Merging is a book about relationships and the way our perspective shifts as we become attuned to the workings of the natural world, merging with our surroundings and the creatures we share them with. Working in the tradition of Henry David Thoreau and Aldo Leopold, Soren Bondrup-Nielsen catalogues the rich biodiversity of his own backyard, exploring the fields, dyke roads and woodland trails that surround his home in the agricultural heartland of Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. Framed as a single day’s horseback ride which begins on a spring morning and ends in the dusk of autumn, the narrative engages subjects such as the relative merits of large-scale and small-scale farming and forestry practices, the challenge of fostering sustainable economies in rural communities and the impact our consumer choices have on the natural and economic health of the places we live.

Soren Bondrup-Nielsen was a professor of biology at Acadia University where he taught ecology and conservation biology. He is also the author of three previous books, Winter On Diamond, A Sound Like Water Dripping: In Search of the Boreal Owl and Merging: Contemplations on Farming & Ecology from Horseback. He lives near Canning, Nova Scotia.

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