Forrest Foster was loading up the tractor with kindling for deer camp, two days before rifle season. I was over there visiting and helping him with his night chores. I like Forrest. I like being around him, and I always learn something from him. And on this day we rode the tractor down to the deer camp and sat and talked about hunting and caretaking and walking with goats and horses. And loneliness. Pretty much all the stuff people end up talking about at deer camp.
Erica, you always create an interesting (and sometimes emotional, for me) podcast. I think that I haeard an earlier one with Forrest, more focused on the herd. IMHO, you have hit a grand slam with this one. Deer camp… talk about deer, and cows, and other natural stuff. Then take on mortality, as if it’s the next logical step. And home burial. And willing your friend to survive so thy can help build their casket. Damn. I want to meet this man, and I’d like to meet you, too.
Forrest loves visitors! And he’ll put you to work. If you’re as close to Woodbury as your name, you should stop by…
Try to get there before I head for Texas.
Oh Erica this was wonderful. Forest is one of a dying breed around here, I think. You are lucky to know him. And he, to know you. He has such a practical but emotional connection to the land and the animals he is responsible for, not to mention his care for his partner. What a decent human being!
Thank you for doing this work that you do.
Mr. Forrest Foster is a treasure and your show is a gift. Thank you.
Done! Thank you for taking the time to comment. I’ll make sure Forrest sees it!
Hi Erica, loved this for its basic honesty. I find that so beautiful. I worked for a number of years in a hospice as a caregiver and met people like Forrest who could sit and talk and the approach of death not hidden. Not desired, not made light of or avoided just understood and accepted when the time came. The wheel turns.
Maybe whats next for you is the book you have in you. 🙂
Thanks
I would love to spend some time with Forrest and he can put me to work. My doctor says to just keep moving (I’m 82) but purposeful moving appeals to me more than walking just to get the heart rate up . And I loved the story about how to plant garlic!!! I have some friends who will appreciate that one. So, come spring I will invite myself for a day of work with you, Forrest….and Erica who, it turns out is my daughter. I am happy you two have “connected”.
Hi Mom! Yes…this spring we’ll go over there and hang out with Forrest while he’s sugaring.
I love finding your email with announcement of another Rumblestrip Vermont episode. Forrest is so wise in how he is able to go about his life, simply, deeply, wonderfully. How amazing to hear about his work, his love of animals, his love of people. Thank you for this gift of 17 minutes.
As a university student from the Netherlands, I think my life could hardly be any more different from how Forrest lives his, but like you, I do feel like I learn a lot by listening to him. We all feel lonely sometimes, and even though I am not sure I will ever even make it to Vermont, I am very glad I got to know a bit about him and how he handles that fact of life.
I really loved this episode. It was also nice hearing Her Gomes mentioned. Forrest has a great way of talking
Please, more Forrest interviews! I want to know: how was this man raised, what forces were at work during his childhood, how is he able to express himself so clearly, how is it that he is (seemingly*) devoid of guile? Thank you, Erica, for yet another well-edited glimpse into humanity.
*just had to pop that in, as a tired old cynic who is tired of being cynical
I will be interviewing Forrest for as long as he’ll let me….!
Thank you, Erica. So much. I usually listen to your show in the depths of the night, down here on the other side of the world in New Zealand and I don’t know what it is but you never fail to raise an emotion in me. I’ve listened to your podcast with tears of joy at the sheer humanity I hear. A bright light in the heart of the night.
One day I’d like visit the North East Kingdom and say hello
Thank you Richard. Imagining you listening in NZ is thrilling, and NZ and Vermont are similar in fundamental ways…or the people there felt familiar to me when I was there a billion years ago. In fact my friend and I stayed with a farmer we met…an old guy with a huge meat freezer full of lamb and mutton, which he showed to us with great pride. It sounds strange but it was utterly charming and again…familiar? Anyway thank you for listening and for writing to me Richard. E
Erica another Great show with Forrest , I am just going to have to make time to visit him
Thanks for your podcast Erica, it was a great listen! Forrest Foster sounds like a fascinating guy. Best wishes to you all.
Cheers,
Graham
(Glasgow, Scotland)
Gosh! I can’t find the words and don’t need to repeat what folks have said above…..Your podcast, Erica, reflects raw humanity in all of its colors, emotions, beauty and toughness. Just love this, Erica, thank youuuuuuu! And I am sending the link on garlic planting to my dear friends who have a garlic farm in Orange, MA…..
Mary, please report back what they say about the garlic!!!
Erica! Your podcasts make me incredibly connected with the world and the people in it. Thank you for creating them. You have added so much to my life with your creations.
Well I am thrilled you feel this way and thanks for taking the time to tell me!
Lovely piece, Erica.
Paul and I have lived just up the road from Forrest for some decades–Paul going on 45 years, me over 30. He hays one of our fields, we get mulched hay, manure, and wood chips from him. Etc. The usual neighborly exchange; now it’s called “mutual aid.” He’s also an excellent source of gossip (though as a journalist I usually look for substantiation). Whenever you ask how he is, he says he’s happy. “I wake up happy and I go to bed happy.”
Forrest is a pleasing combination of straightforward and enigmatic. Once he asked to use part of the field to grow potatoes. Of course he could. But at the time Karen was still keeping an enormous garden. Why did he need more space? “People will be needing food.”
In your piece, I like when he says “We hung ’em up and skun ’em.”
We’ll have you up to dinner after chores one of these evenings.
Loved this piece! Forrest speak so much like a few of my family members – most of whom are gone now. Was such a treat to spend time hearing your conversation about life.
Thanks Erica, I was a student at the University of Vermont and loved exploring. Your interviews take me to the heart of the state and the people which is very dear.
I love all of your episodes, but this one was really terrific.
Hi Erica,
A serious question here – do you think Forrest would take on an apprentice? In learning how to tend the farm and hunt deer? I want to make a life for myself as amongst nature as his is, but can’t see routes in at present.
Best wishes from a faithful listener,
Ed
Ed, write to me at rumblestripvermont @gmail.com. Forrest ALWAYS needs help. Shoveling shit and feeding calves and probably helping him in the woods.
Thanks so much to the both of you. Enjoyed listening.
From Windham County