Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Thank you for suggesting this week’s topic,Cathy @ WhatCathyReadNext!
My selection is Shepherd’s Sight: A Farming Life by Barbara McLean. It’s a nonfiction book about a year in the life of the author and her farm as she goes through the typical routines of each month of the year.
I left a five-star review for it on Goodreads back in March, so keep an eye out for it if you click on the link.
This is what I loved about this book:
1) Nothing was sugarcoated. Just like anything else in life, rural living has positive and negative aspects to it. The author included both of them in her book in vivid detail, from the delicious meals her family cooked made from the many different types of food their farm grew to the difficult aspects of choosing this lifestyle like needing to put sick livestock down.
2) The food descriptions. They made me so hungry.
3) How the weather influenced everything the author and her family did. Travelling on rural roads during ice storms is still pretty dangerous, to give one example, so they always had enough food and other supplies to stay home for a week or two if the roads were all iced over or it was otherwise unsafe to go into town.
4) Balancing the needs of nature, humans, and animals was constantly on the author’s mind. She might want to start planting her garden on a specific date, but the weather may or may not actually cooperate that day! The same can be said for lambing season, harvesting the large garden on this farm, and so much more.
5) The author’s memories of how rundown and rustic the farm was in the 1970s when she and her husband moved in. They really made this a nice property!
6) Family reunions. My grandparents’ are farmers, too, so I know how special it is for all of that work to be put aside for the day so the kids and grandkids can visit.
7) Neighbourly behaviour. When you live on a farm or in a rural and isolated area, you never know when you might need the assistance of a neighbour or when they might need your assistance. Building good relationships with those who live nearby can mean the difference between life and death in an emergency.
8) Baby lambs. There are so many adorable stories about them in this book.
9) Losing skills. Whether it’s due to disability, chronic illness, or as a part of growing older, nearly everyone will eventually realize that they are no longer capable of things they could easily do in the past. The author was in her 70s or 80s when she wrote this book and had reached a stage in life when she simply didn’t have the strength or endurance she did 50 years ago.
10) The question of retirement and when it should happen. Many jobs can still be safely done by senior citizens, but the sheer physicality of farm work can make it really hard for older people to keep going as long as they could if they were, say, an accountant or a paediatrician who didn’t need to throw hay bales around or chase mischievous sheep around in the rocky and uneven soil of the pasture all day at work. (And some seniors can still do a lot of that stuff, of course! I’m related to one of them 😉 )
This sounds like a really good read. Not something I would usually pick up, but it does sound interesting to see life from this perspective.
It was excellent!
I love farming memoirs. Have you tried “Better Off”?
No, I have not. I’ll see if my library has it. I like that genre, too.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this one! I don’t think it’s one I heard of, but it sounds like one my uncle may have liked. Back when we’d do family Christmases, most years I’d try to find him a book to gift. 🙂 Thanks so much for visiting my website today!
You’re welcome. Yes, your uncle might have liked this one!
I love that assistance from neighbors was an aspect in this one. So often these days we don’t even know our neighbors, much less count on then for help when needed.
https://girlplusbooks.blogspot.com/2024/07/top-ten-tuesday-ten-reasons-why-i-love.html
So very true.
This sounds like a great book. And how can you go wrong with baby animals?
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
Exactly. 😀
Sounds so interesting and unique, farm life seems fun until you see the work it really is
Yes, so very true there.
This sounds interesting.
It was excellent.
Oh, this is cool. I do appreciate it when books of this sort show both sides to the issue—it seems many of them either focus on just the bad or just the good. Finding that balance is so important (and much more realistic).
Here’s my TTT for the week.
Totally agree with you there.
I’ve always been fascinated with the hard work and effort it takes farmers to. I think they’re one of the most unappreciated professions. Thanks for stopping by my blog.
You’re welcome. Yes, farmers are amazing!
This sounds like a slice-of-life book. I love it when the authors of those kinds of books are honest with the readers about their lives. As someone from a family of farmers, I find it hard to know when it’s time to walk away from work. Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/reasons-i-love-listening-to-audiobooks/
That’s exactly what it’s like! It’s cool you’re from farming stock, too. 🙂
Wow! I didn’t expect a book like this! Great job! I may have to read this one.
Thank you very much. Hope you like it.
Glad you enjoyed this one so much. Great review. Have a good week.
Thank you. 🙂
This sounds like a good book, but maybe sad….so much goes into farming/homesteading and you get to a point where you can’t physically do it anymore. I’m glad you enjoyed it
https://getlostinlit.blogspot.com/2024/07/top-ten-things-i-loved-about-let-right.html
There were some sad moments for sure. And thanks.
I want to read more nonfiction books next year. This sounds like one I would enjoy. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome. Enjoy.
Oh that sounds interesting. I’ve never heard of this book before.
It was excellent.
Great choice this week! There’s so many points you bring up that I never thought about.
Thank you. 🙂
This does sound lovely! A really good window into what the farming life is like.
Yes, exactly!
Have you seen the film ‘Sweetgrass’? It covers similar ground. It is about traditional herders in Montana who move their flocks to higher pastures in summer and back down in winter (this was and partly is a widespread thing across the world, called ‘transhumance’).
It’s an elegy, because it was filmed in 2003, at the very end of this way of life.
I highly recommend it to those who are interested in shepherding, or anyone really!
I have not, but it sounds great. Thanks for the recommendation.
Is it okay if I respond to your posts through your anonymous ask section?
Yes, please do.
🙂