In 72 short essays, Quiet People in a Noisy World chronicles our family's adventures in rural living as caretakers of a hay and cattle ranch in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon, then as caretakers of the water inlets and the watershed for the city of Bend, Oregon, then as caretakers of a Girl Scout ranch in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. We observed wildlife in natural habitat and gardened in adverse climates. We lived part of the time without electricity or plumbing, saw the changes of seasons in mountain forests and meadows, and strove toward values higher than merely material values. It was a fulfilling and enjoyable existence for all four of us, Laura and Jon, and our daughters, Juniper and Amanda. Quiet People in a Noisy World shows that there still is rewarding existence outside of cities and outside the madly material consumer culture. Fifty-four of the seventy-two essays included in Quiet People in a Noisy World have been published in Back Home, The Christian Science Monitor, The Denver Post, The Doula, Home Educator's Family Times, Men's Fitness, Northwest, Summit, and The Sun, a magazine of ideas.