ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This was a big project, and I most certainly didn’t do it alone.

This book may never have been completed without the assistance of Melanie Trice, whose research, writing, and positive attitude made this project manageable. I’m also grateful to Katherine Jansen, who jumped right in to help toward the end as if she’d been writing about tanning leather and butchering pigs her whole life.

Illustrator James Balkovek has spoiled me forever—he interpreted my words with expert precision and with very little guidance on my part, for which I’m very grateful.

Thanks, always, to the rest of the Skyhorse team, who make writing and publishing such a joy. An especially warm thanks to Tony Lyons who has given me countless opportunities to tackle “impossible” projects and been wonderfully supportive through each one. He had the idea for this book years ago and I’m grateful that he entrusted it to me. Thanks also to Bill Wolfsthal and Katherine Men-none, who do the side of publishing I know least about and do it very well, to Julie Matysik and Yvette Grant for their careful eyes, and to Brian Peterson for the great cover.

Finally, thanks to my husband Tim, who can chop wood, haul logs, tap maple trees, build anything, and cook some of the best meals I’ve ever tasted. He’s the real deal.