| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Clare |
Posted - Dec 27 2004 : 7:27:16 PM
Sylvia's Farm : The Journal of an Improbable Shepherd
by Sylvia Jorrin: I just saw this book advertised in my book club magazine. I've read the reviews and looked at the preview pages at Amazon, and it sounds soooo interesting to me! Might have to just "go for it!" Has anyone else seen or read this book yet?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1582344019/qid=1104202768/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/103-4078326-0171859?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
****Gardener, Stitcher, Spiritual Explorer and Appreciator of all Things Natural****
"Begin to weave and God will give the thread." - German Proverb |
| 24 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Kim |
Posted - Feb 11 2005 : 3:46:32 PM
I am reading Sylvia's Farm and I LOVE it so far. I am anout 1/2 way finished.
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
| connio |
Posted - Feb 10 2005 : 3:12:25 PM
Good afternoon ladies I just spoke to an 11 year old girl who was visiting the library. She proudly told me that she only had one more book to read in THE LITTLE HOUSE series. My sister-in-law has been reading the books to my niece since she was about 4 yrs. She is now 6yrs; they both still love Laura and her family. My niece is an only child, and I suspect that Laura might be a sister substitute of sorts for Dora Rose (my niece). One of the nice things about working as a librarian is seeing new generations enjoy these types of treasures.
I also wanted to let everyone know that Sue Monk Kidd has a new book coming out in April called THE MERMAID CHAIR.
Finally, Clare, I think that you were the person who suggested COUNTRYSIDE AND SMALL STOCK JOURNAL. My first issue arrived yesterday.I was up until 3am just devouring this magazine. I absolutely love this magazine!!!!! It seems to address so many of the issues that I struggle with (but love) each day as I try to develop my little worn out house, pole barn and 6.5 acres of land in rural Texas. This evening when the library gets quiet, I plan to check out many of the websites that are listed. Now that I have COUNTRYSIDE AND MARY JANES MAGAZINE (and forthcoming book), I am ready for any
challenge!
Connie
cozycottage |
| Kim |
Posted - Jan 29 2005 : 4:33:50 PM
I just bought Sylvia's Farm today at Barnes & Noble. I'm excited to start it.
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
| celticlady |
Posted - Jan 29 2005 : 12:16:24 PM
Clare- Funny you should mention the Laura Ingalls wilder books. My kids and I are starting on "little house in the big woods" for school right now. I hope they can really get into it and enjoy it! -Dar
"live each day as if it were your last". |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Jan 26 2005 : 07:15:20 AM
Oops, there goes the memory again...it was Laura that was the tomboy...Carrie was the baby, right?
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Jan 26 2005 : 07:13:31 AM
I loved Little House series also...My third grade teacher read us the series and all of us 8 year olds were quiet as mice lost in the stories. Carrie was my favorite character. She spoke to the inner tomboy in me.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
| marlyn |
Posted - Jan 26 2005 : 07:05:21 AM
Good Morning
Little House on the Prairies is my favourite series also. When my now 13 year old was 3 I spent the whole summer reading these books to the kids and while reading to them I taped the story. My daughter use to go around pretending she was Laura and our then German Shepard who's name was Candi became knows as "Jack". The dog became so confused she came to the call of anything!
A year later when I was expecting again, we were picking out names. My three year old who's name is Vanessa announced that she was changing her name from Vanessa to Laura and the new baby could be called Vanessa!
Then she desided that the new baby would be the third daughter so she could be called Carrie, just like Little House! My Hubby and I didn't like that name but guess what? The baby was named a name we all like Grace ( fourth daughter in Little House) and her second name to keep Vanessa happy is Kerri.
So our little farm has a little part of Laura Ingels Wilder on it.
I am going to check our library status on-line for the above mentioned books. Hope I can order them and get them shipped out. Cabin fever is becoming big around here. We are snowed under and -33C with the windshield. Not a good X-country skiing day!
By the way my Grace has been doing a Pioneer unit here at home school and she has been listening to those tapes I made 10 years ago, even though she can read the books herself. Precious moments.
Marlyn |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Jan 26 2005 : 06:31:24 AM
I read Amazon's critique of Sylvia's Farm and I was startled...I have a dear childhood friend that got into sheep rearing 15 years ago by accident...She is a single mother who went through 2 heartbreaking marriages of abuse. Her last ex was put in prison for an unspeakable crime. She has raised 2 daughters and a handicapped son by herself on a small farm in a tiny rural town 40 miles from where I live. She supports herself working in a local grocery store. Her tiny white old farmhouse is immaculate as well as the little barn and pens where her sheep are. She has told me many tales of delivering her ewes in bitter cold long nights until her hands were frozen and her arms felt like they were going to fall off. She brought the lambs into her kitchen to warm by the stove. Her children all pitched in, and belonged to 4-H and would show the sheep. She had horses, dogs, cats, peacocks, a true menagerie on her tiny 5 acres. This sustained this former city girl through devestating times...and I have never seen her discouraged, or complaining. I must buy a copy of this book for my dear fiend May...it sounds like she has lived some of this...
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
| cmandle |
Posted - Jan 25 2005 : 7:05:57 PM
I'm also reading Sylvia's Farm now - it was a gift from Dan for Christmas since he knows how I love yarn and all things related to knitting - he thought I might like to read about the sheep and "an unlikely shepherd" too. I, like others, am totally in love with this book and don't want it to end. Highly recommended!
Catherine
* knitter * gardener * proud wife of dan * owned by lucy the cat * |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Jan 25 2005 : 1:19:00 PM
Clare - duh....oops, reading too quickly I am! A massage is much better than a message!!! :)
Thanks for the review of the book. I am going to find a copy and read it! Laura Ingalls Wilder and her series of books were and are some of my favorites. My fourth grade teacher used to read to our class from the Little House books. That is when I fell in love with stories of the prairie and wide open spaces.
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
| Clare |
Posted - Jan 25 2005 : 06:39:33 AM
Finished the book this weekend, jpbluesky, and was sad to see it end. Reminded me of Laura Ingalls Wilder writings about her life... only from an adult. Wonderful book. Worth getting and devouring!
Your question about my message later today, was actually a massage that I treated myself to for/on my birthday.  It was also wonderful. Very theraputic.
****Gardener, Stitcher, Spiritual Explorer and Appreciator of all Things Natural****
"Begin to weave and God will give the thread." - German Proverb |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Jan 25 2005 : 05:26:27 AM
CLare- Happy Belated Birthday! I was curious which was the "message later today" that you referred to? I would like to find it and read it.
How is the book - have you finished it?
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Jan 23 2005 : 07:49:51 AM
Thanks for these book recommendations ladies...I will put them on my reading list! Also I too love npr!
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
| Kim |
Posted - Jan 23 2005 : 06:44:34 AM
Isn't NPR a great station?! I sometimes log onto their wesite when I am working and listen.
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
| connio |
Posted - Jan 22 2005 : 3:30:36 PM
Wanted to mention a title that was featured on NPR's Fresh Air about a week ago. ANIMALS IN TRANSLATION by Dr Temple Grandin. Check it out.
Connie
cozycottage |
| cecelia |
Posted - Jan 21 2005 : 6:40:49 PM
A belated happy birthday to you, Clare. Yes, I would like to live on a "farm" someday, but as I get older I realize it may not happen due to my husband not sharing such a dream. Probably the most I can hope for now is a place in the country, not exactly a farm as such. I'll still keep the dream in my heart though.
Cecelia
ce's farm
"Curiosity is one of the forms of feminine bravery" Victor Hugo |
| Clare |
Posted - Jan 19 2005 : 2:13:51 PM
Just thought I'd give you my book review about Sylvia's Farm. I'm about 2/3's through, and it is a wonderful, wonderful book. She wrote weekly newspaper columns about her life on the farm, and that is what the book is. Very short two-three page chapters about one topic that she is mulling over and sharing about. I feel like I'm at her farm, in her barn with her sheep and goats and chickens and ducks and the infamous donkey as she often time struggles with situations, yet in the end, she prevails... It transports me.
I highly recommend this book. If it isn't at your library (it wasn't at mine), it is definately worth purchasing, in my opinion.
****Gardener, Stitcher, Spiritual Explorer and Appreciator of all Things Natural****
"Begin to weave and God will give the thread." - German Proverb |
| Eileen |
Posted - Dec 30 2004 : 09:03:45 AM
Hi Clare,
Happy birthday to you!!!  this is me singing to you!
Waiting for a book report.
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
| Clare |
Posted - Dec 30 2004 : 07:33:57 AM
Okay girls... I checked and my library does not carry this book, so I decided to treat myself and have ordered it from Amazon. Today is, afterall, my birthday- so a gift to myself (in addition to my massage later today) is perfectly acceptable! I'll let you know my perceptions of the book when I'm finished reading it!
****Gardener, Stitcher, Spiritual Explorer and Appreciator of all Things Natural****
"Begin to weave and God will give the thread." - German Proverb |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Dec 30 2004 : 04:44:16 AM
I notice that all three of us who express this same dream are Illinois girls! Even though I no longer live in Illinois, I was born and raised in Springfield.
Last September, my husband and I stayed in a log cabin for 10 days for vacation. I could have moved right in. My hubby asked if I thought I could live in it year around, and I said yes, I really think so!
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
| Kim |
Posted - Dec 29 2004 : 5:28:19 PM
I also would love to live out west, ON A FARM! But BF doens't share this dream. Someday.......
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Dec 29 2004 : 09:16:41 AM
Yes, I share it with you! My husband likes log cabins, and we both love Montana and Wyoming, and also North Carolina, but I know that we will most likely never follow that dream, because it is primarily mine. I can see him living on the golf course of some clubby area and loving it.
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
| Cntrymom |
Posted - Dec 29 2004 : 07:25:04 AM
I too love reading about people moving into a simple lifestyle. It gives me hope that someday I'll be able to do the same thing. My dream is to live in a log cabin in Montana or Wyoming. . . My needs are simple. Problem - my husband doesn't share in this dream. Anyone else have this situation?
Cntrymom
Born in the wrong century . . . . |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Dec 29 2004 : 06:40:48 AM
Clare- I have not read this book, but it sounds very interesting. I checked out the Amazon link, and listed below your selection is another interesting title - "Fifty Acres and a Poodle". Read that synopsis, It sounds funny and good too.
I love to read about people who follow their dream and move to a farm. Sigh.....
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
