Barefoot Hearted: A Wild Life Among Wildlife

Hard Cover

Buy from Kathleen

✭ ✭ ✭

Synopsis

Barefoot Hearted is a coming-into-the-country story, singular and unflinching in its telling. The country, in this case, unrolls as the tall, reaching landscape of Montana; the on-tenterhooks territory of a budding romantic relationship; and the pressure-cooker tableau of our global imbalance. There is no mistaking the frank, dry wit and sharply researched pen we loved about Meyer’s first book, How to Shit in the Woods. Her prose is original and inspired, playful yet provocative.
The author finds herself under yawning skies, amid sagebrush and cactus, having fallen for the Irish charm of an itinerant farrier named Patrick. In partnership, they travel across three Rocky Mountain states with a team of draft horses and a covered wagon, then set up house-keeping in a seventy-five-year-old dairy barn “not quite made fit for human habitation.” The reader is introduced to a range of Montana wildlife, many of whom take shelter in the barn. We learn of the overly aromatic courting rituals of wild skunks bunking beneath the floor; a nursery colony of big brown bats in the rafters; how to act when a hummingbird mistakes human nostrils for honeysuckle blossoms; what it takes to rescue a season’s seventy-seven orphaned bear cubs. Meyer carries us vividly back to the settler’s Old West, while pondering pressing modern-day dilemmas.
A volume of earnest and earthy literature, a personal chronicle of conscience, and a love story of rare and quirky dimension, Barefoot Hearted catapults the reader into new realms of thought, deftly guided by the author’s sense of the ironic, the randy, and the humorous.

Order from Kathleen

Barefoot Hearted arrived in the world five days before 9/11 and missed out on any press, as did all books that fall. The following summer, it was remaindered. But you can still buy them from me.

$14.00, with free shipping
in the U.S.

To Order

Barefoot Hearted: A Wild Life Among Wildlife

WILD WEST ADVENTURE MEMOIR

Villard, a division of Random House, 2001. (314 pages)

“Barefoot Hearted is both wise and knowledgeable; warm-hearted and truly funny, and above all honest—in the way horses are honest. Right from the time she peeled her soles, I knew, I knew this sister!”

— Keri Hulme, author of the prize-winning novel the bone people

“In her jaunty and appealing Barefoot Hearted, Meyer’s style is humorous, staccato, off-the-cuff and shoot-from-the-hip.”

— Charles Wilson, The Washington Post Book World

“Undoubtedly one of my favorite books ever. Gets to the heart of an affectionately respectful coexistence with nature. A highly sensual story—rich with musk, sage, and clover, the sweep of the Rocky Mountain valley, the scratching, cawing, and braying of animals, the feel of the dirt under Kathleen’s feet.”

— Gail D. Storey, author of I Promise Not to Suffer: A Fool for Love Hikes the Pacific Crest Trail, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award.

“Thoughtful and irreverent . . . a compelling portrait of a life lived close to nature.”

— Publisher's Weekly

“Kathleen Meyer, a barefoot heart if ever there was one, has chronicled a courageous, romantic, personal adventure that other women, and men too, might only dream about.”

— Michael Frome, author of Our Great Treasures: America's National Parks

“Edward Abbey, the staunch defender of the natural world, can quit turning over in his grave now. His torch has been retrieved and lifted high by Kathleen Meyer, an environmental writer with as much wit and stylistic colors the man himself!”

— Lynn Hamilton, Book Page

“Meyer’s narrative drives with sincerity and an irrepressible sense of humor that often reads like a personal letter, addressing the reader on various levels and juggling scientific discussions, personal anecdotes, introspective musings, and comic gaffes with deceptive ease. Her uninhibited sense of irony on almost any topic from bat penises to concern for the health of the natural world can be aptly compared with the work of Edward Abbey.”

— Tom Daley, Missoula Independent

“A thinking woman’s tour de force, full of feelings about life and death, from the cremation of her parents to the battles she and her partner wage with mice, to observations about the destruction of the Earth . . . Barefoot Hearted reveals a sensitive, playful writer in her prime.”

— Christene Meyers, Billings Gazette

“Meyer humorously captures the beauty and struggle for life in Montana . . . [her] honesty throughout this book is fantastic.”

— Olivia Hertsted, The Greener Times, Conservation Council of Western Australia

Hard Cover

Buy from Kathleen

✭ ✭ ✭

Synopsis

Barefoot Hearted is a coming-into-the-country story, singular and unflinching in its telling. The country, in this case, unrolls as the tall, reaching landscape of Montana; the on-tenterhooks territory of a budding romantic relationship; and the pressure-cooker tableau of our global imbalance. There is no mistaking the frank, dry wit and sharply researched pen we loved about Meyer’s first book, How to Shit in the Woods. Her prose is original and inspired, playful yet provocative.
The author finds herself under yawning skies, amid sagebrush and cactus, having fallen for the Irish charm of an itinerant farrier named Patrick. In partnership, they travel across three Rocky Mountain states with a team of draft horses and a covered wagon, then set up house-keeping in a seventy-five-year-old dairy barn “not quite made fit for human habitation.” The reader is introduced to a range of Montana wildlife, many of whom take shelter in the barn. We learn of the overly aromatic courting rituals of wild skunks bunking beneath the floor; a nursery colony of big brown bats in the rafters; how to act when a hummingbird mistakes human nostrils for honeysuckle blossoms; what it takes to rescue a season’s seventy-seven orphaned bear cubs. Meyer carries us vividly back to the settler’s Old West, while pondering pressing modern-day dilemmas.
A volume of earnest and earthy literature, a personal chronicle of conscience, and a love story of rare and quirky dimension, Barefoot Hearted catapults the reader into new realms of thought, deftly guided by the author’s sense of the ironic, the randy, and the humorous.

Barefoot Hearted arrived in the world five days before 9/11 and missed out on any press, as did all books that fall. The following summer, it was remaindered. But you can still buy them from me!

$14.00, with free shipping in the U.S.

To Order

BACK

Barefoot Hearted: A Wild Life Among Wildlife

WILD WEST ADVENTURE MEMOIR

Villard, a division of Random House, 2001. (314 pages)

“Barefoot Hearted is both wise and knowledgeable; warm-hearted and truly funny, and above all honest—in the way horses are honest. Right from the time she peeled her soles, I knew, I knew this sister!”

— Keri Hulme, author of the prize-winning novel the bone people

“In her jaunty and appealing Barefoot Hearted, Meyer’s style is humorous, staccato, off-the-cuff and shoot-from-the-hip.”

— Charles Wilson, The Washington Post Book World

“Undoubtedly one of my favorite books ever. Gets to the heart of an affectionately respectful coexistence with nature. A highly sensual story—rich with musk, sage, and clover, the sweep of the Rocky Mountain valley, the scratching, cawing, and braying of animals, the feel of the dirt under Kathleen’s feet.”

— Gail D. Storey, author of I Promise Not to Suffer: A Fool for Love Hikes the Pacific Crest Trail, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award.

“Thoughtful and irreverent . . . a compelling portrait of a life lived close to nature.”

— Publisher's Weekly

“Kathleen Meyer, a barefoot heart if ever there was one, has chronicled a courageous, romantic, personal adventure that other women, and men too, might only dream about.”

— Michael Frome, author of Our Great Treasures: America's National Parks

“Edward Abbey, the staunch defender of the natural world, can quit turning over in his grave now. His torch has been retrieved and lifted high by Kathleen Meyer, an environmental writer with as much wit and stylistic colors the man himself!”

— Lynn Hamilton, Book Page

“Meyer’s narrative drives with sincerity and an irrepressible sense of humor that often reads like a personal letter, addressing the reader on various levels and juggling scientific discussions, personal anecdotes, introspective musings, and comic gaffes with deceptive ease. Her uninhibited sense of irony on almost any topic from bat penises to concern for the health of the natural world can be aptly compared with the work of Edward Abbey.”

— Tom Daley, Missoula Independent

“A thinking woman’s tour de force, full of feelings about life and death, from the cremation of her parents to the battles she and her partner wage with mice, to observations about the destruction of the Earth . . . Barefoot Hearted reveals a sensitive, playful writer in her prime.”

— Christene Meyers, Billings Gazette

“Meyer humorously captures the beauty and struggle for life in Montana . . . [her] honesty throughout this book is fantastic.”

— Olivia Hertsted, The Greener Times, Conservation Council of Western Australia

Barefoot Hearted: A Wild Life Among Wildlife

WILD WEST ADVENTURE MEMOIR

Villard, a division of Random House, 2001. (314 pages)

Order from Kathleen

✭ ✭ ✭

“Barefoot Hearted is both wise and knowledgeable; warm-hearted and truly funny, and above all honest—in the way horses are honest. Right from the time she peeled her soles, I knew, I knew this sister!”

— Keri Hulme, author of the prize-winning novel the bone people

“In her jaunty and appealing Barefoot Hearted, Meyer’s style is humorous, staccato, off-the-cuff, and shoot-from-the-hip.”

— Charles Wilson, The Washington Post Book World

“Undoubtedly one of my favorite books ever. Gets to the heart of an affectionately respectful coexistence with nature. A highly sensual story—rich with musk, sage, and clover, the sweep of the Rocky Mountain valley, the scratching, cawing, and braying of animals, the feel of the dirt under Kathleen’s feet.”

— Gail D. Storey, author of I Promise Not to Suffer: A Fool for Love Hikes the Pacific Crest Trail, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award

“Thoughtful and irreverent . . . a compelling portrait of a life lived close to nature.”

— Publisher’s Weekly

“Kathleen Meyer, a barefoot heart if ever there was one, has chronicled a courageous, romantic, personal adventure that other women, and men too, might only dream about.”

— Michael Frome, author of Our Great Treasures: America’s National Parks

“Edward Abbey, the staunch defender of the natural world, can quit turning over in his grave now. His torch has been retrieved and lifted high by Kathleen Meyer, an environmental writer with as much wit and stylistic
color as the man himself!”

— Lynn Hamilton, Book Page

“Meyer’s narrative drives with sincerity and an irrepressible sense of humor that often reads like a personal letter, addressing the reader on various levels and juggling scientific discussions, personal anecdotes, introspective musings, and comic gaffes with deceptive ease. Her uninhibited sense of irony on almost any topic from bat penises to concern for the health of the natural world can be aptly compared with the work of Edward Abbey.”

— Tom Daley, Missoula Independent

“A thinking woman’s tour de force, full of feelings about life and death, from the cremation of her parents to the battles she and her partner wage with mice, to observations about the destruction of the Earth . . . Barefoot Hearted reveals a sensitive, playful writer in her prime.”

— Christine Meyers, Billings Gazette

“Meyer humorously captures the beauty and struggle for life in Montana . . . [her] honesty throughout this book is fantastic.”

— Olivia Hertsted, The Greener Times, Conservation Council of Western Australia

Synopsis

Barefoot Hearted is a coming-into-the-country story, singular and unflinching in its telling. The country, in this case, unrolls as the tall, reaching landscape of Montana; the on-tenterhooks territory of a budding romantic relationship; and the pressure-cooker tableau of our global imbalance. There is no mistaking the frank, dry wit and sharply researched pen we loved about Meyer’s first book, How to Shit in the Woods. Her prose is original and inspired, playful yet provocative.
The author finds herself under yawning skies, amid sagebrush and cactus, having fallen for the Irish charm of an itinerant farrier named Patrick. In partnership, they travel across three Rocky Mountain states with a team of draft horses and a covered wagon, then set up house-keeping in a seventy-five-year-old dairy barn “not quite made fit for human habitation.” The reader is introduced to a range of Montana wildlife, many of whom take shelter in the barn. We learn of the overly aromatic courting rituals of wild skunks bunking beneath the floor; a nursery colony of big brown bats in the rafters; how to act when a hummingbird mistakes human nostrils for honeysuckle blossoms; what it takes to rescue a season’s seventy-seven orphaned bear cubs. Meyer carries us vividly back to the settler’s Old West, while pondering pressing modern-day dilemmas.
A volume of earnest and earthy literature, a personal chronicle of conscience, and a love story of rare and quirky dimension, Barefoot Hearted catapults the reader into new realms of thought, deftly guided by the author’s sense of the ironic, the randy, and the humorous.

Barefoot Hearted arrived in the world five days before 9/11 and missed out on any press, as did all books that fall. The following summer, it was remaindered. But you can still buy them from me!

$14.00, with free shipping in the U.S.

To Order

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