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An anthology of some of the most evocative writing focusing on our vast natural heritage, along with pieces that address pressing land issues facing the West. This collection not only paints a vivid portrait of life in the Rocky Mountains, it also presents some of the finest nonfiction writing to be found in America today. This is a perfect selection that is bound to sink reader's roots deeper in the landscape of home.
Helen Tiegs didn't take to driving a tractor when she became a farmer's wife, but after fifty years she considers herself the hub of the family operation. Lila Hill taught piano, then ultimately took a job off the farm to augment the family income during a period of rising costs. From Montana's cattle pastures to New Mexico's sagebrush mesas, women on today's ranches and farms have played a crucial role in a way of life that is slowly disappearing from the western landscape. Recalling her own family-farm ties, Sandra Schackel set out to learn how these women's lives have changed over the second half of the twentieth century. In Working the Land, she collects oral histories from more than forty women—in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon, and Texas—recalling their experiences as ranchers and farmers in a modernizing West. Through this diverse group of women—white and Hispanic, rich and poor, ranging in age from 24 to 83—we gain a new perspective on their ties to the land. Although western ranch and farm women have often been portrayed as secondary figures who devoted themselves to housekeeping in support of their husbands' labors, Schackel's interviews reveal that these women have had a much more active role in defining what we know as the modern American West. As Schackel listened to their stories, she found several currents running through their recollections, such as the satisfaction found in living the rural lifestyle and the flexibility of gender roles. She also learned how resourceful women developed new ways to make their farms work—by including tourism, summer camps, and bed-and-breakfast operations—and how many have become activists for land-based issues. And while some like Lila made the difficult decision to work off the farm, such sacrifices have enabled families to hold onto their beloved land. Rich with memory and insight into what makes America's family farms and ranches tick, Working the Land provides a deeper understanding of the West's development over the last fifty years along with new perspectives on shifting attitudes toward women in the workforce. It is both a long-overdue documentation of the lives of hard-working farm women and a celebration of their contributions to a truly American way of life.
essays on new approaches to ranching and preserving western lands
For success in planting bitterbrush, the soil at planting depth must remain moist during germination and emergence. Fall-planted seed is in the ground ready to germinate as soon as the soil warms up. Emergence is usually 3 to 4 weeks later from spring planting. In tests in northeastern California spring plantings proved best where either or both of two conditions were met: precipitation was adequate and well distributed during the critical period and the soil retained moisture well. On drier sites or in very dry years on sites normally adapted to spring planting, fall planting was usually superior.
A stunning and breathtaking memoir that pays homage to a dying way of life. "An Accidental Cowboy" is a story of trauma, depression, and the beginnings of hope, set against the backdrop of the American Southwest.
A “blessedly unromantic” portrait of real women’s lives in the contemporary American West (Kathleen Norris). This wide-ranging collection of essays and poetry reveals the day-to-day lives and experiences of a diverse collection of women in the western United States, from Buddhists in Nebraska to Hutterites in South Dakota to “rodeo moms.” A woman chooses horse work over housework; neighbors pull together to fight a raging wildfire; a woman rides a donkey across Colorado to raise money after the tragedy at Columbine. Women recall harmony found at a drugstore, at a powwow, in a sewing circle. Lively, heartfelt, urgent, enduring, Crazy Woman Creek celebrates community—connections built or strengthened by women that unveil a new West.
Told in a unique first-person creative nonfiction narrative, Women Writers of the West profiles five women driven to write and succeed at a time when ambition in women was viewed as a flaw, not an asset--Helen Hunt Jackson, Jessie Benton Fremont, Louise Clappe, Mary Hallock Foote, Gertrude Bonnin.
Topics ranging from escaping forest fires and smoke jumping to fighting house fires and making campfires are featured in this collection of essays--by a number of talented Idaho writers--that explore fire from various perspectives. Original.