Shepherd

April 15, 2014
Trading his town shoes for work boots, pasture farmer Gilbert (Writing/Otterbein Univ.) contemplates nature's works and his own efforts in his chronicle of raising sheep. The author, his wife and their two children spent a decade breeding and selling sheep on the family homestead in Appalachian Ohio. Gilbert had a day job at a university press, and his wife was the university provost, but the farm was his obsession. Not at all a bromidic gentleman farmer, he was earnestly hands-on and farmed for profit. Though yearly profits, if any, were scant, he loved his farm and its resident animals. Gilbert ruminates warmly on his artisanal flock, seeing the hidden beauty of his sheep. He also recalls his collection of farm implements: an old post pounder, a used cultivator, a small tractor--accompaniments to the never-ending work that was especially backbreaking for someone with a day job in town. Gilbert is especially astute in his portrayals of his Appalachian neighbors, who were mostly good folk. His farm logs are studies in animal husbandry, proper fencing, house building, birth and decay. His prose is pungent: In a sheep barn, he notes, the air was humid with an amalgam of "mellow musk, tangy manure, bitter urine, sweet hay." He writes of digging out aged offal, of tenant rats, and of the hundreds of natural shocks that man and beast may encounter. His bank balances diminished as he, in an effort to become a successful farmer, consulted his Sheep Production Handbook or the latest issue of The Stockman Grass Farmer. In a sometimes-earthy, sometimes-prolix and ultimately sagacious elegy, Gilbert speaks of descent into pain and fear as well as of the beauty of bucolic nature and the diverse traits of agrarian man. A thoughtful memoir of rams and ewes, farmers and family, life and death.

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Starred review from April 15, 2014
In this memoir, Gilbert (writing, Otterbein Univ.) recounts the story of his dream of becoming a family farmer. The author's father had a similar wish that never quite became reality and Gilbert is determined to honor the man by succeeding in his place. The narrative is both a celebration of rural life and a cautionary tale, as the author tells of draining his family's savings and kids' college accounts, dealing with duplicitous neighbors and dishonest breeders, and nearly ruining his health in his efforts to establish a money-making sheep farm. Along the way he provides a portrait of the loveliness and brutality of Appalachian Ohio, as he learns that decisions based on sentimentality have very little place in the daily slog of running a farm. Yet Gilbert perseveres, achieving some success while gaining a clearer understanding of the forces that drive him and that drove his father. VERDICT Highly recommended for those considering a move toward an agrarian lifestyle. This book is also for fans of Joel Salatin ("Fields of Farmers") and anyone interested in small farming, raising animals, or artisanal food production.--Rachel Owens, Daytona State Coll. Lib., FL

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