Thoreau Farm

By Corinne H. Smith

On Thursday, November 14th, the Thoreau Farm will be honored to welcome author Ken Ilgunas for a reading and signing of his book, “Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom,” beginning at 6:30 p.m. His story is truly inspirational. And it involves living in his van in order to save money and to simplify his life.

Ken earned a liberal arts degree from The University at Buffalo in 2006, but he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do from that point forward. In 2007, he was working as a maintenance worker in Alaska, and he read a lot during his down time. One of the books he picked up then was “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau. “I found myself nodding to each paragraph,” he wrote, “jotting notes in the margins, underlining whole pages. Thoreau gave me the words to describe what I’d felt for so long. … Thoreau made me feel like I’d been a sane man wrongly assigned to live in a madhouse. He became my guide, whispering wisdom to me through the walls of my cell, confiding to me that he’s ‘convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain one’s self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely.’” Thoreau and “Walden” gave Ken the push he needed: one that led in a deliberate direction.

Ken vowed to somehow make it all work: to get a graduate degree, to do it without getting into debt, to live simply, and to move toward doing what he loved to do – whatever that might be. When he moved to North Carolina to attend graduate school at Duke University, Ken decided to become a “vandweller” instead of renting a costly dorm room or apartment. Yes, he lived in his van, in a space not much different from the small house that Thoreau built at Walden Pond. How did Ken accomplish this in the 21st century, and on a big college campus? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out. Or come to Thoreau Farm to hear his story in person.

In the ”Economy” chapter of “Walden,” Thoreau wrote: “I would not have any one adopt my mode of living on any account … I desire that there may be as many different persons in the world as possible; but I would have each one be very careful to find out and pursue his own way, and not his father’s or his mother’s or his neighbor’s instead. The youth may build or plant or sail, only let him not be hindered from doing that which he tells me he would like to do.”

Ken has put Henry David Thoreau’s words and philosophies into actions, in a way that is uniquely his own. He’s an inspiration to writers and to travelers alike; and he seems bent on continuing to be so. If you keep up with him online, you know that he’s already moved on and has already led more adventures. Even as he wrote his first book and pointed it toward publication, he hiked 1,700 miles along the Keystone XL pipeline, from Alberta to Texas. Then he went on an ancestral tour of discovery to Scotland. There’s no stopping Ken Ilgunas. I can’t wait to read what comes next.

In the stairway lobby of the Thoreau Farm, a bulletin board hangs on the wall. Visitors are invited to write down on cards how they have chosen to live deliberately, so that they can share their testimonies with others. Well, Ken’s book and his life are prime examples of how one person can choose to live quite deliberately. And they’re both too big to fit on a single index card. Come hear a sample on Thursday evening.

By Corinne H. Smith

Once the leaves disappear at this time of year, a specific Thoreau quote creeps my mind: “The universe is wider than our views of it.”

You can find this sentence in the first paragraph of the concluding chapter of “Walden.” It starts a series of ruminations debating the act of staying in one place versus the choice to travel. A journey could lead you around the world, where you could even get a chance “to count the cats in Zanzibar.”

Three paragraphs after referring to the “universe,” Henry writes: “I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there.” That’s when the reader says to herself, “Naturally, he needed to leave. He had other things to see and do.” This is the original context of the “universe” quote. Thoreau is leading up to description of his departure from the Walden house. But I feel comfortable applying the saying to other situations.

Three years ago, I paraphrased it in a eulogy for fellow Thoreauvian Edmund Schofield. Ed had a variety of interests and a multitude of friends who were attached to each one of those endeavors. Most of the people had never met before. Most of their lines had never intersected. Ed had been their sole common thread. During the memorial service, we were surprised and gratified – even overcome with joy – to hear fifteen individuals share their memories and their own personal interactions with our mutual friend. They were all different. Ed’s universe had truly been wider than our views of it.

Each fall, the trees begin to bare themselves. Day by day, they unveil views that we either didn’t have before, or ones that we’ve forgotten. All summer long we had bold bright greenery in front of us. Now that it is receding, we can see through the line of shrubbery. We can see the outlines of houses on the other side. We can see fences and walls again. Nature had softened the scene for a few months. These days it drops away to uncover the background, the foundation that was always present.

Suddenly animal homes are also revealed. A robin’s nest is wedged among forked branches of the crab apple in the front yard. The birds are gone, leaving a perfectly smooth cup where the eggs were laid and the fledglings grew. A messy nest for squirrels soars from the top of a red oak. Its residents are still there, warm and dry, and perhaps also confident that they’ve stored enough food to survive the winter. Paper wasps have evidently been living in a maple tree at the edge of the North Bridge in Concord. How many hundreds of visitors walked beneath the nest this summer, unaware? How many redcoats and colonials took aim against one another here (as a matter of historical interpretation, of course) as the resident wasps flew above them to pollinate local gardens and to eat other insects?

Wasp nest in a maple near the North Bridge

This “universe” quote is a metaphor for Life, isn’t it? It’s all about perspective. We have only our own impressions to guide us. We operate solely upon the bits of information that we have available. Rarely do these pieces form an entire story. We have to have patience or perseverance to learn the rest. That’s just the way it is.

Gosh, Henry. It turns out that we don’t have to go anywhere to see something different, or to get the wider view of the universe. We can stand right here and let the seasons change around us. The cats of Zanzibar can remain uncounted. But you knew this all along.