Shelter and storm At home in the Driftless

Dean (The Human-Powered Home, 2008) writes of her 15-year sojourn in Wisconsin's Driftless area. Dean and her partner built an adobe brick house from local clay with the dream of sustainable living. They think of themselves as stewards, not owners, of land. They settle into a life of learning, foraging, and discovering the wonder of the Driftless, an 8,500-square-mile area left untouched by glacial drift. Dean describes a place of "magical beauty" with limestone bluffs, secluded valleys, and an abundance of spring-fed streams. Dark skies, fireflies, and pollinator-friendly meadows and prairies provide additional enchantment.Dean delights in discovering foraged groundnuts, both plentiful and high in protein. Difficulties are also part of Dean's life in the Driftless. A tornado outbreak downs scores of trees. She and her partner endure two 100-year floods. Lyme disease strikes. Chapters add up to a memoir honoring the land and chronicling Dean's life in relationship to the ecology, history, and people of the Driftless area. Readers of Aldo Leopold's Sand County Almanac will enjoy Dean's writing about this unique land the glaciers forgot.