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Through the Farm Gate: A Life on the Land
From a childhood spent yabbying and riding horses on friends' farms where the sun always shone, Angela Goode has always wanted to live on a farm of her own. With the handsome cattleman her friends set her up with, she finds her romantic illusions of country life under challenge.
From one large cattle stud Angela and her cattleman husband Charlie move to another, this time with city partners. Here she is caught in the divide between city and country values, her past and her present. Land and animals are pushed hard, as farmers battle the drought under escalating interest rates.
Angela and Charlie's dream of becoming start-from-scratch farmers is at last possible when they find the run-down 'Field of Mars', a former sheep and onion farm, and home to endangered wildlife and rare trees. Slowly, they integrate cattle with rare wildlife, business with conservation, and make a life on the farm raising cattle and growing lucerne seed.
Through the Farm Gate takes us through the pain, the joys, the fears, dedication and complexity of what it takes to live on the land. Angela's honesty and her enduring love affair with the farm shines through every page of this funny, heartwarming memoir of dreams and determination.
From one large cattle stud Angela and her cattleman husband Charlie move to another, this time with city partners. Here she is caught in the divide between city and country values, her past and her present. Land and animals are pushed hard, as farmers battle the drought under escalating interest rates.
Angela and Charlie's dream of becoming start-from-scratch farmers is at last possible when they find the run-down 'Field of Mars', a former sheep and onion farm, and home to endangered wildlife and rare trees. Slowly, they integrate cattle with rare wildlife, business with conservation, and make a life on the farm raising cattle and growing lucerne seed.
Through the Farm Gate takes us through the pain, the joys, the fears, dedication and complexity of what it takes to live on the land. Angela's honesty and her enduring love affair with the farm shines through every page of this funny, heartwarming memoir of dreams and determination.
336 pages, Paperback
First published November 20, 2013
16 people want to read
About the author
Angela Goode
14 books1 followerAngela Goode misguidedly began paying compliments to working dogs as possibly the only employees that never went on strike. She inadvertently unleashed wagging tails of agreement around the nation. The result was GREAT WORKING DOG STORIES (1990), MORE GREAT WORKING DOG STORIES (1992) and WORKING DOGS, STORIES FROM ALL ROUND AUSTRALIA (1993) - books which she compiled, edited and wrote along with dog owners far and wide. These three books, comprising about 330 tributes to canine workers, now appear in one volume - GREAT AUSTRALIAN WORKING DOG STORIES. Angela lives on a cattle farm near Naracoorte, South Australia.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 28, 2018
As a city person with no rural experience who often ruminates on the thought of starting a new life in the Australian countryside, this book was disabused me of my assumption of a relatively an easy life on the land.
Angela Goode knows exactly how and why city people romanticise a a life in the country, because she was that person who made the move herself from Adelaide's leafy eastern suburbs to a farm in the 1970's, and secondly because she sees it repeated time and again.
The Country offers all the beauty that people imagine: the vast spaces, fruit orchards and vegetable gardens as large as you'd like, beautiful wildlife, a connection to nature. Romantic portrayals of the land usually then reveal some of the challenges, like snakes in your yard, rabbits eating your food. But there are harsh realities that people don't tend to assume: drought that renders you helpless in the world's driest inhabited continent; price collapses of whatever you're growing (in Angela's case it was Hereford studs); skyrocketing interest rates leaving farmers to pine in penury and eventually homelessness or even suicide; nonstop work seven days a week with no holidays; unscrupulous money-men who sell impossible dreams to investors doomed to lose their savings in farming ventures they know nothing about; and the high rates of cancer among farmers almost certainly from widespread pesticides that salesmen and government authorities assure are safe.
There are many humorous anecdotes in the book too. I particularly enjoyed the new neighbours from the city who complain that the weaning cows are mooing too loudly and that there's no weekly rubbish collection, among other things. There are bemusing anecdotes too, like the farmer who decides to dispose of a poisonous chemical by emptying it in the underground water source as though that solved the problem.
This is a valuable read for any urban person who assumes they know about farming or are considering a tree change. I always assumed moving the country would offer freedom from annoying neighbours, but even there that's not guaranteed. And hopefully you don't purchase that property where the farmer disposed of cancerous chemicals in the water source you assume must be clean and healthy because it's natural from under the ground.
Angela Goode knows exactly how and why city people romanticise a a life in the country, because she was that person who made the move herself from Adelaide's leafy eastern suburbs to a farm in the 1970's, and secondly because she sees it repeated time and again.
The Country offers all the beauty that people imagine: the vast spaces, fruit orchards and vegetable gardens as large as you'd like, beautiful wildlife, a connection to nature. Romantic portrayals of the land usually then reveal some of the challenges, like snakes in your yard, rabbits eating your food. But there are harsh realities that people don't tend to assume: drought that renders you helpless in the world's driest inhabited continent; price collapses of whatever you're growing (in Angela's case it was Hereford studs); skyrocketing interest rates leaving farmers to pine in penury and eventually homelessness or even suicide; nonstop work seven days a week with no holidays; unscrupulous money-men who sell impossible dreams to investors doomed to lose their savings in farming ventures they know nothing about; and the high rates of cancer among farmers almost certainly from widespread pesticides that salesmen and government authorities assure are safe.
There are many humorous anecdotes in the book too. I particularly enjoyed the new neighbours from the city who complain that the weaning cows are mooing too loudly and that there's no weekly rubbish collection, among other things. There are bemusing anecdotes too, like the farmer who decides to dispose of a poisonous chemical by emptying it in the underground water source as though that solved the problem.
This is a valuable read for any urban person who assumes they know about farming or are considering a tree change. I always assumed moving the country would offer freedom from annoying neighbours, but even there that's not guaranteed. And hopefully you don't purchase that property where the farmer disposed of cancerous chemicals in the water source you assume must be clean and healthy because it's natural from under the ground.
June 29, 2014
A 'Goode' read, strongly recommended. This book flooded me with memories of the time in my own life when I made the transition to country life, much about the same time as Goode was finding her feet after leaving behind a successful career as a journalist. She puts into words so much of what I felt and experiences during those years and paints wonderful word pictures of all that was beautiful and challenging about that new lifestyle. Goode's passion to build urban dwellers' understanding and respect for their country cousins shines through this book, as does her now well-credentialled commitment to farming sustainably and respectfully within the ancient Australian environment.
January 14, 2014
A very honest and thought provoking account of life on the land - I think it's a book all city folk need to read to help them understand the complexities and variances of life on the land. It certainly opened my eyes on a number of issues I remember being reported about in the media in my late teens/early twenties and even battles they continue to face today.
It certainly puts a lot of things into perspective!
It certainly puts a lot of things into perspective!
November 30, 2013
What a great read. Angela Goode paints a realistic picture of life on the land. Part of her book aims to inform people who live in the city of what life living on the land entails. She wants to bring an understanding to the city dwellers of why certain practices are done in the country. The other part is a biography of her life.
December 2, 2019
My neighbour recommended this, and I wasn't disappointed. Have read plenty of Angela's newspaper columns over the years, great to read more about her life in country SA
November 27, 2013
Through the Farm Gate: A Life on the Land is a memoir by Angela Goode, journalist, farmer and mother. Despite the excitement of her city life, Angela willingly gives it up when she meets and marries cattle breeder, Charlie Goode. She had always yearned to live on a farm after spending many childhood summers at the properties of family friends, and looked forward to the romance of fresh air and wholesome country goodness. Angela's enthusiasm is barely dented by the reality of farming - early mornings, hard work and financial penury - and quickly settles in at Nyroca, the 10,000-acre sheep and cattle property in Adelaide where Charlie manages the largest Murray Grey stud in Australia.
In between raising her four daughters, baking and the occasional muster, Goode resurrects her journalism career in those early years by writing a column for the state paper about country life. At first the articles are lighthearted anecdotes about Angela's attempt to fit in to her new environment but soon her columns begin to address more serious issues such as land and animal management, in a attempt to inform her city readership about the realities of rural Australian life.
Over the next few decades, Goode grows increasingly concerned by what she sees as the divide between city and country especially as the farming sector rides a wave of financial boom and bust, drought, flood and fire. We follow her family as they move from stud to stud, facing various challenges, all while they dream of one day owning their own land.
Angela's honest account of farming life is an eye opening journey for the suburban inhabitants who have lost touch with the vital role primary producers play in society. Goode tries to bridge the gap between the two worlds by sharing the reality of managing the nations most valuable resources. It is perhaps a little preachy at times but Goode writes sensibly about complex issues such as sheep crutching, the use of pesticides and the vagaries of government policies.
I found Through the Farm Gate to be a thought provoking and well written memoir about Goode's experiences of life in regional Australia, her love for the land, and her passion for uniting city and country for the mutual benefit of both.
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February 25, 2014Through The Farm Gate is a beautifully written book. Angela’s writing skills paint the reader clear pictures of sprawling fields, trees on the brink of extinction, the stress and strain felt by not only the farmers but also their wives, who often have little opportunity to share their fears and are frequently unaware of the true financial pressures on their farms. We learn about conservation, government policies, tragedies and celebrations and at times Angela focuses heavily on political displacements between city and country funding. I found some of these sections less inviting to read, but it certainly informed and educated me.
Read the full review here: http://blog.thatbookyoulike.com.au/ch...
Read the full review here: http://blog.thatbookyoulike.com.au/ch...
March 21, 2015
I love anything farm related so I have to admit that bias straight up. This book had some darn good stuff in it but it was a bit all over the shop. Lucky my brain works like that too so we got along alright. Just like any really good game it got decidedly better toward the last quarter. It's a bit of a pity in a book though. Took a long time to get started a bit like the old wind up tractor Dad used to own when I was ten. Apart from that though this book still had much to offer. I enjoyed the read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews