Chronicling nearly nine decades of life and work on a Maine farm, this memoir by Will and Minnie Penney presents a wonderful look back at rural life before and during the Depression, in the heady post-war years, and late, as family farms began to give way to larger industrial farms. The Penney's adapted to change by adjusting the way they farmed, focusing on fewer crops, adding dairy cows to their stock, even harvesting trees from the woodlot and cutting them into lumberwith the farm's lumber mill. Through it all the Penney's toughed it out and thrived on their slice of Maine heaven. The Penney Farm in Belgrade, Maine, remained in the family for more than one hundred and fifty years. Eighty-Eighth Years on a Maine Farm is part Will Penney's personal memoir and part Minnie's diary. Together, they show readers just what everyday life on a busy Maine farm was like.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The triumphant true story of a woman who rode her horse across America in the 1950s, fulfilling her dying wish to see the Pacific Ocean, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Horse and The Eighty-Dollar Champion “The gift Elizabeth Letts has is that she makes you feel you are the one taking this trip. This is a book we can enjoy always but especially need now.”—Elizabeth Berg, author of The Story of Arthur Truluv In 1954, sixty-three-year-old Maine farmer Annie Wilkins embarked on an impossible journey. She had no money and no family, she had just lost her farm, and her doctor had given her only two years to live. But Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. She ignored her doctor’s advice to move into the county charity home. Instead, she bought a cast-off brown gelding named Tarzan, donned men’s dungarees, and headed south in mid-November, hoping to beat the snow. Annie had little idea what to expect beyond her rural crossroads; she didn’t even have a map. But she did have her ex-racehorse, her faithful mutt, and her own unfailing belief that Americans would treat a stranger with kindness. Annie, Tarzan, and her dog, Depeche Toi, rode straight into a world transformed by the rapid construction of modern highways. Between 1954 and 1956, the three travelers pushed through blizzards, forded rivers, climbed mountains, and clung to the narrow shoulder as cars whipped by them at terrifying speeds. Annie rode more than four thousand miles, through America’s big cities and small towns. Along the way, she met ordinary people and celebrities—from Andrew Wyeth (who sketched Tarzan) to Art Linkletter and Groucho Marx. She received many offers—a permanent home at a riding stable in New Jersey, a job at a gas station in rural Kentucky, even a marriage proposal from a Wyoming rancher. In a decade when car ownership nearly tripled, when television’s influence was expanding fast, when homeowners began locking their doors, Annie and her four-footed companions inspired an outpouring of neighborliness in a rapidly changing world.
"[Chickenology] has found a prominent place at my farm in the book shelf where we keep our favorites books"— Isabella Rossellini Chickenology takes young readers on a fascinating and informative tour of chickens. With a playful tone and irresistibly charming illustrations by rising star Camilla Pintonato, this lively visual encyclopedia presents chickens in all of their feathered glory. Discover the incredible variety of chickens with different origins, breeds, and feather patterns. Learn incredible facts: did you know that chickens can learn to count up to four and have excellent hearing? Many even like to listen to music! A great educational book, covering: • Different breeds of chickens, like Padovana and Silkie • The difference between roosters and hens • How chicks are formed in the egg • Chickens sounds and noises • Chicken anatomy and feather anatomy and colors • Chickens and eggs around the world • Chicken history and folklore • Raising chickens at home • Chickens as pets Chickenology is the perfect animal book for nature and animal loving young readers, chicken enthusiasts, chicken farmers, and pet chicken owners alike! "Prepare to be fascinated by the varied world of chickens, presented here in charming detail....Endearingly dubbing chickens 'irresistible companions,' this educational overview of all things chicken is bound to hatch some new enthusiasts."—ALA/Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
This is the history of Donald Keene's family down through the ages. It is a varied and fascinating history. This Keene lineage can trace its ancestry through at least two lines that came to this continent on the Mayflower. Some were very involved in the Revolution, and the Civil War, as well as served honorably in World War II, and Don served during the VietNam conflict. I have spent several years researching this line, and it is the stories and origins that make it so interesting. As in all family histories, it is not just the names and dates that make up who we are, but where we have been and where we came from.
