Heeeeey everyone! I'm keeping up with tradition and writing about this month's title at the last possible moment despite having actually finished it about a week ago... But we're three months in now so it really is a tradition.
I'm kind of amazed with myself that I'm keeping up with the reading so far, and actually I'm really enjoying this whole book a month reading. I think I'm going to read all the long series I have on my TBR like this from now on!
I wasn't looking forward to wrenching myself away from Laura's world into Almanzo's this month but oh my goodness I adored this book! I think it helped that I started it when I was hungry and the first few chapters are basically all just descriptions of really big amazing sounding meals that the Wilder family have.
So, while the Ingalls family were out on the prairie, building their own house and digging wells and so on, Almanzo's father is a pretty successful farmer in New York State. Farmer Boy sticks very much with the tone of the series so far, and follows the 'things that happen throughout the year' format of the previous two books. I really love this format, because you know that you'll start off in a season and come full circle and end up back in the same season. I am so comforted by the seasonality of the books, and it's lovely to remember that this is the way that we should all be living - eating stuff when it actually grows somewhere near us, whether that's in our back garden or just locally, thinking ahead and attempting to actually support ourselves.I'm carrying on with the 'these books make me feel lazy' theme of the previous two months, because they do. Almanzo is ten by the time the book ends and he's already training his own farm animals and helping to plant and harvest entire fields of crops!
I could critique this book (and the series in general) but honestly I just don't want to because I really enjoy them. They are such comfort reads and very motivating for me personally in terms of my 'grow all our groceries in our garden' plans and I love it.
Bring on April!
If you want more info on the read-along that's running all year or to join us for a month (or all of them!) you can find all the details here.
Hahaha! Me, too! Well, I feel like these books support that my kids do not do enough work, and they have it too easy. I already know I'm lazy and couldn't or wouldn't do half of what these women did to keep up their homes and feed their families. (The chapter on separating the fat from the bones or meat made me sick. Yuck! I can't even stand touching raw chicken from my grocery store.)
ReplyDeleteLol, I agree with you all, we have it so easy! I do want to start gardening now after reading this one. I am really intrigued about the milk and pumpkins and I have heard that is how the large ones for the state fairs are grown.
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