Tonight at a reading and book signing we met Bill Christofferson, author of The Man From Clear Lake – the biography of Gaylord Nelson. Nelson started Earth Day 35 years ago. At 88 he isn’t getting out much, but he was there tonight in spirit. We were pleased to see references to Julia Bogholt in the book. In the late eighties, Julia gave her farm to the Nature Conservancy. The Conservancy retained the wetlands and a field that they’ve restored to native prairie, and they sold us the upland portion with house, barn and outbuildings.
Tomorrow to celebrate Earth Day, I’ll read a little from Senator Nelson’s biography, and Beth and I will plant some service berries out on the ridge. If she’s lucky, maybe we’ll take Molly down to the spring fro a romp while we gather some watercress.
In the seventies, Wisconsin’s John Birch Republicans thought maybe Gaylord had chosen 4/22 for Earth Day because it was Vladimir Lenin’s birthday. How embarrassing for them.
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