-Hi, I'm -Eric Ford for made here -Andrew Baker's film -Shepard in Winter profiles -Middlebury, Vermont.

-Shepard.

Don Mitchell.

-After losing the use -of his shoulder, -he turns to written -autobiography, -reexamining the choices -he and his wife -Sheryl made -as much younger people -that shaped them -into the couple -they become in -their mid-seventies.

-Andrew's film -is a follow up to his 2016 -film with the Mitchell's -called Lambing Season.

-You can watch Shepherd -in Winter -and other great made here -films -streaming on our website -and through the PBS app.

-Enjoy the film -and thanks for watching.

-We first began doing this -in San Francisco -in the summer of 1967.

-They've been times -since then -when we had lots of money -and talents and we didn't, -that we would never change -our coffee system -for lack of -being able to afford it.

-I've been a shepherd -for 46 years.

-I haven't left the house -in the last six weeks.

-My life has gone -back to sedentary things.

-So, all around this office -and downstairs too, are -draft -manuscript of this book.

-That's -not going to be more than -240 pages long, but there's -thousands of pages you.

-You spend the morning -putting in a comma.

-Spend the afternoon -taking it out.

-Make sure it was -pretty well trashed -over many years of work.

-The cartilage -between the ball -and socket of their joint -came to disappear.

-And it was bone on bone -for all of this.

-And all the prostheses -was found to have supported -an infection.

-Thank you.

-You're not going to be -an exercise in sexism.

-My breakfast -its because of your arm.

-You can show off your picket -line, and it will be fun.

-And I can show off my picket -line.

-I made that decision -early on.

-There are maybe -15 places in the fields -where Bedrock Ledge emerges -from the ground.

-When I was in the hospital, -certainly -contemplating the prospect -of not being alive, -I realize -I never really showed my son -and my son in law -where those rocks are.

-And I thought, man, -if I die and they take over -and they're mowing the field -and they're out, -you know, cruising -along on the tractor -and they hit a rock -they didn't know was there -because there.

Why didn't -he tell me about that?

-So I had -shelled -being the map of the farm.

-And I took a Sharpie.

-It's a -it's an image of a thought -process that we were both -going through.

-But he in particular -was going through.

-I can do some things, -but I certainly wouldn't -be able to pick up a bale of -hay and break it open.

-I think the end of my -shepherding days are -are within sight.

-You know, it is.

-Thursday, January 27th, -ten below.

-Part of our routine is -we sit down -with the pad of paper -and make a list -of the things -that we're going to attempt -to do that day.

-More tech stuff.

-And I think maybe as you get -older, you just get -more and more -anal and obsessed with -things like making lists -and crossing things off.

-But, but it's one of -the ways in which two people -married for a long time -kind of become -a single organism.

-But now can.

-Cases as needed.

-In 1972, -my wife and I visited -Vermont for a weekend.

-We had come, both of us -from thoroughly suburban -and hopelessly -middle class backgrounds.

-We had spent several years -dabbling in the politics -and lifestyles -and recreational intoxicants -of the late 60s, -with scarcely any thought -for the consequences, -beloved, -what amounted to a time bomb -into what had become -our two normal, -two predictable futures.

-We bought 130 -acres of Vermont.

-I've always appreciated that -raising sheep -gets me outdoors.

-And something that seems -to make practical sense.

-Making hay.

-So they had something to eat -during the winter.

-Taking care -of the fencing system.

-Now we've been an assembly.

-Open these interior windows -in the house for one.

-It takes a certain visual -appraisal.

-If someone if a sheep said -someone -if if a sheep is not doing -well.

-He has a calculation -about whether it's something -that you can help them -with or not.

-It takes a certain eye.

-Getting the lambs out of -a year -or she's having a hard time.

-Can be a two person -activity.

-Often me -holding and Cheryl pulling.

-And not going to be doing -that anymore.

-I don't think.

-So.

I'm writing a book -length narrative -about some events that -happen to myself and Cheryl.

-In 1967.

-Having come of age -during that particular -cultural moment, -Woodstock, -sending a man to the moon, -birth control -pills, psychedelic drugs -all of these things happened -in the same 2 or 3 years.

-Who is not?

-Entertain the fantasy, -the spurning modern life -for a pastoral ideal -in the ethos of that era.

-Fantasy is required -enactment.

-This house in the woods -was only four feet high.

-It was underground.

-So it was designed -for horizontal activity.

-If I can produce -between 800 and 1000 words, -then I feel like -I've done it for the day.

-If you do that for 100 days, -you've got 80,000 words.

-And that's the book.

-The problem is, -I like anybody else, -you tend to get stuck.

-Well, what do we have here?

-Miscellaneous -work from the 1970s and 80.

-Projects -that didn't pan out.

-Drafts that left me -with 2000 pages in it.

-I guess -the ones that panned out -are up on the bookshelf.

-Im batting -Maybe .500?

-I recall telling Cheryl -I felt bad.

-We hadn't -beat the cast of Thoreau's -famous cabin at Walden Pond.

-He had brought his building -project in for $28, -12 and one half cents, -as carefully detailed in -the first chapter of Walden.

-The man had been -a frugal builder, -and we hoped to emulate -his ways like him.

-We sought to strip existence -down to bare essentials.

-A lot of writing -is just problem solving, -in the same way as toiling -to have an taking care -of a flock of sheep.

-The book I'm writing -consists of in the chapters.

-One chapter takes place -in the fall of 1967, -and then the next chapter -takes -place the previous spring.

-There's places in this book -where I have a really hard -time finding an appropriate -transition -between one and the other.

-And when I was recovering -from this last surgery, -I read a book which faced -the same structure, -but the author didn't -pay close attention at all -to making those transitions -in the book.

-Turned out fine.

-Maybe I'm worrying -about something that -if I were just more bold, -wouldn't even be a problem.

-Because I am -the storyteller.

-I'm in charge here.

-And.

I've accompanied -many people -through these last years.

-My aunt -and my mom and my dad.

-Two of my very close -friends.

-Either -people will get better -or they won't.

-There's a certain sweetness -to just being there.

-Once they either die -or get better, -you realize it wasn't -really in my hands anyway.

-It's very different when -it's your life partner.

-The date was October -fifth, 1967, just a few days -before my 20th birthday.

-The vendor was a lumber yard -in Chester, Pennsylvania, -and the tab came to $31.40.

-That, at the time, was not -the trifling sum of money, -and they would have paid -in cash, because at the time -I had no checking account, -let alone a credit card, -even if I could have -written a check.

-No sane businessman -would have accepted it.

-I looked -far too scruffy, too -rebellious and disreputable.

-But I had a plan in mind -that struck me as a bold -step in upward mobility -with my petite -girlfriend, Cheryl.

-I was going to build a house -in the college arboretum.

-Then we'd have a place -that we could -spend our nights together.

-Our attraction to the woods -was based on their offering.

-The place to hide a covert -like a rabbit.

-A deer might find.

-Did this make us genuine -radicals like Henry David?

-Probably not.

-Although it seemed -so at the time.

-That this operation -to take out the thesis, -I was told -I could do almost nothing.

-But spend six weeks.

-So I'm sure there's -a certain amount of -Atrophy of muscles -around the shoulder -that I'll have to -to work on.

-There's no shame in -growing old and recognizing -that your body can't do -what it used to do.

-That means -we were at a place where -we have to decide -what we're doing and why.

-Forest fire in six weeks.

-When I was younger.

-I certainly hoped that -my writing would out last me.

-From the -hindsight of 74 years.

-I think I understand that -I'm not Shakespeare.

-When I'm honest -with myself, candid, -like 99.9% of writers, -my work is not going to have -a lasting influence.

-And I'm cool with that.

-I've done some good work.

-It's kind of a great sandbox -in which had been -allowed to play.

-If I didn't -have to cash it in.

-I feel that -are essentially gratitude.

-One, two.

-I gotta find one more.

-Yes.

Heres number 13.

-And here's a lamb -and here is another lamb.

-I have.

-This girl.

-This is the boy.

-Make sure she's got milk.

-Okay.

-I can't do that.

-Stupid to undo this.

-I can undo it.

-One second.

-Good.

-Yes.

Yeah.

-It's a lot.

-No placenta yet?

-Vermont public, -partnering -with local filmmakers -to bring you -stories made here.

-For more, -visit vermontpublic.org