JULIE GARD is an author, poet and teacher. Her stories, essays, and poems have appeared in Gertrude, Clackamas Literary Review, Blackbox Manifold, and other journals and anthologies. Among her academic achievements is a certificate proving she survived a challenging and rewarding year in Vladivostok, Russia as a Fulbright Graduate Fellow. She teaches writing at the University of Wisconsin-Superior and lives a block from Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota.
Hand to mouth in northern Minnesota
Among all of the lessons of eating hand to mouth in the great outdoors, perhaps the greatest is to leave most of what I’ve found behind. I take only what I can eat and what the plant can easily part with. And I leave enough on the tree, in the ground, for the squirrels and blue jays and forest gods.
February 11, 2025