; have fun and get dirty: get Closer to the Ground.

Reviwed by Anne

***Please note that I received no form of monetary compensation for this post. I did receive a copy of the book to read in order to write a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and were not influenced in any way. ***