The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 13 January 2005
by Barbara Dean
In 1971, the author joined fourteen friends and acquaintances in buying a square mile of California land an hour outside of the village of Covelo. As far as I know, thirty three years later, she still lives there, and works for the Island Press. This book appeared in 1979, and relates her early years in this unusual and bucolic setting. The group sets out on this adventure with, perhaps, more direction than many back-to-the-land groups of that era. And this, perhaps, is why they were more successful than most. Early in their settlement, they learn that to keep the dream, they must work together on sometimes arduous projects for raising money to cover expenses and mortgage. Dean relates these stories as though they were adventures in discovery. The whole book, in fact, reads as one woman's journey of discovery. The land speaks to Dean. It has its rhythms and its hardships. It has its joys and it has its threats. Dean connects with the natural landscape and she writes the story with a mystical lilt. After a year or two, the group forms a summer camp and full-time school on the property (Dean relates that she began by starting an alternative school in Palo Alto.). This venture is moderately successful, but the group decides, through its decision by consensus, that this has turned out to be something they'd rather not do. In the end, the individuals find other pursuits, but somehow they stick together, owning the land together, tending it, farming it, and becoming a part of it. The book is fairly uplifting, episodic, and hopeful. Dean writes of her personal journey, but writes less about her companions, particularly her partner in an intimate relationship of whom we learn only when it ends. Yet the closing chapters of the book tell a story of personal discovery in a difficult world and in a beautiful environment. That Dean remains on the land to this day is a testament to lessons well-learned.