Customer Reviews

A Very Small Farm

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed every page and how beauty is found in the small every day life that transpires on the farm. The animal companionship, the rewards of sowing and reaping, the well thought out strategies for self sufficiency. If you're looking to get off the corporate treadmill or break from the collective madness of modern society, here's a book to get you started on your way. The fact that the farm is on 20 acres brings this lifestyle into home range for others aspiring to slow down to nature's pace and experience nature's glory on a daily basis. Two thumbs up for this book - it has even inspired me to plant my first vegetable garden!

This book was written by a neighbor who lives only half a mile from my house. He is so modest that we had known him and bought milk from him for six months before some other neighbor told us he had written a book. This is a man who has made a personal decision to live a simpler and more honest life. He makes practically everything he uses including his house and his furniture. He also has the hometown values that make me remember "The Waltons" on TV. His book quietly lets you in on the good times and the hard times. I just petted Isabel (his milk cow) this morning and both her and William are doing fine. People who are feeling rushed and harried would do well to drop into the book and dream of a life not many Americans are still living. Certainly not many with college degrees in Biology like William!

Once in a great while I stumble upon a book that rings of truth and settles into my imagination. Subtle and unpretentious, Mr. Winchester reveals a world slowed down that makes sense. If you like clouds, dirt, paths, bread, outbuildings, cows, fields and the sound of the wind, you'll probably enjoy this book very much.

This book started out rather dull and almost lost me after the first few chapters...I even told my wife that I doubted I'd finish...then, all of a sudden, the story got interesting. The author might be a tad idiosyncratic, but he seems honest and by the end I came to appreciate his words and observations.

This beautiful little book is one of my favories. I read it every winter and it reminds me why I try harder every year to live a simple life. I wish Mr. Winchester would write more.

This lovely small book was a delight to read. The author made a considered and deliberate decision, at a very young age (while still in college) to lead a simpler life, close to the earth. I really admire his adherence to his principles and his problem -solving skills in a time when we all just call someone else to do things.

I loved reading about the methods he used for farming, building, and general survival with none of what we consider the amenities of life. I found myself feeling very calm as I read this book....a sure sign that the conveniences of modern life bring stress with them!

While a bit on the fringes of what is possible for most folks this little book does provide some very good glimpses of the virtues and rewards of simplicity as a life-style. I plan on returning to it again someday and would recommend it.

My sister found this book at our local library, and I was very shocked to see it. For he must just live a couple of miles away. I was very blessed to read such good writing and to be assured the old ways, are not being forgotten.

This is one of those books that sneak up on you and before you know it you are finished and wish that you had only just began. It is unfortunate that the reviewer from Tulsa, Ok felt the need to read his perversions into this book and it's sweetly innocent look at a simple life, it proves that some people just don't get it. I think of this book almost every day, in one way or another as a way to remind myself to live a more peaceful, less busy life. Thank you William Paul Winchester for a beautiful gift of a book. I think many people would welcome another.

I saw this small book on a display table in a bookstore in Arlington,Texas. I walked by it several times before picking it up.When I did open it,I read"There is an air of permanence and stability...",and I bought it.I had come back to Texas to bury an elderly aunt,and help with the sale of her home,and all the legal issues for my surviving aunt.Long gone were all the woods and small town days I remembered Arlington to be. The witness of very centered writing about a very small farm helped me remember the importance of everyday choices,and support my aunt's new life.Permanence and stability were her goals. The apparent ease of his writing is much like sitting on a friend's front porch,reviewing the day. The year spent on his pages has brought me back to that book more times than I can count. The author includes all the senses in his descriptions of his days and nights,and makes me want a tall glass of iced tea (home grown mint)when he writes of the summer heat. I think the clincher for realism came when he addressed the eating of the chickens. How absolutely Natural to become the "_winter meat,after they have enjoyed their perfect summer".But the portion I have shared with my friends and my aunt,gardeners all,is the following passage:"Even if something should come along to snatch the farm away, I would go on living as the experience has taught me- deliberately,taking things as they come,in control as much as possible of my own destiny,and farming as I could. In a pot,if it came to that,in a south window>"....How much of loss comes from not knowing what we really need?