Sylvia Jorrin

Dream-like little essays about this odd woman's life, running a farm in the Catskills with many beloved sheep and a large assortment of outlandishly named animals. In general I want something a little different from a farm memoir -- a little more concrete how-to or how it happens and a little less meditative storying. She won me over, though, with excellent prose and the painting of wonderful mental images. Slow, savory and lit from within.

This second collection lacks direction -- while the stories have a certain charm, the lack of timeline or linear progression bothered me. Also, stories told once would crop up again, later in the collection but almost identically written. It felt like a poorly edited jumble.

Charming musings from a back-to-the-lander. She's turned into a real and true farmer, but has kept her sensibilities. I could be friends with her.

A woman becomes farmer & shepherd, working chiefly alone in a 35 room house with various outbuildings including a barn (its loft collapses). She is a cook, a gardener, works terribly hard in cold weather in the house & out of the house. She loves her animals and raises them chiefly for wool, eggs, milk rather than selling them as food. Does her life seem selfish? I thought this was a surprisingly beautiful book.