This book would be nothing without Ryan Roth, Phil and Jill Jerde, Kevin O’Dare, Fidel Gonzalez, Gabe Brown, and all of their families. These folks welcomed me to their farms and, in some cases, into their homes, giving me entire days during the busiest seasons. They patiently answered my questions and explained their work with openness, good humor, and honesty. Each of them inspired my argument in different ways, and I am grateful for not only their help and time, but also their friendship.
I was blessed to have a community of talented writers and professors surrounding me during the writing of this book. Ayşe Papatya Bucak, Katherine Schmitt, and Andrew Furman read multiple drafts and offered insightful commentary, and they encouraged me on the road to publication. They also shared their creative wisdom in graduate writing workshops while I sought my MFA degree at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), and they remain valued mentors and friends. Thank you to the many friends and colleagues who read chapters of this book in workshops and gave thoughtful revision advice. My sincere thanks to FAU’s English Department for providing the generous graduate assistantship that funded my MFA and generated this work, and for the Swann Award that helped support the writing of it. Thank you to FAU’s College of Arts and Letters for granting two Advisory Board Graduate Student Awards that funded research-related travel. I would also like to thank Patrick Hicks, Janet Blank-Libra, and Jeffrey Miller for their meaningful contributions to my writing and thinking while I was an undergraduate student at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
My agent, Matthew DiGangi at Bresnick Weil Literary Agency, steered me expertly through the publishing process by finding the right press, advocating for me tirelessly, and cheering me on. I am grateful for his expertise, insightful critiques, and unwavering optimism. I would also like to say thank you to the entire team at University of Nebraska Press for their excellent work in everything from cover design to publicity and beyond. I am especially grateful for my acquiring editor, Bridget Barry. She saw a spark in this manuscript and took the risk of signing a new writer, for which I am very thankful. Many thanks to copyeditor Karen Brown for an exceptionally thorough and perceptive manuscript review. This book was much improved by her attention to detail.
My parents, Leslie and Cathy Johnson, deserve the highest praise a child can give. They loved and encouraged me from the moment they brought me into this world. I am thankful for the beautiful childhood they gave me on the ranch, for their patience with me over the years, and for understanding why I needed to write this particular book (and for agreeing to appear in it, no matter what I wrote). My sisters, Anna Johnson and Charlotte Johnson, and brother, Joshua Johnson, are also my cheerleaders and very best friends, and I am grateful now and always for their love and reassurance.
Last but in no way least, I want to thank my husband, Ryan Anderson, who believed in me when I left a perfectly good career in communications to become a writer and teacher, who understood when I spent nights writing and weekends traveling, and who urged me on when the going got tough. He inspires and sharpens my work, and he wants me to be myself, no matter what. There is no one else I’d rather create a book or a life with.