Anti-Civ Alert: Out of the Woods & In Stock: Backwoods Journal!

The first production run of Backwoods: A Journal of Anarchy & Wortcunning has been completed, and the inaugural Spring 2018 issue is now available in the Bacchus Editions bookshop!

When Backwoods first appeared, its lovely editors described it as “a kind of suture in journal form,” an attempt to bring together two worlds that had far more to say to one another than either seemed to realize: anarchism and permaculture. Like many of us, they encountered anarchists whose critiques of civilization rarely extended into the practical question of how to live outside its dependencies, and permaculturists whose extraordinary ecological knowledge remained comfortably entangled with the very arrangements they hoped to escape. Backwoods was born in that gap, with a healthy appetite for argument and an even greater appetite for getting one's hands into the soil.

And what a first issue it is!

Bellamy Fitzpatrick's “An Invitation to Desertion” establishes its philosophical terrain (Rapporte-moi tes mots. Je t’aime.), while Fera Sylvain's “On Subsistence & Slavery” examines the historical destruction of independent subsistence (Tu nous rappelles que vivre est aussi un art de ne pas servir. Magnifique, toi !). Sylvia Wilde takes readers into the practical architecture of forest gardens (Continuez à semer vos révolutions. Je vous embrasse les mains pleines de terre !), Kanzan Kitsune offers a stunning glimpse of ecological life in Japan (Il y a tant de mondes dans une seule forêt. Merci de nous en avoir montré un.), and the late Peter Lamborn Wilson supplies a mischievous and rather cantankerous closing argument in “Against Sustainability.” (Ah, Peter ! Même la durabilité n'a pas survécu à ta plume.)

There is also a rather special archival treasure: Pockets of Happiness, a 2014 conversation with the late permaculture writer Toby Hemenway, conducted by Fitzpatrick and Rydra Wrong for Free Radical Radio (Ça vaut toujours la peine de réécouter Free Radical Radio. Je t’embrasse très fort.). Thankfully, all preserved at the Internet Archive. Have a listen here. Hemenway died in 2016, two years before the journal appeared, and the conversation preserves some of his thinking about agriculture, ecological destruction, and the possibilities of creating small pockets of relative autonomy. (Tes petits coins de bonheur continuent de fleurir, Toby.)

Issue No. 1 is a marvelous collection of provocations, practical knowledge, and invitations to reconsider what a life might actually require. As you know, it was also among the inspirations for my own series, Dancing in the Backwoods, which has news of its own. More on that later. Enfin !

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As Marina mentioned in the subscriber email last night:

“Bringing a much-cherished publication back into circulation carries a particular responsibility for us. There are readers who have kept these journals for years, know their pages intimately, and have been waiting to see them return. We wanted to preserve everything that makes Backwoods what it is. The original writing, illustrations, and editorial contents remain entirely unchanged, save for the addition of Published by Bacchus Editions to the inner cover. (Damn, we love that!) Backwoods has been reproduced with great care, right down to its original character and presentation. There is, however, one material difference worth celebrating: the paper!

The original publishers, Enemy Combatant (Bonjour, je te vois, comme je t’aime.), described their approach as producing anarchist publications:

“With an eye to small-scale, low-tech, and natural materials, as much as it's possible within the bowels of Leviathan.”

We've taken it to heart.

For pressing Backwoods Journal, we've chosen Rolland Enviro / Sustana EnviroOpaque Offset, two paper stocks selected with particular attention to their recycled content and environmental manufacturing practices. Rolland Enviro is manufactured in Québec from 100% post-consumer recycled fibre recovered through North American recycling programs. Its mill has used biogas recovered from decomposing landfill waste since 2004, supplying approximately 93% of its thermal energy requirements, while its papermaking process uses substantially less water than conventional North American mills.

There is no escaping every contradiction of industrial production, something the original editors understood perfectly well. Still, there is great pleasure in making deliberate choices about the materials that pass through our hands, especially when reproducing a journal so deeply concerned with the possibilities of living differently.

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One of our favourite details from the original issue is the editors' encouragement to correspond through la poste. They questioned the growing assumption that all communication must pass through the internet, and happily invited readers to send actual letters. This still applies. You can write to Backwoods by sending your mail to our Bacchus Editions PO box in Astoria or Seattle, and we will forward it to its editors.

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So oui, the first issue is in the shop! Subsequent issues will follow as our presses make their way through them.

Backwoods Journal No. 1, Spring 2018, is available now in the Bacchus Editions bookshop.

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A little note from the print room:

Bringing Backwoods back into circulation is something of a grand experiment for us! We're only just being introduced to its readership, built over years of publication, while many of our own readers are encountering Backwoods for the very first time. We haven't the faintest idea how many of you are out there, or what sort of delightful trouble this meeting of worlds might produce! So, until we get a feel for things, we're producing Backwoods in successive small batches of about 200 as orders arrive. Copies already on hand will ship within our usual fulfillment window, while orders that arrive between print runs will be included in the next cycle. As Marina noted: “We appreciate your patience as we discover just how many of you have been creepin' around in the woods waitin' for this mound of trouble to return :)”

XO Yours,

Fíona