Essex resident and author Karin Gertsch has published her first children's book, called Flora has an Adventure. It's not about Essex, and yet it is.
The woman sitting across the table from me is every grandchild’s dream. Her kind face and snow-white hair, her capable hands wrapped snugly around her handmade pottery mug exude warmth and comfort. She lives on a Christmas tree farm with her darling husband. They have barns and tractors. She has a magical garden with flowering trees and a beautiful coop with thirteen chickens. And while we did not discuss it, I am going to venture a guess that she bakes. So naturally, she has written a lovely children’s book. But we need to stop here for a moment. Because while Karin Gertsch is definitely stellar grandmother material, not for a moment do I believe that the woman sitting in front of me is that linear. One has to look only a bit farther to see clues of a person with a multitude of talents — and stories.
Karin Gertsch came to the United States from Germany with her grandmother at the age of six and a half. Even though her hometown of Cologne was destroyed by the war, she did not want to leave. Her father was in the Army and as a result she would move thirteen times over the next eight years. The first time she was able to stay put began in the ninth grade at Manchester High School when her family purchased a home on School Street. After graduation, she attended The Chandler School for Women in Boston to learn secretarial skills. One day on the train in Manchester she met her husband, Emil. Two years later they were married. Karin joined Emil on his family’s property in Essex. Here they settled down and planted one thousand Christmas trees. They lost most of them. The next year they planted one thousand more. They learned. Today they are still married, and they are still growing Christmas trees.
Somewhere along the way, between the Christmas trees and the kids (two: Peter and Elizabeth) Karin began having thoughts about pursuing her college degree. And so at the age of forty, Karin applied to and was accepted at Harvard. Six years later she graduated cum laude with honors — and delivered the commencement speech. Prior to graduation she woke in the middle of the night and wrote the speech in its entirety. The next day she showed it to her husband who encouraged her to send it in. When the news came that her speech had been selected, she said she simply could not believe it. Various careers followed, always in service to others: immigrants, people in need, adult education, people struggling with addiction. All the while Karin was writing: a memoir, short stories, a novella and a novel. In 1997 she published a truly unique and highly informative guide book for residents and visitors entitled “Cape Ann and Vicinity.” Writing the book, she explains, finally gave her a sense of place; a feeling she never knew growing up in constant flux, unable to put down roots. She travels to Santa Fe, New Mexico for weeks at a time to work on her writing. The beautiful Native American jewelry she wears seem to me tiny touchstones from these creative retreats.
In 2010 Karin retired. Her son had a chicken coop built, and she and Emil purchased eight chickens. With quite a lot of free time on her hands, Karin gardened and watched the chickens. She took note of their distinct personalities, their diversity (each was a different breed) and the steady stream of visitors who came and went from the coop and garden — rabbits, turtles, foxes and the occasional rat. This new community inspired her to begin writing a children’s book. “Flora Has an Adventure” is the first children’s book by Karin Gertsch. The story, set in Essex, opens with a call from April the children’s librarian (our own April Wanner), who asks if Marge of Featherfield Farm would be willing to bring in one of her chickens for a reading of “The Little Red Hen.” What follows is a delightful story of Flora’s adventure to and from the library. Flora is curious and brave. The book easily weaves in positive messages about diversity and acceptance. Karin already has more books in the works, introducing us to more of the visitors to her farm and their fascinating goings-on.
In the meantime, the Christmas trees continue to grow, and the lucky recipient of that awesome grandmother is Paul, Karin’s eighteen-month-old grandson, who lives with Karin’s son and daughter-in-law on the same property. Paul bumbles and weaves his way down the hill, through the garden, past the adventuresome chickens, to Karin’s back door to visit. How happy he will be to hear of Flora and her adventure and the many adventures yet to come.
