In Andrew Krivak’s novel, The Bear, a father and daughter, likely the last two people on Earth, navigate a world that requires living in harmony with nature—surviving off the land. How do you build a new life that requires an understanding of and respect for the land?
Becket Athenaeum, a community library serving two small towns in Massachusetts’ Berkshires, has explored themes of coexistence and survival with its members for the last seven months. The book-inspired programming was organized, in part, with the help of an NEA Big Read grant.
It kicked off last October with a ‘Homesteading 101’ workshop. Twenty-five or so participants and readers of the book (ages 2 to 70+) gathered on the Becket, Massachusetts, property where Tarcisio Ramos Dos Santos, or Taz for short, homesteads.
Born in Brazil, Taz has been homesteading for practically his entire life, from his childhood in South America to his adulthood in the Berkshires.
“It comes very easy to me—I’ve practiced my whole life,” said the homesteader, who appeared in Season 10 of the survival-themed reality show Alone in 2023. “But here in the U.S. it’s more like I’m choosing to do this instead of I have to do this.”
Now a local in Becket, he’s been involved in previous initiatives at the library. Athenaeum’s Executive Director Nicole Schulze said that Taz was a natural partner for the workshop because surviving off the land is a “really major theme in The Bear.” Plus, the idea of a homesteading workshop came up because it’s of interest in Western Massachusetts, she added.
At the half-day event, the workshop participants divided into three groups and worked on the day’s typical homesteading tasks. They gathered acorns to feed the donkeys, tended to the fence that encircles the pigs, harvested squash, peppers, and eggplant, and learned how to start a fire without modern accoutrements.
“The fire-making especially resonated with people in relation to the book because that was such a huge part of what helped keep the two people alive,” recalled Nicole Schulze, Athenaeum’s Executive Director. She’s also the lead organizer for its Big Read program, which concludes with a visit from author Andrew Krivak in April.
“The experience of working together in a multi-generational group to accomplish common and human goals felt like a jolt of nurturance and safety that are hard to come by in our modern existence,” said Elizabeth Heller, a participant.
At the end of the day, with a fire roaring, attendees enjoyed homemade pizzas and roasted s’mores as they discussed the book.
“When people are reading [The Bear] and then now they’re on a homestead, it feels like stepping inside the book in a way,” Taz said, referencing the characters’ survival in a much more natural world.
For participants like Heller, the time together was “a reminder of how simple it can be to feel connected to each other as part of the natural world.”
Becket Anthenaeum’s programming related to Andrew Krivak’s novel, The Bear, was made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read program. The NEA Big Read provides grants ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 to help bring communities together around the shared activity of reading and discussing the same book.