Hit by a Farm
Shannon
is too busy to regale you with tales of cute
bunnies this
week, so I'm filling the gap with a review of one of the many books I
read while the
power was out.
Hit
by a Farm,
by Catherine Friend, feels more genuine than other farm memoirs I've
read recently, although it's not quite so gripping as some since it's
written like a series of short stories.
Catherine and her partner decide to buy a farm and 100 ewe lambs, while
starting a one-acre vineyard, pasturing chickens, and embarking on
several other
adventures. In the process, their
relationship suffers from farm-related stress and the duo nearly splits
up.
Sheep were an integral
part of the book, and I definitely felt like I
experienced shepherding in all of its glory (and pain). I was
intrigued to learn that guard llamas actually pulled their weight on
Catherine's farm --- I've always considered llamas to be one of the
pyramid-scheme
livestock. (You know, a few breeders make big bucks selling
breeding stock to others, then eventually the market crashes and the
llamas are worthless.) Equally interesting was learning how
essential it was to have a milk goat around to feed orphaned lambs.
On the relationship
front, I think Hit
by a Farm covers
a topic that most homesteaders try to ignore (at their peril). As
Back from
the Land
details, more failed farms seem to stem from broken relationships than
from anything else, so I was heartened to read about one very
established couple who eventually figured out how to stay in love
despite the farm. I don't want to ruin the ending, so I'll let
you read for yourself how Catherine and her partner made farming work
for them.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Hi Anna,
Relationships. Certainly an important topic and one most folks never talk about.
We got married in 1966. Eventually I learned to talk and listen. And now our relationship is better than it's even been. Amazing :). Who would have guessed!
I remember bringing some book to a counselor. He looked at it and pulled a book off his shelf. "This is the one that in my experience works." It was Harville Hendrix "Getting the love you want."
I have since recommended it to many couples. When they both read it, it works.
Keep up your great work :).
John