Author Bio:
The author, Amanda, grew up on the farm and
worked together there with her family until the age of 29. She now lives with
her husband on a hobby farm in southeastern Minnesota. They have one grown
daughter. Amanda holds a Master’s Degree in Nurse Anesthesia and currently
works in that profession.
Author Links - The link for any or all of the following...
Blog: https://farmgirlwriter.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/farmgirlwriter5
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22833980-if-you-leave-this-farm?ac=1
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/You-Leave-this-Farm-Destroyed/dp/1480809284/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423873269&sr=1-1&keywords=if+you+leave+this+farm
Book Genre: Memoir, Autobiographic
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Release Date: July 2014
Buy Link(s):
http://www.farmgirlwriter.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html
http://www.amazon.com/You-Leave-this-Farm-Destroyed/dp/1480809284/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423873269&sr=1-1&keywords=if+you+leave+this+farm
Book Description:
My book
chronicles the story of our move to Minnesota as a family when we are teenagers
to farm together. The first year’s catastrophic crop failure sets off a
determination by our father to totally control our circumstances and leads to
12 years of struggle by my younger brother and I to leave the farm. Interweaved
into the story is our life as Mennonites and the influence that has upon our
lives.
I spend my morning after milking today reading the local newspaper and
the Budget (Ohio), an Amish-Mennonite
newspaper. The Budget is a
compilation of letters from “scribes,” or writers, in various communities all
over the country, telling of the happenings in the lives of other Amish and
Mennonite families. The letters hold a certain fascination to me as, it seems,
all kinds of strange and exciting things happen in other people’s lives. In
contrast, my life is the same stressful combination of work and sleep and
nothingness every day. I have started to become increasingly more discouraged
and just plain tired of the life that is mine. Daddy’s response to any voicing
of this weariness is, “God gave us all these gifts. We need to be good stewards
and work hard to take care of them.”
After
about an hour of reading, I make my way to the barn to stand upon my perch,
from which I scout for cows that I will need to breed later in the day. Then it
is time to hook the gooseneck cattle trailer to the pickup and take the bull
calves that have been born in the last week to the sale barn. It is a job I
enjoy. It does take a special skill to back a gooseneck trailer around, and I
am proud that I have mastered it. Not many women can do what I do on a daily
basis.
As I return from my
fifty-mile round trip, I notice a car in front of the house. Daddy is talking
to a building salesman. I step inside in time to see him signing a contract for
another machine shed. My heart drops.
Just what we need. More buildings to pay for. I am feeling depressed, but
the day is warm, so I walk out into the pasture to check on the dry cows. I lie
on the grass in the pasture, with the sun on my face, and allow the tears to
course down my cheeks and onto the fading grass of summer. Oh God! Help us!
is all that I can pray. I want my life to be about more than paying for
buildings and cows.
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