Songs from Fern’s Pond
Composing a Life with Courage, Gratitude, and Joy
by Sheryl Pothier Harmer
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Pub Date Apr 22 2025 | Archive Date Apr 21 2025
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Description
Reminiscent of Mary Oliver’s A Thousand Mornings and Amanda Thomson’s Belonging, this evocative blend of poetry, prose, and personal letters unfurls a story of an untamed, beautiful place—and one woman’s choice to spend the last chapter of her life making it her home.
At age sixty-two, Fern started a new life.
Recently widowed, she found a piece of neglected acreage above the Snake River on which to build a home, forge a community—and find renewed purpose. On the land around Fern’s Pond, she nurtured a vineyard, an abundant garden, and a small farm of sheep, a cow, and chickens. She befriended wild ducks and harvested trout in her waters, and she used the materials that grew around the pond and springs to weave baskets—unique works of art that captured the elegance of the natural world.
Songs from Fern’s Pond is a collage of poetry, letters, and prose that captures the universal resilience of the human spirit through the humor and courage of a woman who fearlessly pursued the life she dreamed of. A duet of text between mother and daughter, it’s a transcendent vision of the rough, wild, and beautiful landscape of the heart—and a reminder that every chapter is worth living to its fullest.
A Note From the Publisher
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sheryl Pothier Harmer grew up in southern Idaho, the proud great-granddaughter of pioneers in the Sun Valley / Ketchum area. She holds a doctorate in education with a focus on social and emotional learning (SEL). Her career in education ranged from the classroom to the principal’s office, culminating in the award of National Distinguished Principal from Washington State in 1998. She went on to serve as director of program development for a non-profit, creating internationally recognized SEL curriculums for schools; worked as an educational consultant; and was a cofounder of the edtech Aperture Education. Sheryl now lives and writes in Seattle, surrounded by her family and nature.
Advance Praise
“A stirring poetic tribute . . . Quick bursts of natural descriptions result in powerful moments . . . evok[ing] the careful attentiveness of famed ecologists, with nature made to mingle with human dramas throughout. Blending elements of memorialization with nature writing, Songs from Fern’s Pond is a poetry collection that explores loss, family, and the power of human will.” —Foreword Clarion Reviews
“A beautifully impressionistic weaving of anecdotes, poetry, and personal letters, and an ode to the seasons of a year, of a life, and of a lineage. Harmer has created, in her mother, Fern, a richly unforgettable protagonist and matriarch. As the weaving continues, much like with her own baskets, the warp and weft of Fern’s life becomes ever more discernible. And readers will find, in the end, that it is in the interspersal of the rough and the smooth, the ordinary and the bold, that makes the finished product one of such unique and memorable beauty. If what they say is true—that life is a work of art and we must all endeavor to remain its artist—we could do worse than follow in the path of Fern, who met the rough and the smooth with good cheer and never ceased living her life with generosity and intention.” —Alexandra A. Chan, author of In the Garden Behind the Moon
“How privileged we are to see a life through another’s eyes . . . a life we would have never known, never crossed paths with if not for Sheryl Pothier Harmer’s Songs from Fern’s Pond. In this collection, Harmer intersperses poems depicting the life of Fern—a hard-working woman full of love and grit—with actual letters the author and family received from Fern throughout her life. Some are very slice-of-life, and some will make you chuckle, but they all tell a story. Harmer illustrates beautifully through these poems and letters how the seasons of our life change, how the world as we know it is here for a time then gone, how it takes every single moment to truly live a life. Songs from Fern’s Pond so eloquently takes us out of our own lives and puts us into hers. It’s sure to leave a legacy on the hearts of readers for years to come, which, I feel confident, is how Fern would have intended.” —Amber Showalter, poet and author of Death Will Be Our Curfew
“Songs from Fern’s Pond contains the essence of not just surviving, but thriving. Herein lie the keys to adaptation, positivity, and joy that readers can easily learn from. A memoir, an artist’s journey, a celebration of nature, a learning opportunity that supports ongoing life education, or an uplifting story of adaptation and joy . . . highly recommended.” —Midwest Book Review
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Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781959411154 |
| PRICE | $17.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 166 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 1672955
Songs from Fern’s Pond captures the beauty of nature and simplistic living. Through a heartfelt collection of poetry, letters, and prose you experience Fern’s journey. The collection explores themes of resilience, family, and embracing new beginnings. Everything about songs from Fern’s Pond was beautiful and had so much emotional depth.
Thank you netgalley and Girl Friday Productions for this arc.
Janet M, Media/Journalist
In the Prologue to Songs from Fern’s Pond, Sheryl Pothier Harmer opens a sensitive and celebratory tribute with the beautiful sentence, ‘Her name was Fern and she was my mother.’ She was a remarkable woman.
Fern was born in 1913 to a family who were like many at the time, just scraping by, she putting herself through nursing school, married and raised four children.
After thirty-three years of happy married life, her husband Oscar passed away, leaving her bereft, but also realising she now had time to begin again for the final chapters of her life.
She sold the family home and bought a piece land where she established the home of her dreams and began a new life in a new community, one where she grew her own vegetables, raised chickens, developed her passion for art and weaving, wrote avidly to family and friends of her life and the many fascinating and challenging things of her daily existence.
Songs from Ferns Pond is a collection of poetry written by Sheryl often in reply to a letter from her mother or simply as a means of expressing the deep love she had for a remarkable and forthright woman; her mother.
As the many stories unfold telling a story of renewal and rebirth, the simple joy in spending time at the edge of the pond with the ducks, the challenge of creating the stained glasswork for a new door and the love of community that developed over the 14 years she lived on the banks of the Snake River
The final chapter of her rich and well lived life is played out in a somewhat prosaic manner in the final letters written to family, followed by the tragedy of a devastating fire, with December finally seeing new life retuning to Fern’s Pond; ducks returning, and the hope that the seeds falling into the almost frozen earth will once again blossom in the Spring weather.
Songs from Fern’s Pond is a most eloquent tribute from a daughter to her beloved mother and is an absolute joy to read.
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