Brian J. Smith lived as a child on a dairy farm near Ingersoll, Ontario with his family and grandmother in 1966-67. This lifestyle was very different from the suburbs that he was used to. In "My Year on the Farm" he recalls the daily adventures and experiences of living the rural life in that special year. The book is also a tribute to his industrious grandmother, Isabella Wilson, who managed the farm. "My Year on the Farm" explores the roots of his ancestry through his grandmother. Her example has been a great inspiration for Brian.

If you refuse to believe me, I will no longer consider you my son... Daniel believed that his parents were enjoying a peaceful retirement on a remote farm in Sweden, the country of his mother's birth. But with a single phone call, everything changes. Your mother... she's not well, his father tells him. She's been imagining things - terrible, terrible things.In fact, she has been committed to a mental hospital. Before Daniel can board a plane to Sweden, his mother calls: Everything that man has told you is a lie. I'm not mad... I need the police... Meet me at Heathrow. Daniel is immediately caught between his parents - whom to believe, whom to trust? He becomes his mother's unwilling judge and jury. Presented with a horrific crime, a conspiracy that implicates his own father, Daniel must examine the evidence and decide for himself: who is telling the truth? And he has secrets of his own that for too long he has kept hidden...

'True, unflinching, powerful, lyrical' Kate Mosse 'It's quite an achievement to shine a light of truth on the often idealised, always understated, role of the farmer's wife.' RAYNOR WINN 'Wonderful, inviting, wholesome.' Observer 'Very moving, real and true.' AMY LIPTROT 'Enchanting, funny, fearless. . . a luminously beautiful memoir.' Spectator 'Beautiful and very honest.' CAITLIN MORAN 'Authentic and affecting.' SARAH LANGFORD 'Lovely, warm and real, it made me cry and cook and think. ' ELLA RISBRIDGER A portrait of life at Helen Rebanks' Lake District farmhouse that beautifully captures the unsung work of keeping a home and raising a family. As dawn breaks on the farm, Helen Rebanks makes a mug of tea, relishing the few minutes of quiet before the house stirs. Within the hour the sounds of her husband, James, and their four children will fill the kitchen. There are also six sheepdogs, two ponies, 20 chickens, 50 cattle and 500 sheep to care for. Helen is a farmer's wife. Hers is a story that is rarely told, despite being one we think we know. Weaving past and present, Helen shares the days that have shaped her. This is the truth of those days: from steering the family through the Beast from the East and the local authority planning committee, to finding the quiet strength to keep going, when supper is yet to be started, another delivery man has assumed he needs to speak to the 'man of the house', and she would rather punch a cushion than plump it. This beautifully-illustrated memoir, which takes place across one day at the farm, offers a chance to think about where our food comes from and who puts it on the table. Helen's recipes, lists and gentle wisdom helps us to get through our days, whatever they throw at us. Readers love The Farmer's Wife 'Lovely. . . the book equivalent of getting up before everyone else to enjoy the silence of the day.' 'Evocative and thought-provoking. . . a beautiful, lyrical read that gives voice to the 'pushes and pulls' of everyday life.' 'A beautifully written manifesto for the life she's chosen to lead' 'A beacon of light. . . I've never read a memoir quite like this.'

In the early 1970s, when author Dr. Jonathan T. Jefferson (a.k.a. "John-John") was a young child, his parents did something unprecedented for a working class African American family from Queens: They bought an old, dilapidated farmhouse in Upstate New York's dairy country as a summer home for them and their eight children. Initially fish out of water, over the next decade the Jefferson family became part of the landscape, the children eagerly anticipating those precious weeks of adventure in cow country. Echoes from the Farm is Dr. Jefferson's way of sharing the childhood memories from those years that have guided his interests throughout adulthood. Through those memories, he also shares a special part of his family's love and the love that was shown to them in a unique place in the American tapestry. He would not trade his childhood farm experiences for anything in the world. Journey with John-John as he reminisces about collecting apples for his mother's homemade apple sauce, jumping out of a barn window into piles of hay, and warring with one of his older brothers. Laugh heartily as you read about how one of his friends mistook a porcupine for a bear, the frogs' legs he collected for dinner, and his close encounter with the longest snake ever seen in North America. Enjoy the way his most vivid recollections are brought to life by wonderful illustrations. And be inspired to embark on your own adventure to build precious memories for you and your family.

Change is constant. It's happening all around us all the time. At this very moment, all across America, cities, towns, and communities are changing. Populations shift, incomes fluctuate, and social norms evolve. Change is a huge concept. And just south of Charleston, South Carolina, Johns Island was a tiny community until it wasn't. Born-and-raised Johns Island resident Lee Glover tells the story of the evolution of his home from a rural agrarian setting to a rapidly changing sea island of the Low Country. Traditionally, Johns Island produced millions of pounds of fresh produce that was shipped all across America every year. Each summer, migrants and workers of all description, and in numbers sometimes surpassing the island's total population, flocked to participate in the harvest. By August, everything was serenely calm once again. Then, in the late twentieth century, a massive change in industry from agriculture to tourism saw the once-quiet community transform into something vastly different. Field Trip is a deeply personal documentation of this change to preserve some of the times, events, and people that are rapidly fading into history. Through remembrances and shared history, the reader will learn the trials and joys of growing the food we eat and the intricacies of working with many different people. Going deeper than just the industrial history of Johns Island, the book is a lesson on how fellowship is one of several essential ingredients to having meaningful and enduring relationships. It is a glue that helps to hold relationships together during challenging times of change.

*Northeast Organic Farmers Lifetime Achievement Award: Jack Kittredge and Julie Rawson In this heartfelt and unflinching memoir, two activists recount the nearly half century they’ve spent questioning authority while raising a family, building a self-reliant community, starting an organic farm, leading a farming organization, and experiencing the struggles and joys of living a purposeful life. Many Hands Make a Farm traces the journey of organic farming pioneers Julie Rawson and Jack Kittredge from their early years of bright-eyed excitement, through the long slog for economic stability, to the formation of a thriving community and a growing natural farming movement. Along the way, they established relationships with farming leaders across the country during the creation of the National Organic Program. Julie and Jack met while working as community organizers in Boston. After falling in love and starting a family, they decided to use Jack’s irregular earnings as a board game designer to support a move to a rural area where they could grow healthy food and earn their living at home, so they could be present for their four children. What began as a family homestead soon grew into the small, diversified Many Hands Organic Farm. Julie and Jack have intentionally chosen to live their lives differently than the mainstream, prioritizing minimizing energy use, raising food organically, not relying on credit, favoring natural health care, participating in the arts, working creatively, and instilling the values of hard work and responsibility in their children. In a time when society at large was “going along to get along,” Julie and Jack stood out as leaders and iconoclasts. They believe that taking risks and making bold decisions can unlock one’s potential and lead to actions that enrich the spirit, the family, and the community. Many Hands Make a Farm will resonate with fans of original thinkers from Henry David Thoreau and Wendell Berry to Lynn Margulis and Adelle Davis. The book strongly conveys the message of finding roots in a community, respecting the Earth, and combining social justice work with the joys and challenges of raising a family. These themes shine through on every page, making this memoir a must-read for anyone seeking inspiration and guidance on finding meaning in their life. "Told in complementary, alternating narratives between husband and wife, this informative and heartfelt memoir is uplifting from start to finish."—Booklist