In this interview from the 1980s, four of Aldo and Estella Leopold’s children – Luna, Nina, Carl, and Estella Jr. – reminisce on their first impressions of the Shack.
Estella Jr.: I can remember that it was kind of scary that we were driving into the Shack and it was quite cold, as I remember. Was it snowy? It was, it was cold or…
Luna: How many people were on that trip?
Carl: I wonder.
Luna: I was there.
Carl: I was there.
Estella: Oh, it was the first trip.
Nina: I think we were all there.
Estella: We started to come in and I can remember the impression we had was this little barn-like shack with manure up to about here and Mother saying “Aldo, are you sure you want to bring the children up here?”
Nina: Do you remember that?
Estella: Yes.
Nina: I don’t.
Estella: Anyhow, that was quite an impression.
Luna: But you do remember what Mother said, though. She said, “You boys are just crazy. You just, you can’t-”
Nina: I don’t remember that.
Luna: Don’t you? And then Dad said, “Well, if we take the manure out, we put it up in the garden, you’re going to love it because the garden is going to grow nicely with the manure.”
Carl: My impression was that, that I was really impressed with the fact you couldn’t shovel it out because it was all frozen.
Luna: Oh yeah it was all frozen.
Carl: We had to use a pickax.
Estella: Oh yes.
Carl: Pickax the manure out.
The Aldo Leopold Foundation was founded in 1982 with a mission to foster the land ethic through the legacy of Aldo Leopold, awakening an ecological conscience in people throughout the world.
