Forager

Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult: A Memoir

By: Michelle Dowd

Narrated by: Michelle Dowd

A moving, heartbreaking, and lyrical true story of the author’s escape from an apocalyptic cult—and the survival skills that led to her freedom.

My family prepared me for the end of the world, but I know how to survive on what the earth yields.

As a child, Michelle Dowd grew up on a mountain in the Angeles National Forest. She was born into an ultra-religious cult—or the Field as they called it—started in the 1930s by her grandfather, a mercurial, domineering, and charismatic man who convinced generations of young male followers that he would live 500 years and ascend to the heavens when doomsday came. Comfort and care are sins, Michelle is told. As a result, she was forced to learn the skills necessary to battle hunger, thirst, and cold; she learned to trust animals more than humans; and most importantly, she learned how to survive in the natural world.

At the Field, a young Michelle lives a life of abuse, poverty, and isolation, as she obeys her family’s rigorous religious and patriarchal rules—which are so extreme that Michelle is convinced her mother would sacrifice her, like Abraham and Isaac, if instructed by God. She often wears the same clothes for months at a time; she is often ill and always hungry for both love and food. She is taught not to trust Outsiders, and especially not Quitters, nor her own body and its warnings.

But as Michelle gets older, she realizes she has the strength to break free. Focus on what will sustain, not satiate you, she tells herself. Use everything. Waste nothing. Get to know the intricacies of the land, like the intricacies of your body. And so she does.

Using stories of individual edible plants and their uses to anchor each chapter, Forager is both a searing coming-of-age story and a meditation on the ways in which understanding nature can lead to freedom, even joy.

Excellent

I watched the interview of This brilliant woman on Cults to Consciousness and immediately ordered her book. not only a inside look at a high demand religion and what it does to children but also very educational.

Having read it once, I will have to read it again.

I just finished my first reading. I already know I'm going to need to read it again. The reality of her childhood is reflective of the natural inclinations of humanity. These did not serve her well yet through this she emerged triumphant. Her connection to the wilds of nature are astounding. I value the bravery of the story that she tells. We would be wise to consider how are individual views, and community values negatively impact those we judge to be different.

Beautifully Written Memoir

This was a beautifully written memoir about growing up in an extremist religious cult. Although I am close to the same age as Michelle Dowd and grew up in Los Angeles (even going to the same liberal arts college as she did, but 3 years earlier), I had never heard of this religious group. But I'm quite sure my paths crossed those of The Field, as in college we frequented the Angeles National Forest, Wrightwood, and took part in foraging activities. I imagined this would have been my life had I not been born into a less religious family.

Must-Read for Any Gen Xer Rural Californian

Michelle Dowd's story is not only a poetically- almost lyrically-written autobiography, but it encapsulates what it was like to grow up in 1970s and '80s rural California. Religion aside--or maybe included--the tale of her childhood is something we all can relate to on an experiential level. The strength, resourcefulness, and self-reliance detailed here are simultaneously nostalgic and inspirational. Cheers, Michelle, and thank you!

This book is amazing!

Such a unique story and it was told in a very good way. This story has many elements that are very interesting.