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Greetings!
It’s nearly summer in Bayfield, and we have staffed-up for the season. Two Millennials – Jenn and Aurora – have joined us and bring a perspective that we oldsters find both refreshing and challenging. Among the things they have brought to us are the ways young people are creating communities of meaning and belonging. How We Gather is a beautiful report that profiles Millennial-led organizations that are effectively unbundling and remixing the "care of souls" functions historically performed by traditional religious institutions.
Today’s young people have come of age under economic recession, climate anxiety, hyper-polarization and the deep penetration of technology into their private lives. In the face of tough circumstances, many young people are gravitating to work that nurtures and connects: an interest that serves us all. Check out Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in Without Going Crazy by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone. Consider tuning into the podcasts of the On Being Project - an initiative to renew civility and imagination in our public conversations about the subjects that matter most.
Interestingly, more than a few Millennials seem to be becoming farmers. For only the second time in the last century, the number of farmers under 35 is growing. This generation is keen on locally sourced food and a connection to the land and they are bringing knowledge of new technologies, entrepreneurial spirit and energy to sustainability efforts. Imperfect Produce, one example of a new crop of agricultural initiatives founded by Millennials, connects farmers to consumers happy to purchase misshapen produce that would otherwise go to waste. A new podcast distributed by Minnesota Public Radio, Field Work, that shares tips for sustainable agriculture is hosted by a Midwest row-crop farmer known as MN Millennial Farmer.
There are signs that these tendencies are reaching the Northwoods. There seem to be more young people returning to and/or settling into this area. A number of the new agricultural efforts are being undertaken by families in the Millennial cohort. They are seen to be helping one another connect to values and practices long absent from our consumerist dominated culture. In the process, they are countering the disconnection and despair underlying so many of our social ailments from cellphone to opioid addiction.
And finally, as we promised last month, we wanted to share the books written for our youngest young people – check out the children’s book recipients of the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award, reviewed below.
Remember, if you’ve lost yours,
we are your local bookstore!
All of us at AIB
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 Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean
By Sigrid Schmalzer, Melanie Linden Chan (Illustrated by)
Winner of the 2019 SONWA in Children's Literature
This book tells its story through the memories of a farm boy who, inspired by Pu Zhelong, became a scientist himself. The narrator is a composite of people Pu Zhelong influenced in his work. With further context from Melanie Chan’s historically precise watercolors, this story will immerse young readers in Chinese culture, the natural history of insects, and the use of biological controls in farming.
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 Back From the Brink: Saving Animals From Extinction
By Nancy F. Castaldo
Honorable Mention of the 2019 SONWA in Children's Literature
How could capturing the last wild California condors help save them? Why are some states planning to cull populations of the gray wolf, despite this species only recently making it off the endangered list? How did a decision made during the Civil War to use alligator skin for cheap boots nearly drive the animal to extinction?
Back from the Brink answers these questions and more as it delves into the threats to seven species, and the scientific and political efforts to coax them back from the brink of extinction. This rich, informational look at the problem of extinction has a hopeful tone: all of these animals' numbers are now on the rise.
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 The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian’s Art Changed Science
By Joyce Sidman
Honorable Mention of the 2019 SONWA in Children's Literature
Bugs, of all kinds, were considered to be “born of mud” and to be “beasts of the devil.” Why would anyone, let alone a girl, want to study and observe them?
One of the first naturalists to observe live insects directly, Maria Sibylla Merian was also one of the first to document the metamorphosis of the butterfly. In this visual nonfiction biography, richly illustrated throughout with full-color original paintings by Merian herself, the Newbery Honor–winning author Joyce Sidman paints her own picture of one of the first female entomologists and a woman who flouted convention in the pursuit of knowledge and her passion for insects.
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