Imagine a large family gathering. There are a couple of cousins who have never met before, a teacher from New York and a lifetime Vermonter. Over yonder are four bearded brothers talking to Uncle Philip, who sells life insurance. Sitting in the corner is Aunt Sarah who, raises hens.This book is a bit like such a gathering. The essays in it, all concerned with countryish things, range from intensely practical to mildly literary. Transplanted from New York fifteen years ago and now a real life Vermont farmer, Noel Perrin candidly admits to hilarious early mistakes ('In Search of the Perfect Fence Post') while presenting down-to-earth advice on such rural necessities as 'Sugaring on $15 a Year,' 'Raising Sheep,' and 'Making Butter in the Kitchen.'But as everyone who has read his essay in The New Yorker, Country Journal, and Vermont Life will confirm, not everything Perrin writes is strictly about the exigencies of country life. While one essay seems to discuss the use of wooden sap buckets, it really addresses the nature of illusion and reality as they co-exist in rural places. Another forewarns those who consider the country of idyllic retreat. This is a delightful book, and twelve marvelous vignettes by Stephen Harvard accompany the text.

First Person Rural

Literature & Fiction

Perrin, Noel

Capaccio, George

Essays & Correspondence

Scarecrow Enterprises

<p>Story of a Philadelphia couple's transformation from urbanites to upcountry farmers</p>

Moving Upcountry

Mitchell, Don

Karl Schwenke, a transplanted urbanite, tells stories, sometimes uproariously funny, sometimes sad, about his encounters with pigs, neighbors and newcomers in a small country town. The author has a sharp ear for dialogue, for the human qualities of pigs and the piglike qualities of humans. Schwenke's finely honed writing makes the pleasures and heartaches of rural life particularly vivid.

In a Pig's Eye

Schwenke, Karl

Curtis, Will

Cooking at The Natural Gourmet

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

Stark, Debra

Cooking Methods

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Books by Scarecrow Enterprises