Reviews
Review by: Sally Sierer Bethea, author of KEEPING THE CHATTAHOOCHEE - December 27, 2025
"Ron Balthazor's book is a sensory and spiritual delight. Channeling Henry David Thoreau and Aldo Leopold, among other inspirational writers, he describes the wonder, meaning, and solace he finds on a small farm in the Georgia Piedmont. Through a year of seasons, Balthazor offers monthly meditations on his garden and the natural world. His essays embrace the continuity of life and death in all living things: a comforting balm we need now more than ever."
Review by: Dorinda G. Dallmeyer, award-winning author, photographer, and media producer with a focus on Southern environmental history - December 27, 2025
"In WALDEN, Thoreau elevated a nondescript pond into a touchstone for developing a deep human relationship with the rest of the natural world. Well-versed in Thoreau, Ron Balthazor directs the reader's attention southward to a landscape many think not worth a second look: the Georgia Piedmont, deforested and relentlessly plowed for the past 250 years. Most would see a place only fit for suburban sprawl. But Balthazor is a doer, investing many of his waking hours on his chosen home, sometimes with scythe in hand, at others on his knees offering fallen leaves as soothing balm for red clay. He calls us to a deeper appreciation of what remains and how it can be conjured to life once more."