Gaining Ground

Gaining Ground
Author: Forrest Pritchard
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2013-05-21
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0762794380

With humor and pathos, Forrest Pritchard recounts his ambitious and often hilarious endeavors to save his family’s seventh-generation farm in the Shenandoah Valley. Through many a trial and error, he not only saves Smith Meadows from insolvency but turns it into a leading light in the sustainable, grass-fed, organic farm-to-market community. There is nothing young Farmer Pritchard won’t try. Whether he’s selling firewood and straw, raising free-range chickens and hogs, or acquiring a flock of Barbados Blackbelly sheep, his learning curve is steep and always entertaining. Pritchard’s world crackles with colorful local characters—farm hands, butchers, market managers, customers, fellow vendors, pet goats, policemen—bringing the story to warm, communal life. His most important ally, however, is his renegade father, who initially questions his son's career choice and eschews organic foods for the generic kinds that wreak havoc on his health. Soon after his father’s death, the farm becomes a recognized success and Pritchard must make a vital decision: to continue serving the local community or answer the exploding demand for his wares with lucrative Internet sales and shipping deals. More than a charming story of honest food cultivation and farmers’ markets, Gaining Ground tugs on the heartstrings, reconnecting us to the land and the many lives that feed us.

Another Year On The Family Farm

Another Year On The Family Farm
Author: Mary Kay Schippers
Publisher: FriesenPress
Total Pages: 187
Release: 2015-07-21
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1460267184

It's 1970, mere months after the first man walked on the moon. The Vietnam War is raging on, drawing thousands of young American men into compulsory military service. Campus riots become commonplace, while Bridge Over Troubled Water tops the music charts. And millions of families across the nation gather around their television sets on Sunday evenings to watch what is to be the final season of the Ed Sullivan Show. For thirteen-year-old Mary Kay, life changes irrevocably when the last of her brothers and sisters marries and moves away from their Kansas family farm. As the youngest of seven, she has always been surrounded by people and noise and activity. The sudden loneliness hits hard as Mary Kay tries to adapt to her new reality. At home, her dogs Sandy and Sport and her horse Strawberry become her sole companions, as she helps her loving Mama and hard-working Daddy carry on with their never-ending farm chores. At school, Mary Kay graduates from the comforting country grade school where her oldest brother had been her teacher and now faces the challenge of high school in another town with no friends. Inspired by the discovery of an old diary, Another Year on the Family Farm continues the saga of author Mary Kay Schippers' childhood first described in A Year on the Family Farm. Like its predecessor, Another Year on the Family Farm is full of love, life, and laughter. Whether it's hanging on to a runaway horse, seeking refuge from a storm, learning to drive or falling in love, Mary Kay's coming of age stories will carry you off to a world of enjoyment for young and old alike....

The Farmer's Son

The Farmer's Son
Author: John Connell
Publisher: Ecco
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2019
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1328577996

Farming has been in John Connell's family for generations, but he never intended to follow in his father's footsteps. Until, one winter, after more than a decade away, he finds himself back on the farm.

Farm (and Other F Words)

Farm (and Other F Words)
Author: Sarah K Mock
Publisher:
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2021-04-26
Genre:
ISBN: 9781636768205

We love The American Farmer. We trust them to grow our food, to be part of children's nursery rhymes, to provide the economic backbone of rural communities, and to embody a version of the American dream. At the same time, we know that "corporate farms" are disrupting the agrarian way of life that we so admire, and that we've got to do something to stop it. So what's our plan for saving the farms we love? In Farm (and Other F Words), Sarah K Mock dismantles misconceptions about American farms and discovers what makes small family farms work, or why they don't. While exploring the intersection of farming and wealth, Mock offers an alternative perspective on American agricultural history, and outlines a path to a more equitable food system moving forward. Calling for change, Farm (and Other F Words) tackles questions like: Do farmers really get paid not to farm? Are "big corporate farms" the future? How much good has the food movement done for small family farmers? Ultimately, Mock suggests a solution without putting the onus for change on struggling consumers and reminds us that, "the future of American agriculture is not yet decided."

USDA Research and Extension on Family Farms

USDA Research and Extension on Family Farms
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Subcommittee on Agricultural Research and General Legislation
Publisher:
Total Pages: 228
Release: 1979
Genre: Agricultural extension work
ISBN: