Walden: a personal view

Jeff Zbar is the Chief Home Officer and creator of Home Office Highway. On his three-week "workation" this summer, he toured the American East to reveal how one entrepreneur can work and play in that place where Vocation Meets Vacation on the open road (learn more at www.homeofficehighway.com). He also found time to visit Walden - he is pictured above journaling on the commemorative rock pile beside the place where Thoreau's cabin once stood - and send his thoughts about his time there to Shedworking:

Almost all writers are work-at-homers. Some, like me, write from an erstwhile bedroom-turned-home office. Others write from "alternative" spaces like garages, sheds, cabanas or other detached structures. Even teleworkers have their workspace.

Henry David Thoreau took shedworking to a different place. Much as he may bemoan the complexity of a phrase that defines a simple workplace, consider him the father of the "alternative office." The 17th Century American poet, essayist and naturalist did some of his best writing from a cabin deep in the Central Massachusetts woods outside Concord. There, for two years, two months and two days, Thoreau essayed on the nature of the environment, civilization, and man's place amid the quickening pace of society.

Visiting Walden Pond this month as part of Home Office Highway, I truly was moved by the path Thoreau trod (or sauntered, as he came to call his walks and which his followers in The Thoreau Society are fond of proclaiming), and how much my tour followed his lessons.

The most striking observation I can offer from my last three weeks on the road conjure both the likeness and juxtaposition between my mobile RV office and Thoreau's cabin. Both provided about the same square footage of "working" space, though mine has been shared with family. Each offered exactly what the scribe needs to ply his trade. Thoreau had a desk, chair and writing instrument (pencil, I presume, given pencil making was the family business). I have the dinette table and bench, my HP tablet notebook and Verizon broadband access card, and "cloud-based" software apps like Gmail and Twitter and Flickr that enable me to work from anywhere.

Yet as we struggle and sweat to amass more stuff, Thoreau's words resound ever louder. "Simplify, simplify." If Thoreau's life's work can be summarized in a comment, it would be this. All that clamoring about 21-inch displays and uber-fast desktop workstations and Herman Miller Aeron chairs is all well and good. But as any deft writer or other professional will attest, tools don't make the tradesman. They may facilitate the process, but give me an RV, or a hotel room or a picnic table deep in the woods, and I have that place I need to work.

All Thoreau needed was his cabin. And while only the replica remains, and sits about 500 yards from the original pond-front setting where Thoreau spent two of his 44 years, it remains an exalted lesson in the theory of simplicity, of efficiency, or the ability to do more, much more, with much more meaning – and with less. Not because you have to, but because you want to, you feel the need to, and because you can.

"The really efficient laborer will be found not to crowd his day with work, but will saunter to his task surrounded by a wide halo of ease and leisure."

That passage was written by Thoreau in the 1840s on the shores of Walden Pond. They live true today, whether your "cabin in the woods" is a shed in the backyard, a gazebo in a meadow, or an RV touring the American countryside.

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Walden - theatre review

Walden, the play of the book, has been running over the weekend at the Stills in Edinburgh as we reported last month. Our theatre critic, Helen Fowler who runs the Mother At Large site, sent in this exclusive review for Shedworking.

"Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden is a classic of American literature that explores man’s relationship to his surroundings – via Thoreau’s personal retreat to a hut in the woods. An account of how Thoreau, disillusioned by his ‘modern’ life of commerce, railroads and telegrams, flees for the woods, it remains a set text for many American students to this day. “I did not wish to live what was not life,” says the character of Thoreau in this one-man dramatisation of the book by Magnetic North. “My life was being frittered away by detail.” And so, seeking solitude and simplicity, Thoreau leaves civilisation and takes himself into the wilderness near Concorde, Massachussetts , where he builds himself a hut using wood from nearby trees. His aim, he tells us, is “to live deliberately”. The hut measured just 10 feet by 15 feet, yet Thoreau says it allowed him to explore “a thousand regions in the mind as yet undiscovered”.

Thoreau’s experiment in solitary living lasted just over two years. But his legacy has proved enduring. This dramatisation of his time in the hut, which takes its name from nearby Walden Pond, makes for an entertaining hour of theatre, in which Thoreau (played by Ewan Donald) maps out for the audience his world, his furniture (much of which he made himself) and surrounding nature. He also took some books – “the treasured wealth of the world” – with him on his adventure.

The only props in the show, staged in the round, are a heap of sand and a wooden stick. Yet the show, on at the Stills photography gallery in Edinburgh, succeeds in evoking how Thoreau’s hut might have felt like in 1845 when he built it. When Thoreau hoes his rows of beans, we feel his pride in them. When he marvels at the birds of prey circling high above him, we sense their presence. Walden is a thoughtful and uplifting piece of theatre – essential viewing for anyone with an interest in huts and the relationship their inhabitants have with their environment."

For more details go to Magnetic North's site and their blog where you'll find production photos by David Grinly including this one below. Look out too for Helen Fowler's new book of the blog Fashionably Late which will be published by the smart folk at The Friday Project in 2009.

Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living

 

A new book out from Princeton University Press - Henry at Work - looks at the business side of the godfather of Shedworking, Henry David Thoreau, through the same kind of lens as those 'How the Art of War Can Make You a Better Manager' type books. Here's the bumph from the publisher:

Henry at Work invites readers to rethink how we work today by exploring an aspect of Henry David Thoreau that has often been overlooked: Thoreau the worker. John Kaag and Jonathan van Belle overturn the popular misconception of Thoreau as a navel-gazing recluse who was scornful of work and other mundanities. In fact, Thoreau worked hard—surveying land, running his family’s pencil-making business, writing, lecturing, and building his cabin at Walden Pond—and thought intensely about work in its many dimensions. And his ideas about work have much to teach us in an age of remote work and automation, when many people are reconsidering what kind of working lives they want to have.

Through Thoreau, readers will discover a philosophy of work in the office, factory, lumber mill, and grocery store, and reflect on the rhythms of the workday, the joys and risks of resigning oneself to work, the dubious promises of labor-saving technology, and that most vital and eternal of philosophical questions, “How much do I get paid?” In ten chapters, including “Manual Work,” “Machine Work,” and “Meaningless Work,” this personal, urgent, practical, and compassionate book introduces readers to their new favorite coworker: Henry David Thoreau.

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Henry David Thoreau's cabin vs gas pipeline

An excellent article on Atlas Obscura looks at how protestors, led by timber-frame builder Will Elwell are protesting against a planned new gas pipeline through their village of Ashfield, Massachusetts (and some of the state's sensitive ecosystem), by building a cabin modelled on Godfather of Shedworking Henry David Thoreau's Walden cabin right in its proposed path. Here's a snippet:

Though Elwell had grown up close to Concord, and often went fishing at Walden Pond, he’d never really thought much about Thoreau. But he knew that Thoreau had written about civil disobedience, intertwined with philosophy, society, government, and nature. “Thoreau felt that if the government is not taking care of those who it governs, then there’s a right for citizens to express their opinion about that,” says Elwell. “And also if they need to create some kind of civil disobedience to change things, instead of just sitting around and accepting the status quo.” 

More details at the campaign's Facebook page Thoreau Cabin Pipeline Barricade

 

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An interpretation of Henry Thoreau's Walden cabin

Jim Cadwell is building what he says is not quite a replica, more an interpretation of Thoreau's iconic Walden shedworking atmosphere. This is how Jim describes his project:

"Thoreau built his in the summer of 1845, hewing the beams and studs from local white pine trees. For mine I've decided to cheat and buy sawn timbers from a sawmill near Grantsburg, WI. The main frame members are 6x6 white pine; the studs will be 4x6, and the rafters 4x4. I think I'm going to plaster the inside like Thoreau did, but I'm going to leave the ceiling beams exposed, because I like the look of it; it's just an interpretation, remember."

The cabin has been on the move, to Shoreview, MN, and then to Whiteoak Township, MN, where Jim plans to keep it permanently. A fascinating project and well worth a browse since he is documenting his work nicely with plenty of images (the rest of his site has some great wooden things too).
Many thanks to shed champion Sy Willmer for the alert.

Thoreau's Walden hut and climate change

An interesting piece of research on JSTOR Daily about the godfather of Shedworking, Henry David Thoreau, and what the Walden Pond location (picture above on a postcard) where he built his famous hut can tell us about climate change. Read the whole thing (nice and short) at the link above, but here's the key takeaway:

The research team identified tree and shrub species that Thoreau had taken notes about, then monitored when these species produced leaves. Before the study, the researchers did not expect to see a drastic change because these species were well-rooted and protected by the canopy in this location. However, after monitoring for five years they found that these species were universally leafing out approximately 18 days earlier than Thoreau had recorded.

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The sound of Walden

In an excellent piece about using your ears as well as your eyes when you're on holiday, David Hendy in The Independent talks about making a trip to the Walden location in Massachusetts of Godfather of shedworking, Henry David Thoreau. Here's a snippet"

I went to this famous literary haunt fully expecting to find a natural soundscape now ravaged by the din of modernity. It turned out to be the best moment in our entire recording schedule. On a misty January Sunday morning, and within a 30-minute drive from Boston, Thoreau's Walden came to life before my ears. Ice creaking as it formed by the shoreline, the low hum of pine needles swaying in the breeze, and, just as Thoreau had promised, the faint rattle of a train tearing through distant woods – an intimation in sound of the Machine Age.

The sounds were pretty subtle. Perhaps I wouldn't have noticed them at all if I hadn't been at Walden Pond especially to listen. But they connected me with Thoreau and his age at a deep emotional level. Catching them, I also understood for the first time that every place on Earth really does still have its unique "sound mark". It's a fragile thing, though. And in a globalised world, we should cherish it while we can.

Hendy's series Noise: A Human History is at 1.45pm on BBC Radio 4 weekdays until April 26 and his book Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening is published by Profile Books (£16.99).
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Henry David Thoreau moves into his cabin at Walden Pond #onthisday 1845

Not all notable works of architecture are on a grand scale or include trailblazing features. One shedlike building that has had a longlasting impact on society is the one room cabin which writer, philospher, and father of Shedworking, Henry David Thoreau (1817 –1862) built at Walden Pond, Concord and lived in for the following two years. He deliberately chose Independence Day to begin his experiment. 

 “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,” he wrote, “to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Thoreau wanted to experiment with cutting himself off from the everyday life of Concord in order to discover the inner truths of being. His cabin lifestyle was relatively cheap and he lived simply so that earning money could become a less important part of his life. It also gave him a spiritual retreat in which to be alone with his thoughts (as well as a place to work). Here's a snippet: 

So I went on for some days cutting and hewing timber, and also studs and rafters, all with my narrow axe, not having many communicable or scholar-like thoughts, singing to myself… I hewed the main timbers six inches square, most of the studs on two sides only, and the rafters and floor timbers on one side, leaving the rest of the bark on, so that they were just as straight and much stronger than sawed ones. Each stick was carefully mortised or tenoned by its stump, for I had borrowed other tools by this time. My days in the woods were not very long ones; yet I usually carried my dinner of bread and butter, and read the newspaper in which it was wrapped, at noon, sitting amid the green pine boughs which I had cut off, and to my bread was imparted some of their fragrance, for my hands were covered with a thick coat of pitch. Before I had done I was more the friend than the foe of the pine tree, though I had cut down some of them, having become better acquainted with it.

The book received a mixed reception on its publication in 1854, but in more recent times has become a key text in the environmental movement and even regarded as an example of performance art. “A century and a half after its publication,” wrote novelist John Updike in his introduction to the 150th anniversary of the book, “Walden has become such a totem of the back-to-nature, preservationist, anti-business, civil-disobedience mindset, and Thoreau so vivid a protester, so perfect a crank and hermit saint, that the book risks being as revered and unread as the Bible.” 

The cabin is no longer standing although a replica has been erected close to its original location.

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Thoreau's Walden Pond cabin: stud sections and nails

Stud sections and nails from Thoreau's cabin at Walden pond
From: Henry David Thoreau collection https://t.co/j4nfcEcdPE HDT b. #OTD July 12, 1817 pic.twitter.com/o7FjJPf775

— Beinecke Library (@BeineckeLibrary) July 12, 2019

Some fascinating artefacts from the godfather of shedworking Henry David Thoreau's famous cabin. The block of wood above measures 10 x 23 x 10 cm and the two nails approximately 8 and 16 cm. -----------------------------------

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@ThoreauPage

Those of you on twitter might like to consider following Henry David Thoreau at @ThoreauPage (where he describes himself as "an American author, poet, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, philosopher, and leading transcendentalist" but sadly not as a shedworker). Henry puts up lots of interesting links as well as some of his own best quotes and photos of sites related to his life and work. Recent examples include details of The Thoreau Society's 2009 annual gathering, an abbreviated but still interesting version of Walden, a link to works of his that have been annotated, and The Thoreau Farm Trust which is still looking for donations to finish the restoration of his birthplace.

Walden manuscript leaf comes up for sale

The father of shedworking, Henry David Thoreau, is responsible for perhaps the Ur text of the whole garden office movement, Walden. On March 13, RR Auction in Boston, US, will put up for sale a rare handwritten manuscript leaf from the work, an extensive passage from the chapter 'Sounds' in which Thoreau contemplates the unchanging nature of human disposition, part of a larger section where Thoreau discusses how the railroad on the other side of Walden Pond connects him to a larger world, commenting on the commerce supported by the train tracks. It has passages in both ink and pencil including this: "When I have learned a man's real disposition and character, I have no hopes of changing them for the better or worse in this state of existence."

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Walden, shedworking, and social distancing

The Washington Post has an interesting article with one of those 'the story is in the headline' headlines, 'Walden may be the most famous act of social distancing. It’s also a lesson on the importance of community'. Here's a snippet:

Since the coronavirus quarantine began in the United States last month, tens of millions of us have begun something like Thoreau’s retreat, but with a better Internet connection. As the days accumulate into weeks and then months, the burden of remaining cloistered will surely grow more challenging. Thoreau went there before us. He knew there can be contentment alone just as often as there can be loneliness among company.

 More on Walden and Thoreau here.  -------------------------------------------------
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The Walden Woods Project

Henry David Thoreau is the Father of shedworking and his classic Walden is a must-read for anybody who works in a shed or shedlike atmosphere. The Walden Woods Project preserves the land, literature and legacy of Thoreau and aims to foster an ethic of environmental stewardship and social responsibility through conservation, education and research. The site is well worth a browse.

Michael Janzen: Pallet House on wheels

If you haven't already taken a browse around Michael Janzen's Tiny Free House site, do nip across. Essentially, he's building a titchy house (on wheels) modelled partly on Thoreau's Walden cabin. But while Thoreau's cabin was cheap to build, Michael's is going to cost nothing, largely because he's using wooden pallets as his primary source of material. As he very quotably puts it: "Shouldn't the true value of a home be measured by the happiness and security it brings instead of its size and cost?" Incidentally, issue 4 of his weekly Tiny House Living newsletter is also now available for reading.

Unabomber vs Thoreau

Over six months, artist and filmmaker James Benning built replicas of two very similar shedworking atmospheres, the cabin which Henry David Thoreau built at Walden and the cabin which Ted Kaczynski built in the Lincoln, Montana woods. Both were keen on self-sufficiency and interested in the idea of an alternative approach to life, with an emphasis on isolation. Can you tell which is which? More details at cabinprojectVia An Artist in Beacon, NY

Thoreau’s cabin: A rebuilt shelter

A marvellous homage to Thoreau's build at Walden, this cabin by Amsterdam-based cc-studio is  
in the vast Noorderpark in Utrecht and is a relaxation spot for the volunteers who look after the park. It measures 35 m2 and has a folding aluminium-roof/canopy and two large sliding doors which allow the whole of one corner to be open. Like the original Walden it has no running water and no electricity so firewood is used for heating and cooking. Well worth clicking the link to see the marvellous photos of it in situ.

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Thoreau's Cabin

Following yesterday's post on the Thoreau radio programme on the BBC, reader Stephen Ray Peterson quite rightly pointed out that the photo alongside was in fact a replica, not the actual cabin. He also kindly pointed to a great selection of photos and illustrations of the cabin, then and now, at Fourpeaks including the one above of the inside of the cabin, complete with writing table. He also points to an excellent article on the 'discovery' of the cabin at Walden Pond at the University of Kentucky Program for Archaeological Research which is well worth a browse indeed.

Thoreau's (replica) hut at Walden Pond

Architect and friend of Shedworking Gregory La Vardera has been visiting Thoreau's hut (or cabin, take your pick) at Walden Pond and sent us back some photos of his trip. And if you want some of the back story about what happened to the original, here's an article from The Concord Magazine.


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Walden: The game

If you've ever fancied your hand at following Godfather of Shedworking Henry David Thoreau's efforts at Walden, then your luck is literally in. After 10 yeas of development, a new video game has been launched called Walden in which the designers say you get to:

Play as philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau in his experiment in self-reliant living at Walden Pond. Live off the land, seek out the small wonders and beauties of the woods, and find balance between your need to survive and your desire to find inspiration.

Here's some actual gameplay action...

The game takes around six hours and starts in the summer of 1845 when HDT built his famous cabin, finishing around the end of his first year in the woods.  Now it's up to YOU to survive each season pondside, track down food, and make sure your hut doesn't disintegrate. But the game also encourages you to take some time to stand and stare, as well as meet HDT's famous friends and associates including Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Walden is available for PC and Mac in an early access Alpha version. More details here including how to download and pay ($18.45).

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EB White's writing hut in Rooms of Their Own

There are, unsurprisingly, plenty of writing huts and sheds in my new book Rooms of Their Own and I'll be posting a few of them, all illustrated by the talented James Oses, over the coming weeks. We're starting off with writer E.B. White's, and here is an exclusive extract from the book below

Rather than fill his writing hut with momentoes of trips or family members, American writer EB White (1899 – 1985), famous for Charlotte’s Web and his Stuart Little stories, kept his starkly spartan. 

It was not purpose-built as a writing studio, but was originally a boathouse. White remarked that it sheltered him better than his actual home, a late 18th century farmhouse, and said that inside his shed he was a “wilder and healthier man”. He wrote that he shared it with a mouse and a squirrel, and for a while foxes burrowed underneath it to make their own den. 

The wooden shack at his coastal home in Allen Cove, Maine, New England, had a lovely view out to sea but was not fitted out in luxury. White had a chair, bench, desk (which he built himself), blue metal ashtray, a barrel as a waste basket, a cupboard upcycled from a croquet set box, and his black Underwood typewriter which his caretaker would drive down to the shed in the morning and bring back in the evening. “Tight and plainly finished,” was White’s description of it. It was here that he wrote the first draft of Charlotte’s Web, the farm on the property providing stimulation for the story while the initial impetus came directly from watching a spider spin an egg sac on the ceiling of his writing shed. 

The idea of working in a small detached space had an extra appeal for White. He loved the writings of the writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau, especially Walden, his account of carving out a simple life in nature in his homemade cabin by a lake in Massachusetts. By happy chance, Thoreau’s cabin was almost the same size as White’s boathouse, 10ft by 15ft. Writing inside must have been an additional inspiration for White as well as a pleasure.

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