Margaret Coleman

I chose to review this book for obvious reasons....I now find myself living a farm life and loving it. It is an amazing amount of work and when I think back to the women who settled the West I cannot imagine how they did it. I have my KitchenAid, my CuisinArt and all manner of machines to help me along. Those intrepid women did not. Not to mention that they also had to do the laundry by hand. I am most grateful to be living in the time of the steam washer and gas dryer. Although I do hang my laundry in the summer.

But that is neither here nor there regarding this delightful book. While the stories in the book are specific to Montgomery County Maryland, they tell tales that I am sure took place on farms all over the country. Prior to modern times - and given some of the comments I have heard around my rural town currently - woman were nothing more than property belonging to the men they married. But without them the farms that helped this nation rise to greatness would have fallen apart.

Work days that began before the sun rose and ended well after it set kept farm women strong and more engaged in the business of the farm than I think the men realized. The tales start with founding of the county, move through the two World Wars and into today. To me the most striking tales were the ones from the Great Depression. It was a group of women banding together who managed to save the farms in the area. It made for fascinating reading.

There are a few recipes in the book - maybe 3 or 4 - to showcase how things were made at various times in history. We have the Quakers to thank for this delightful history; they were/are excellent journal keepers.

I truly enjoyed reading this book and I think any one who is now on a small farmstead would also enjoy the stories of these strong women.… (más)