In Good Hands
The Keeping of a Family Farm
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In 1836, Henry Lester moved his family from the Vermont hills to better land on the valley floor north of Rutland, beginning a saga six generations on a farm, which this book portrays and explores with an affectionate but critical eye. What gives the book its distinctive charm is its vivid evocation of a way of life: the beloved grandmother keeping house both as a shelter and as a temple of the spirit; the uncles sowing and harvesting, raising and slaughtering; the author, as a small boy, working with the men, fishing and hunting, and later, reflecting on the issues of pleasure and work, freedom and community.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
From his diary of a summer spent on the farm, his grandmother's written recollections and a journal kept by his great-great-grandfather (the farm's founder), Fish has fashioned an affectionate and nostalgic portrait of farm life. The farm lies in a fertile valley north of Rutland, Vermont, and has been in the family since 1836. The author introduces his beloved grandmother, who was the center of family life; Great-Uncle Milo, who owned the farm; Uncle Sherman, heir to the farm; and the hired men. He looks at the working year-maple sugaring, plowing, sowing, harvesting, milking, raising and slaughtering animals. Fish notes that farming is an art of the use of living things, including people. His account of the farm, family and community, which embody all the old-fashioned virtues, is a fine piece of Americana. Fish teaches English at Western New England College.
