Ben Logan

Ben Logan, the author of the memoir "The Land Remembers," "Christmas Remembered," "The Empty Meadow," and other works.

Ben was born in Seneca in 1920. He grew up on a ridge top farm his mother called "Seldom Seen." He spent most of his life away from Wisconsin, but carried Seldom Seen and the people who were part of it with him wherever he was. In his writing, Ben brought the stories and feel of a place he loved to many thousands of readers. It was his hope that readers could carry this feeling beyond one small corner of Wisconsin, to build a broader appreciation and care for the land and its people.

During the Second World War, Ben served in the Navy on landing craft in the Mediterranean. From his writings about the war - he hardly ever talked about it - it was clear that his deep relationship with the land and community were what got him through the grotesque horror of war, what kept him whole, what brought him home. Along with his writings about Wisconsin, Ben's career included editing "Ford Farming Magazine," writing and production for radio, film and television and the development of programs to address the impact of television on children. He gave lectures and workshops, working with literary peers such as Robert Bly and Jerzy Kosinski.

Ben's writing about the land had a touch of romance - but it was never sentimental. He had the hard, honest insight of someone who grew up knowing how a falling tree limb could kill a person, how the wind bit on a long winter day of working outside. There is a small valley - Ben called it Lost Valley - running southeast from the farm house at Seldom Seen. Ben often told the story of a time when he was wandering there as a boy, hearing the distant cry of a wolf, finally seeing it loping across the valley, paying him no attention - raw, solitary, majestic nature.