Shepherd by Richard Gilbert
Upon moving to Appalachian Ohio with their two small children, Richard Gilbert and his wife are thrilled to learn there still are places in America that haven t been homogenized. But their excitement over the region s beauty and quirky character turns to culture shock as they try to put down roots far from their busy professional jobs in town. They struggle to rebuild a farmhouse, and Gilbert gets conned buying equipment and sheepa ewe with an outie belly button turns out to be a neutered male, and mysterious illnesses plague the flock. Haunted by his father s loss of his boyhood farm, Gilbert likewise struggles to earn money in agriculture. Finally an unlikely teacher shows him how to raise hardy sheepa remarkable ewe named Freckles whose mothering ability epitomizes her species hidden beauty. Discovering as much about himself as he does these gentle animals, Gilbert becomes a seasoned agrarian and a respected livestock breeder. He makes peace with his romantic dream, his father, and himself. Shepherd, a story both personal and emblematic, captures the mythic pull and the practical difficulty of family scale sustainable farming.Shepherd is the most graphic, honest, heartrending, and heartwarming account of undertaking an adventure in farming that I have ever readEmbracing both untamed nature and human nature, this book makes compelling reading for both those who farm and those who don’t.
—Gene Logsdon, author of All Flesh is Grass: The Pleasures and Promises of Pasture Farming
Shepherd explores one man’s realization of a boyhood dream. But as they say in southern Ohio, “It weren’t easy.” Richard Gilbert writes with honesty, in gorgeous prose, about the joys and setbacks, bringing to vivid life an enchanted Appalachian valley filled with unforgettable characters.
—Dinty W. Moore, author of Between Panic and Desire
What a delightful book. So authentic in its descriptions of those peculiar critters, sheep. It brings back so many memories of my life at Malabar Farm and the spring lambing season, which seldom failed to deliver to me an orphan to be brought up on a bottle. People say sheep don’t have much sense. But from the sheep I’ve known, this strikes me as being a very precipitous judgment. Anyone who reads this book will be encouraged to see what I mean.
—Ellen Bromfield Geld, author of The Heritage: A Daughter’s Memories of Louis Bromfield
Richard Gilbert teaches writing at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781611861174 |
| ISBN 10 | 1611861179 |
| Title | Shepherd |
| Author | Richard Gilbert |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Michigan State University Press |
| Year published | 2014-05-01 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |