Smoke to See By is a collection of 21 essays and stories, many never before published, written by award-winning essayist and columnist Ben Moyer. The collection tracks the writer’s quest for intimate knowledge of, and personal connection to, the natural features of his home region, the foothills and ridges of Northern Appalachia. Readers will follow Moyer along mountain streams and through native woodlands to insightful encounters with rare salamanders, wild trout, rattlesnakes, bears, songbirds, and bobcats, through a hurricane that turned to a blizzard, and working with troubled adolescents in a therapeutic camping program. In this selection of works, ranging from lengthy to one succinct page, Moyer reveals the meaning, and connection to place, he finds in butchering a deer in a freezing garage or in gathering blackberries amid summer’s heat. He also laments the loss of some familiar parts of the living landscape, unnoticed by many, as the region’s ecology absorbs onslaughts from invasive species and responds subtly to climate in transition. But overall, Smoke to See By is a quietly joyous celebration of the ecological resilience and diversity of a region those without Moyer’s perception might categorize as ‘unspectacular, ‘ yet which harbors its own marvelous natural wonders, offered to those who would know them up close.
Cuprins
Acknowledgments
Introduction
In Our Place
- Nothing Spectacular
- Dunbar Creek; Perceptions and Place
- Culture in Tomatoes
- Surviving Summit Mountain
- The Ecology of Old Barns
- Under Plovers’ Wings
Highland Marvels – Desirable and Otherwise
- Red Oak, White Oak
- Dance of the Vole; An Allegheny Encounter
- Kettles of Grace
- Fraxinus Lost
- Hurricanes, Turkeys, and Amphibians
- Sylvatica: Coldest Animal in the World
- Encountering ‘cats
- Blackberry; The Humblest Jewel
- Known to Crows
Upstream Allure
- At the Heart of Hollows
- Summer’s Upstream Allure
- The Thrill of Near Distance
Blood and Tea
- Smoke to See By
- Afterglow
- Tea for Two; Flower Child
- Memoirs of a Quehanna Chief
About the Author
Despre autor
Ben Moyer’s writing on nature, outdoors, and conservation issues appears in numerous regional and national publications including Northern Appalachia Review and Pittsburgh Quarterly magazine. In 2019, the Outdoor Writers Association of America honored Moyer with its Excellence in Craft Award, which recognizes an outstanding lifetime body of work. His writing has also garnered numerous awards from the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association and the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers Association. Moyer strives to convey the value of personal affiliation with place, in his case Northern Appalachia, while interpreting scientific concepts and the region’s natural history through creative prose.In addition to his writing, Moyer is president of the Chestnut Ridge Chapter of Trout Unlimited, which works to protect, improve, and restore wild trout streams in the Laurel Highlands region of southwestern Pennsylvania. He writes and lives in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, with his wife Kathy.
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