Diary of a Country Herbalist Author:Matthew Alfs The setting for this heartwarming novel is the upper-Midwestern U.S.A. in the mid-1980s, where herbalist Sunflower Sam Rogers and his schoolteacher wife, April, find themselves living an enviable life of devotion to simplicity, chronicled daily in a diary of their second year as homesteaders on a large tract of land. — While Sam busies himself ed... more »ucating folks in the area about the power of wild plants to nourish and to heal and April applies herself to shaping the young minds in her care, the couple still find time to traverse the length and breadth of their land on an almost daily basis, treasuring not only its fruits and beauty but also their own growing love in the midst of this most precious Eden.
Along the way, they adopt a pair of bear cubs, befriend a mammoth toad, and help young and old alike to look at life anew. Still, all is not bliss: With a down-home kind of spunk, Sam and April brave several personal tragedies, a deadly flu epidemic, and the prejudices of those unacquainted with the wisdom of simple living. All the while, they continue to expound the riches of country life to city friends and relatives, the power of herbal medicine to all who will hear, and the incomparable joy of wild-plant foods to those still young at heart.« less