About the author: David Walbert

I am a writer, web designer, amateur farmer, and historian living in North Carolina. As "halfway homesteaders," we garden intensively and raise ducks in our suburban yard. I am also the President of the Triangle Chapter of the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association.

I have a Ph.D. in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My first book, Garden Spot: Lancaster County, the Old Order Amish, and the Selling of Rural America, was published by Oxford University Press in May 2002. I am working, slowly, on a book tentatively titled Tomorrow's Harvest, in which I explore the links between sustainable agriculture and sustainable community in the Piedmont of North Carolina. More realistically, I am also working on a book entitled The Halfway Homestead which will probably look a lot like this website, only on paper.

I do not presently hold, nor am I pursuing, a teaching position at a college or university, in part because I believe that one must live in the world rather than remaining apart as a mere observer. I make most of my living as the Editorial Director for LEARN NC, a K-12 teacher outreach program of the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill School of Education. I am also the founder, editor, and designer of Digital Blossom Communications, which specializes in Web and print design for agriculture, small business, and nonprofit organizations.