Farming, Fighting and Family


Book Description

The Wiltshire farmer/author/broadcaster Arthur (A.G.) Street was one of the leading voices of British agriculture during WW2. His daughter Pamela – herself an aspiring writer - was eighteen when war broke out. Her contributions to the war effort included working on her father’s farm, nursing in the local military hospital, and serving in the ATS. Her future husband, David McCormick, served with the 4th RHA in North Africa. Captured in December 1941, he endured the remainder of the war in prison camps in Italy and Germany.Miranda McCormick has skilfully woven together her forebears’ very differing wartime experiences. Of specific interest to social, military and agricultural historians, for the general reader this is also an intensely human – at times heart-rending – story of love, duty, separation, temptation, guilt and eventual reunion. Pamela fell in love with an American pilot – but she remained true to David. The strain was so much that she was invalided out of the ATS.




The Farmer's Lawyer


Book Description

With a new foreword by Willie Nelson "An exquisitely written American saga." --Sarah Smarsh The "remarkably well told and heartfelt" (John Grisham) story of a young lawyer's impossible legal battle to stop the federal government from foreclosing on thousands of family farmers. In the early 1980s, farmers were suffering through the worst economic crisis to hit rural America since the Great Depression. Land prices were down, operating costs and interest rates were up, and severe weather devastated crops. Instead of receiving assistance from the government as they had in the 1930s, these hardworking family farmers were threatened with foreclosure by the very agency that Franklin Delano Roosevelt created to help them. Desperate, they called Sarah Vogel in North Dakota. Sarah, a young lawyer and single mother, listened to farmers who were on the verge of losing everything and, inspired by the politicians who had helped farmers in the '30s, she naively built a solo practice of clients who couldn't afford to pay her. Sarah began drowning in debt and soon her own home was facing foreclosure. In a David and Goliath legal battle reminiscent of A Civil Action or Erin Brockovich, Sarah brought a national class action lawsuit, which pitted her against the Reagan administration's Department of Justice, in her fight for family farmers' Constitutional rights. It was her first case. A courageous American story about justice and holding the powerful to account, The Farmer's Lawyer shows how the farm economy we all depend on for our daily bread almost fell apart due to the willful neglect of those charged to protect it, and what we can learn from Sarah's battle as a similar calamity looms large on our horizon once again.




Farm (and Other F Words)


Book Description

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."




Cain's Legacy


Book Description

Bonds between brothers and sisters are among the longest lasting and most emotionally significant of human relationships. But while 45 percent of adults struggle with serious sibling strife, few discuss it openly. Even fewer resolve it to their satisfaction.In Cain's Legacy, psychotherapist Jeanne Safer, a recognized authority on sibling psychology (and an estranged sister herself) illuminates this pervasive but hidden phenomenon. She explores the roots of inter-sibling woes, from siblicide in the book of Genesis to tensions in Frederique's family history. Drawing on sixty in-depth interviews with adult siblings struggling with conflicts over money, family businesses, aging parents, contentious wills, unhealed childhood wounds, and blocked communication, Safer provides compassionate guidance to brothers and sisters whose relationship is broken. She helps siblings overcome their paralysis and pain, revealing how they can come to terms with the one peer relationship they can never sever -- even if they never see each other again.A heartfelt look at a too-often avoided topic, Cain's Legacy is a sympathetic and clear-eyed guide to navigating the darkness separating us from our brothers and sisters.




An Industry Worth Fighting For


Book Description

A storm cuts through the placid Oregon skies. Not a meteorological event-rather, an onslaught aimed at destroying the livelihood of dairy farmers across America. Standing in the bull's-eye is Derrick Josi, a fourth generation dairy farmer who has taken a stand against the lies, deceit, and personal attacks made by self-proclaimed activists across social media. This book offers readers a glimpse behind the curtain of a working dairy farm. Staying true to his charm and wit, Derrick does not shy away from sensitive topics. Rather, he presents reality in terms that are stark but sensitive?a balance as delicate as the lives for which he is responsible. This isn't just the story of one dairy farmer; it is the story of an industry worth defending.




The Other Greeks


Book Description

Victor Hanson shows that the "Greek revolution" was not the rise of a free and democratic urban culture, but rather the historic innovation of the independent family farm."--BOOK JACKET.




A Farming Family in the New World


Book Description

Take the trip of a lifetime with Thomas Barnard as he leaves the green hills of Gloucestershire, England, for the New World in the spring of 1679. The newly released historical fiction, A Farming Family in the New World, tells Thomas’ fictional tale in breathtakingly realistic fashion. The newly released novel is published by Outskirts Press. When the Globe set sail on a misty morning in 1679, 21-year-old Tom is in the ship’s hold, preparing for a long, dangerous voyage to America. While the risk is high, the reward is great: five years’ indentured service for the promise of free land in America. A Farming Family in the New World follows Tom’s journey to America and ultimately unfurls nine generations of his family as they flourish on American soil from 1679 to 2005. Readers journey through the years to witness George Washington’s rallying of troops; as Abraham Lincoln says his farewell to Springfield to begin his memorable presidency over a divided nation; as brother fights brother in a terrible Civil War; and as two World Wars throw the planet into turmoil. Through it all, one family’s storied history comes to life in this meticulously researched book, which chronicles a personal history through times of peace and prosperity, poverty and war. A Farming Family in the New World is available online through Outskirts Press at www.outskirtspress.com/bookstore. The book is sold through Amazon and Barnes and Noble for a maximum trade discount in quantities of 10 or more, and is being aggressively promoted to appropriate markets with a focus on the United States history, Colonial period, Revolutionary War period and Civil War categories. ISBN: 978-1-4787-0048-7 Format: 6 x 9 paperback cream Retail: $12.95 Kindle: $9.99 Nook: $9.99 iPad: $9.99 Genre: HISTORY / United States / Colonial Period (1600-1775) / Revolutionary Period (1775-1800) / Civil War Period (1850-1877)




The Secret Life of Cows


Book Description

"Within a day of receiving this book, I had consumed it... Absorbing, moving, and compulsively readable."—Lydia Davis In this affectionate, heart-warming chronicle, Rosamund Young distills a lifetime of organic farming wisdom, describing the surprising personalities of her cows and other animals At her famous Kite's Nest Farm in Worcestershire, England, the cows (as well as sheep, hens, and pigs) all roam free. They make their own choices about rearing, grazing, and housing. Left to be themselves, the cows exhibit temperaments and interests as diverse as our own. "Fat Hat" prefers men to women; "Chippy Minton" refuses to sleep with muddy legs and always reports to the barn for grooming before bed; "Jake" has a thing for sniffing the carbon monoxide fumes of the Land Rover exhaust pipe; and "Gemima" greets all humans with an angry shake of the head and is fiercely independent. An organic farmer for decades, Young has an unaffected and homely voice. Her prose brims with genuine devotion to the wellbeing of animals. Most of us never apprehend the various inner lives animals possess, least of all those that we might eat. But Young has spent countless hours observing how these creatures love, play games, and form life-long friendships. She imparts hard-won wisdom about the both moral and real-world benefits of organic farming. (If preserving the dignity of animals isn't a good enough reason for you, consider how badly factory farming stunts the growth of animals, producing unhealthy and tasteless food.) This gorgeously-illustrated book, which includes an original introduction by the legendary British playwright Alan Bennett, is the summation of a life's work, and a delightful and moving tribute to the deep richness of animal sentience.




Frontline Farmers


Book Description

Who grows the food we eat? How important is it that family farms are viable in Canada today and in the future? How do viable family farms help determine the safety, diversity and sustainability of Canada’s food systems? Why is this important to those of us who do not farm? Frontline Farmers introduces readers to the National Farmers Union (NFU). For over fifty years, the NFU has been on the frontlines of our food system. From fighting against transnational corporations that seek to control our food system by imposing genetically modified organisms into our food, to protecting seeds, maintaining orderly marketing, saving the prison farms, keeping the land in the hands of family farmers, farming ecologically and building food sovereignty, the NFU has been front and centre of farm and food activism. This book collects the voices of NFU members who tell the stories of the key struggles of the progressive farm movement in Canada: fighting to build viable rural communities, protecting the family farm and creating socially just and ecologically sustainable food systems. Frontline Farmers reveals that the stakes for controlling our food in Canada have never been higher. The book was made possible with support from the Canada Research Chair Program. For an updated, corrected list of the protagonists from Frontline Farmers, please click here.




SMALL-SCALE FAMILY FARMING IN THE NEAR EAST AND NORTH AFRICA REGION


Book Description

This report provides an overview of a study conducted in the NENA region in 2015-2016 in partnership with FAO, CIRAD, CIHEAM-IAMM and six national teams, each of which prepared a national report. In the six countries under review in the NENA region (Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Sudan and Tunisia), agriculture is carried out primarily by small-scale family farmers, the majority of whom run the risk of falling into the poverty trap, largely due to the continuous fragmentation of inherited landholdings. As such, the development of small-scale family farming can no longer be based solely on intensifying agriculture, as the farmers are not able to produce sufficient marketable surplus due to the limited size of their landholdings. An approach based strictly on agricultural activity is also insufficient (as small-scale family farms have already diversified their livelihoods with off-farm activities). In fact, developing small-scale farming cannot be achieved by focusing strictly on t he dimension of production.