Cascadia Works: Tend, Gather, Harvest, Restore
Cascadia Works: Tend, Gather, Harvest, Restore includes poetry and prose by more than 120 contributors who work the land and sea of the Cascadia bioregion. Edited by Tele Aadsen and Jessica Gigot, a Southeast Alaska salmon troller and a Skagit Valley farmer, respectively, it features a diverse range of voices, from orchard workers, farmers, commercial fishers, and field biologists to kelp harvesters, herring protectors, and watershed restorationists. Together, this collection creates a moving, powerful portrait of those with deep connections to the land and sea that sustain us and calls for reciprocity and wisdom in how we care for and steward Cascadia.
Praise for Cascadia Works
“What a labor of love is Cascadia Works! A love of labor, in fact, where work means sucking the stuff of life from land and water, whether fish, fiber, farm goods, or words. This book is a feast for anyone who has ever lifted a finger to feed a family, pay the bills, or fill the soul.”
—Robert Michael Pyle, author of Wintergreen and Sky Time in Gray’s River
“This various, marvelous collection is special because these writers have done the labor of land and sea—they have farmed, fished, hunted, gardened, tended, gathered, and more—and they are also able to put that into words in unforgettable ways. From callused hands and sore backs, these poems and essays come glittering like light on sea water, like mica specking turned earth, as they reveal the extraordinary bond with place that is formed when humans do the physical work of the world.”
—Derek Sheffield, Washington State Poet Laureate, poetry editor of Terrain.org, and coauthor of Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry
“Dazzling is a word you don’t hear much anymore. Maybe it’s old-fashioned, but after reading Cascadia Works, I’m dazzled. This bountiful gathering brings readers into close and intimate contact with the lands and waters of Cascadia and the workers and writers who find sustenance, meaning, and inspiration there. Cascadia Works will certainly be ranked high in the canon of bioregional writing. My advice to those purchasing this anthology? Write your name on the inside flap before loaning it out, otherwise you may never see it again.”
—Finn Wilcox, author of Too Late to Turn Back Now and editor, with Jerry Gorsline, of Working the Woods, Working the Sea.
Front cover image: “Southward Clearing” by Carly Brock