Flying Blind: One Man's Adventures Battling Buckthorn, Making Peace with Authority, and Creating a Home for Endangered Bats

by Don Mitchell

When Middlebury writing professor Don Mitchell was approached by a biologist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department about tracking endangered Indiana bats on his 150-acre farm in Vermont's picturesque Champlain Valley, Mitchell's relationship with bats—and with government—could be characterized as distrustful, at best.

But the flying rats, as Mitchell initially thinks of them, launched him on a series of "improvements" to his land that would provide a more welcoming habitat for the bats—and a modest tax break for himself and his family. Whether persuading his neighbors to join him on a "silent meditation," pulling invasive garlic mustard out of the ground by hand, navigating the tacit ground rules of buying an ATV off Craigslist, or leaving just enough honeysuckle to give government inspectors "something to find," Mitchell’s tale is as profound as it is funny—a journey that changes Mitchell’s relationship with Chiroptera, the land, and, ultimately, his understanding of his own past.

Ruminating on the nature of authority, the purview of the state, and the value of inhabiting one’s niche—Mitchell reveals much about our inner and outer landscape, in this perfectly paced and skilled story of place.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Animals, Memoir, Environment, Science

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2013

Reviews

[Olive Fellows (abookolive) · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Finished in the wee hours of this morning because early morning insomnia is a thing and it sucks.)

Flying Blind is a cheeky, yet deeply introspective memoir of a man's experience making a financially advantageous agreement with the government to prepare the woods on his large farm to become a habitat for endangered bats. It's a memoir that meanders as the author uses the ample time and mental space he had while clearing out invasive weeds to think back on his complex relationship with his father and how that came to affect his grander feelings about authority figures.

I suspected I would enjoy this book, but I didn't expect to fall in love with it as much as I did! Mitchell's voice is clear and strong. I felt so much peace reading about his systematic weed destruction and the deep thoughts he had while he tended to his property.

Click here to hear more of my thoughts on this book over on my Booktube channel, abookolive.

[John Blochberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would recommend this to Vermonters or people who are interested in managing land and fighting invasives!

[Bookslut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cozy, delightful, interesting, inspiring. I started to question my life choices in all the best/worst ways--why am I wasting my life in the suburbs when I could be developing my farm into a bat habitat?? He occasionally got a little crabby-old-man-esque in the latter half, but thinking about this book still makes my heart sing, so I'll forgive it that.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little surprised when I started reading this. Mitchell is the same age as my true love. They both hold philosophy degrees. Both lived/worked/went to school in Boston at the same time. There's this anti-authority bias. I kept flipping to the author photo to make sure. As I continued to read, however, their stories diverged.

Mitchell explores both his woods and his psyche in this. One doesn't learn much about bats, but it's okay. Mitchell is plenty interesting, as are the government programs he's tapping into. I admire the way he describes weeding, and reading about his chainsaw skills made me think that is a tool I should master.

If you like reading about old hippie guys who have deeply ingrained biases against authority and who have a tendency to philosophize at length no matter what the putative subject, this book is right up your alley. As it was mine.

[Curt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting but more about the bats and less new age introspection would have been better.

[Meredith Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a hard-to-categorize book: memoir, self-exploration, forestry, the natural history of bats and their recent population collapse because of white nose syndrome. Mitchell, having recently retired from college teaching, decides to make a project of maintaining the woods on his Vermont farm to make them attractive as a bat habitat. This is something he wants to do, but there is also federal money available for doing it.

Mitchell writes well of learning how to do things. He begins to learn sustainable logging and the fascinating and complex halls of bureaucracy that don't always seem to have quite the same aims: forestry, animal preservation, agriculture.

He and his wife bought their Vermont acreage in the early nineteen-seventies. They became back-to-the-landers with the help of a big pay check from Hollywood after Mitchell's autobiographical novel Thumb Tripping was made into a movie. Over the years, the couple had two children and settled into careers as a social worker (her) and teaching creative writing (him). They always did some farming: notably sheep for wool and a yearly lamb harvest and some haying. Now Mitchell wants to learn to manage his woods. He painstakingly and laboriously (sometimes by hand) clears away invasive plants, especially near the trees known to make good bat habitats.

What is special about this book is that as he does the mind--numbing weeding and firewood sawing, his mind slips on its own into paths, leading to his relationship with authority and his father, and his father's history.

This double track manages to balance a vigorous present full of learning and physical labor with exploration of the path and the structure of a family.

[Sunny Branson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it and am happy I read it. It was interesting to learn about how many different government agencies are involved in ecology.

His meditations on life were interesting and quite amusing, but I have to say, I found him disingenuous. It’s not till the last few pages that he says he, “was now in love with bats.” For being in love with bats, there was quite a scarcity about them.

He wasn’t genuine as a professor, because he hated that he had to teach to “make ends meet.” He wasn’t even a good hippie because he “sold out” to work with the government. It seemed he was always scheming, trying to get away with something, which is the only reason he worked with the government in the first place (hmmm, how can I make money off of them?). The worst, though, was having his wife organize a silent retreat as a scam to get his invasive mustard weed pulled.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, though a bit too meandering to recommend highly. As a reader you have to be willing to follow Mitchell on his journey and trust that things will make sense after a while.

I especially appreciated the author's internal monologue, trying to make sense of the contradiction between responsible stewardship of the land and killing some trees to make a better habitat for other trees.

[J Mint · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flying Blind is a fantastic book that gives the reader an open view into the author's mind as he learns about himself, his family, society, and bats! I didn't expect it to be as honest and open as it was and I truly felt as if I was best friends with the author after reading. I highly suggest reading the author's note first as it gives great insight into this author's writing style.

[Gay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book very much.

[Ellen Partridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pay attention to the trees and vegetation--beneficial and invasive--on your property.

[Allan Doe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. A lot.

[Jessalyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting subject and well written. The story isn’t so much about bats as it is about the author’s journey working with various government agencies to make his land a “bat zone”. There’s also heavy focus on his internal struggles with authority and his relationship with his father.

[Ron · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meandering. Unfocused. Self-indulgent. A book desperately in need of an editor.

[Carolyn Hesler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don Mitchell and his wife Cheryl hold a special place in my heart, although I’m sure they don’t know it. They were both teachers at my alternative high school in the 70’s, although after reading this I might have imagined the whole experience, because it’s not mentioned in his book.
In my opinion this book is very well written. I’ve read two of Don’s previous books and he gets better with age.
I actually came across this book when trying to figure out a bat problem, although if you are looking for solutions to a bat problem, you will not find it in this book. It’s more of a retrospection on Don’s life. You will actually learn more about weeding a specific plant than you will about bats.
My husband is a super picky reader and he stuck with it, even though he had a problem with some very personal content.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flying Blind is an engaging tale about a highly specific place and a highly specific situation. Mitchell's descriptions of the woods and the people of Vermont made me feel like I was back in Addison County again, and while I've never had to turn multiple acres of wooded land into a government-approved endangered bat habitat, the way that he shared his wider reflections and insights about his family and personality made the book feel more relatable and less like a how-to manual. Ultimately, it read like a literary walk in the woods with a friend: pauses to point out the lay of the land, a few idiosyncratic rambles, and some good storytelling. An enjoyable read.

[Holly Keimig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected. It was written in a very stream of consciousness like style and was more about the author's life than bats. The bats were woven into each chapter, however and create the overarching storyline of the book somehow tying everything together in the end. The stories told seem to be ones that the author needed to tell and range from stories about growing up, how to run a chainsaw, abuse, nature and man, and dealing with various government agencies. It is worth a read.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this memoir, which details the author's experiences in dealing with authority, starting with his stern father and going on to the government as well as his adventures, if you can call it that, in creating a home for endangered bats. Being of the same generation, I could really relate to some of his realities, but I think there is a lot there for people of different generations to connect with, as well.

[Jodi Ralston · Rating 3 out of 5]

The man can write, and the book's font was great, and the content was interesting enough. But for someone who said he "was now in love with bats," there was a scarcity of them. It was more about what he was getting out of the contract than them. The writing carried it off, but this book could have been spectacular if it were more about the original topic: bats.

[Shiela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I found my eyebrows rising a few times ( to quote Tammy Wynette, “ - for afterall , he’s just a man “), this is very well written, honest, humorous yet serious memoir/ journal of a former hippie living an honest life in 21st century Vermont. Mitchell and his family is a reassuring testament that our generation hasn’t totally *ucked up.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story about a Vermont sheep farmer and his efforts to improve bat habitat on his land. The book also leads the reader through the author's meditations on his life and family relationships. I really enjoyed this book.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deep and highly introspective memoir, as well as an amazing, picturesque and complex story. A dense read, but a good one.

[Becca Gonzalez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learned some stuff to help me understand my parks dept friends lives.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as riveting as I'd hoped. It was interesting, but it meandered away from the title topic a lot. Worth reading if you are interested in bats and restoration.

[Merry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book, but disappointing to me because it isn't all that much about bats. It was fun to get a glimpse into what life would have been like if I had moved to Vermont in the seventies.