Barnheart

September 15, 2011

A kind of Under the Tuscan Sun for livestock lovers, this candid and sincere memoir recounts the trials and tribulations of an aspiring farmer who yearns to have land to call her own. Transplanted to New England to take an office job, Woginrich (Made from Scratch) writes of longing to rise before dawn to feed chickens, tend sheep, train dogs, breed rabbits, and work the land. Endowed with seemingly boundless reservoirs of energy and enthusiasm for her agricultural pursuits, Woginrich strives to learn all there is to know about border collies and sheep handling while settling in to a new life in a new place with only her dogs and fiddle to keep her company. Self-sufficiency and determination keep the author's homesteading dreams alive as she gradually becomes part of the community and develops into the farmer she always aspired to be. As Woginrich rationalizes away her vegetarianism by contending that the animals she raises as meat are well treated, we are reminded that farming is not for the squeamish. VERDICT A good read for armchair farmers and aspiring and established homesteaders.--Donna L. Davey, New York Univ. Lib.

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