acknowledgments

The credit for content herein goes to my daughter Veronica. She carried me to this land and worked at my side to explore the joys, hard work, and wonders of raising farm animals and growing our own food. To think it all began with a tiny pack of carrot seeds and some really cute gardening gloves! “Let’s do it together, Mom.”

Although I have been the fingers at the keyboard, not one word of this book would have been possible without the cocreation and collaboration of ideals and understanding from a long list of supportive friends, old-time farmers, and personal resources. Special thanks to Don and Shelley Douglas, Erin Neese, Jennifer and Curtis Foster, David and Lucille Burke, David and Diane Peck, Richard and Julie Koster, Linda Ann Hart and Drew Freymond, my budding list of photographers, and the thousands of subscribers who have e-mailed accounts of their own adventures in farm life for the past ten years via GoodByeCityLife.com

To Ann Treistman, who repeatedly challenged and graciously assisted me in the personal adventure of writing a book for print publication. Thanks also to the rest of the team at Skyhorse Publishing: Tony Lyons, Bill Wolfsthal, Abigail Gehring, Cat Kovach, Ashley Albert, and last but not least, designer LeAnna Weller Smith.

A very special thanks to my candid husband of the last six years, Eric Kleinoder. Without him I would have brought every animal into the house when temperatures dipped below freezing and spent my life savings on raising pigs, chickens, goats, and sheep well past their point of value. Pugnaciousness aside and without judgment, today he’ll gently smile while he trips over the orphaned calf spending a few nights in our laundry room and the broody hen nesting in the basement. One important lesson I’ve learned from Eric, one which every new and tenderhearted farmer needs to at least partially understand, is: “These animals may be intelligent, may show appreciation and acceptance of their keeper, but it is a mistake to put every human emotion on an animal.”