This Patch of Earth: Observations on a Rural Life

Recognized as a new voice in American Science and Nature writing

With the success of Daryln Brewer Hoffstot’s first book, A Farm Life, published by Stackpole Books in 2023, this new collection of her writings features 20+ essays of observations and insights about the fields, forest, and farm where she lives in western Pennsylvania. She writes with a deep appreciation of nature and landscape. She listens to the natural world and tries to slow down to observe, record, and understand what is happening to the plants and animals that surround her. Her writing is reminiscent of Annie Dillard, Rachel Carson who lived her early life on the Allegheny River, and Verlyn Klinkenborg. She consults with scientists, botanists, biologists, researchers, and experts and includes them in her work. She digs for the history and the local lore. Her subjects are trees, birds, wildlife, native plants, gardening, the seasons, and the environment—and she tells of them in ways that reflect her commitment to being a steward of all things natural.

Daryln Brewer Hoffstot is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, the Boston Globe and Pittsburgh Quarterly. Her essay in the New York Times, “On a Pennsylvania Farm, Nature Is Not Just Carrying On,” won a Notable Mention in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2021. She is the author of A Farm Life: Observations from Fields and Forests.