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The Fruits of Good Contrivance Farm

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To live life as a writer—as an artist of any kind, really—one must have thick skin. This is a lesson I learn repeatedly. In the past twelve months, my poems have been rejected nearly 50 times. Some weeks, I receive multiple rejections each day, my inbox becoming a bully who tells me I’m not good enough. Occasionally, an editor will tell me how close I came, asking to see more from me in the future. Even more occasionally, an editor will tell me Yes.

Artists must not only endure rejection, but also must find motivation to create despite how little value, financial and social, our culture places on artistic endeavors. Plus, most of us have to contend with that internal voice telling us how much easier life would be if we just stopped trying. And yet, we persevere. I persevere because I can’t imagine a version of my life in which I do not write.

The act itself brings me pleasure, but that is not the only reason I persist; I also want the connection with others, the sense of being a part of a community that values creativity and seeks a deeper understanding of what it means to be human. Thus, I have continued in my efforts, my youthful dreams of being a literary star having morphed into more modest hopes of simply writing the best poems I can and being a supportive and engaged member of the literary scene. So, when Ron Tanner asked me to join the board of Good Contrivance, I said yes.

Good Contrivance Farm—in Reisterstown, Maryland—originated in 1860 and belonged to the same family for five generations until Ron Tanner and Jill Eicher took over in 2015. They purchased six of the remaining 106 acres, the ones with the buildings on them, and began the massive project of transforming the property into a writing retreat. Both former educators, the pair loved the idea of an educational non-profit and ultimately decided to make it a space dedicated to writers because of Tanner’s literary background and his own experiences at other retreats over the years.

Ron Tanner, photo by Dale Wright

Writing retreats can range from very bare bones (I recently attended one in which I stayed in what was essentially a shack without electricity or plumbing) to luxurious. I have attended retreats housed in dorms, a converted church, and suburban homes.

Friends have reported back about stays in French castles overlooking the sea and well-appointed single bedrooms in Victorian houses with gourmet meals provided. Whether they are spare or lavish, all retreats have the shared goal of providing writers with the time and space to focus on their work.

When they first bought it, Good Contrivance was “an old, decrepit place with two big barns and many out-buildings,” but Tanner was undaunted; he was no stranger to massive rehabs, though country living was uncharted territory. “I never expected to own a farm,” Tanner says.

Indeed, when I first met Tanner and Eicher in the early 2000s, they were bonafide city-dwellers living in the heart of Charles Village. They hosted holiday parties each December which allowed guests to admire the rowhouse they “had spent 15 years rehabbing, transforming it from a ruined, former frat house to a glorious Victorian showplace.”

I wandered from room to room, amazed by the wainscotting and gleaming parquet floors, the period furniture and fastidious attention to detail in everything from the cabinet handles to light switches to stained glass transoms. When I heard that Tanner and Eicher were selling the place and moving to a farm, I was surprised. How could they leave behind this masterpiece?

Tanner says he was ready for a new project and as soon as he saw the farm, he had to have it. “We bought Good Contrivance ‘as is,’” he explains. “The place hadn’t been improved since 1959, with one exception: there was an apartment in the big barn. We lived there for the first year while I made the farmhouse livable. Everything needed to be replaced, including the floor on the second level.”

Since that first year, Tanner has done significant work on all the structures as well as on the land itself. The apartment in the big barn is now a multi-level space that can accommodate two writers, plus the hen house has been transformed into a writer’s cottage for a solo stay.

These writing residencies, which began in 2019, are open to anyone who identifies as a writer for a minimum of two nights and up to a month. In addition to the residencies, there is a visiting writer series that includes workshops in the quaint schoolhouse and a craft talk in the barn. Plus, the original farmhouse, where Tanner and Eicher live, is completely renovated and returned to its original splendor.

Ron Tanner, photo by Dale Wright
The lightness you feel as you turn into the driveway of the property seems more a kind of magic than the simple arrival at a destination.
Elizabeth Hazen

To get to Good Contrivance Farm from Baltimore City, you just take 795 west. It takes around 30 minutes, depending on traffic and where exactly you are coming from, but the distance covered in that time seems greater than the miles; the lightness you feel as you turn into the driveway of the property seems more a kind of magic than the simple arrival at a destination plugged into GPS. The place is lush and vast. After parking, you see the gorgeously renovated buildings all around. Tanner and Eicher’s basset hounds may greet you, and the barn cats may eye you from a shady spot in the garden.

While the residencies are open to all writers regardless of publication history, Good Contrivance also hosts visiting authors four times a year between May and October. This programming began in 2021, with Baltimore favorite, Marion Winik, as one of the first visiting authors. These writers, selected by the board of directors, have established themselves as experts in their fields and have impressive publishing and teaching chops. These lucky few spend over a week on the property, most of which is time allotted for their own projects.

The first Saturday of their stays, authors offer a day-long workshop in the schoolhouse for a reasonable fee of $200 (including lunch). These workshops are open to the public, though space is limited as participants spend an intimate day with the visiting author. The following Saturday, the author gives a free craft talk, which is also open to the public. The talk is followed by a complimentary buffet dinner.

In early June, I attended Paul Lipsicky’s talk, and the whole atmosphere that evening was one of goodwill and creativity. I saw many friends and acquaintances there, as well as new faces. Everyone was friendly and open, and I was reminded of the camaraderie I used to feel waiting in line at concerts.

After the talk, I chatted with a young couple—both writers who work in publishing—while I enjoyed Tanner’s famous smoked salmon, and despite my social anxiety, this interaction was so positive and easy, I found myself excited for the next event at the farm.

Mauricio Kilwein Guevara will be the next featured author, with a workshop on July 20 and a craft talk on July 27. Lia Purpura and Gwen Florio are also on the calendar for 2024, and all of us affiliated with Good Contrivance hope to garner a good crowd to hear from these terrific writers.

We’re delighted to offer a haven for any and all writers in the Baltimore-Washington region and are gratified that we're also drawing writers from across the country and even from Europe and Canada.
Ron Tanner

Though the management of a nonprofit requires less physical labor than the renovation of the property, it is no less of an undertaking. Funding, of course, is one of the main challenges. Right now, Good Contrivance supports itself through the rental fees associated with the retreat and schoolhouse, but costs are high. While we have not yet applied for grants, seeking funding is on the board’s agenda, and moving forward we will be figuring out how to sustain and grow this remarkable organization.

Another challenge is simply building an audience. Running a literary nonprofit is filled with challenges and requires the same stick-to-itiveness that I have observed in purveyors of small presses and indie bookshops. Such an undertaking is done out of love and a commitment to the arts and artists. For me, it is a way to fight against that voice in my head telling me to quit.

As Tanner says, “We’re delighted to offer a haven for any and all writers in the Baltimore-Washington region and are gratified that we’re also drawing writers from across the country and even from Europe and Canada. That, for me, is a dream come true.”

Register for Mauricio Kilwein Guevara’s July 20 fiction workshop (including lunch) at Good Contrivance Farm HERE.

Photos courtesy of Ron Tanner.

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