About Us

We were born in Massachusetts, 30 or so miles apart, in the Boston area and both spent time on farms as children -- Ben on the family farm in Maine, Mary on horse farms where she studied riding and took care of the animals. Both of us lived in subdivisions thrust into the New England woods and would spend hours learning and communing with the plants and trees and animal life.

 

I (Mary) was and still am bookish and visually motivated; Ben was thoughtful and introspective, as much a lover of books but more of a student of whole genres, while I devoured indiscriminately. Ben turned to drums, composing, theatre and puppet performance as a teen, while I (Mary) continued to develop across the spectrum of fine and performing arts, studying dance, voice, theatre, costuming and clothing design, fine art, choreography, writing, and eventually composing and mise en scene for experimental and shamanic opera. 

 

Our paths first converged on a historic Vermont farm turned tiny College, Marlboro College, in the early 1980s, and even with just over 200 students we didn't actually meet and converse one on one -- being bookish and a bit introverted, that would have necessitated an introduction that none of our friends thought to facilitate. Mary's turn at Marlboro was characterized by, as usual, trying to do too much, trying to fit in dance, opera performance, and languages alongside a full schedule of biology, chemistry, molecular biology, philosophy of science, and the natural histories, particularly botany. 

 

In our varied careers, Ben spent the first three decades of his career  as an expert and entrepreneur in publishing and the international language industries and Mary as a journalist, editor, graphic artist, fundraiser, business developer, and marketing maven for mostly nonprofits and universities. We lived in cities and towns, and spent most of our time glued to screens, longing for our life in the woods and fields.

 

In the past ten years Ben has given me (this is Mary) the gracious, luxurious opportunity to spend time making things with my hands again, sewing and cooking and knitting and spinning and embroidering and and staining and sanding and painting and darning and reweaving, filling our Colorado home with resourced and repurposed treasures and wearables. We've cooked thousands of meals from scratch and invited hundreds of locals to our home for potlucks, cookouts, and feasts of all persuasions. Fires in the woodstove and fire pit out back are an important part of our sharing in the world. We've written and performed multiple operas and built a wild, lush food forest surrounding our historic home in one of Colorado's oldest neighborhoods. 

I learn while I am making. I've taken the opportunity to catch up on subjects Ben studied at Marlboro but I did not have a chance to sit in on -- namely, the classic and Hellenic periods. Librivox readings (a wonderful resource have accompanied many an evening and afternoon of flying fingers, with Ben always ready to suggest a classic and offer a symposium to review its treasures. So often when we've posted hints of our shared mindspace, others have asked. How do we join your conversations. How do we learn how to live as you do. Philosophy Farm is the answer to that question. 

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