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The Land Remembers: The Story of a Farm and Its People
This beloved American memoir is about a farm and its people, recollections of a boyhood in Wisconsin's Driftless region. Ben Logan grew up on Seldom Seen Farm with his three brothers, father, mother, and hired hand Lyle. The boys discussed and argued and joked over the events around their farm, marked the seasons by the demands of the land, and tested each other and themselves.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 10, 1975
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 121 reviews
November 11, 2025
Ben Logan recollects his childhood growing up on a farm in Wisconsin. His affinity for the land comes through in a quiet, steadfast manner as he shows how the land connects us in intricate and unexpected ways.
The stories describe the rural life and are familiar, if not quite as poignant, to those who grew up neighbors to the countryside. The sentiments are gradually being lost to time and progress, with memoirs of new generations being built from and formed through other connections.
As much a tribute to family as it is to the land and the rural lifestyle, and worth the read for the slice-of-life view of Americana farm culture, which has dwindled considerably since the days of Ben Logan's youth.
The stories describe the rural life and are familiar, if not quite as poignant, to those who grew up neighbors to the countryside. The sentiments are gradually being lost to time and progress, with memoirs of new generations being built from and formed through other connections.
As much a tribute to family as it is to the land and the rural lifestyle, and worth the read for the slice-of-life view of Americana farm culture, which has dwindled considerably since the days of Ben Logan's youth.
October 24, 2017
It is hard for city-dwellers to know what rural life is/was like. Particularly, now when those on the farm are such a small minority of the USA's population. That wasn't always the case, and Ben Logan's book is an almost poetic reminiscence of growing up on a farm in Wisconsin.
Reading the major newspapers on either coast, or listening to the national news, it is rare when a reporter goes much beyond the usual stereotypes of those Americans who occupy America's Heartland. Logan did actually return to his boyhood farm when he was much older. He shares his thoughts about what it was like in the couple of decades before World War II.
The farm was several hundred acres of cropland, pasture and forest. The nearest neighbor was over a half mile away. Logan and his three brothers knew every inch of it.
He crystalizes tiny elements of rural life, and the beauty is in the details -
His description of daily chores;
The family and neighbors;
How parents help their children to grow up with confidence and take responsibility;
How their rural values help to deal with tragedy; and,
What was necessary, not on a mega farm, but one that could give only subsistence, to make it to the next year.
Logan's observations of the seasons were special touches ("Wisconsin has six months of winter and three months of late fall"), as were some about the nature of rural character. One example: Their farm was on a hilltop, and the family believed that there were two kinds of people --- those who chose to live on the ridge and those who chose to live in the valley. You'll have to read the book to discover the humorous differences and whether they ring true. For me, most of the book was right on target.
Reading the major newspapers on either coast, or listening to the national news, it is rare when a reporter goes much beyond the usual stereotypes of those Americans who occupy America's Heartland. Logan did actually return to his boyhood farm when he was much older. He shares his thoughts about what it was like in the couple of decades before World War II.
The farm was several hundred acres of cropland, pasture and forest. The nearest neighbor was over a half mile away. Logan and his three brothers knew every inch of it.
He crystalizes tiny elements of rural life, and the beauty is in the details -
His description of daily chores;
The family and neighbors;
How parents help their children to grow up with confidence and take responsibility;
How their rural values help to deal with tragedy; and,
What was necessary, not on a mega farm, but one that could give only subsistence, to make it to the next year.
Logan's observations of the seasons were special touches ("Wisconsin has six months of winter and three months of late fall"), as were some about the nature of rural character. One example: Their farm was on a hilltop, and the family believed that there were two kinds of people --- those who chose to live on the ridge and those who chose to live in the valley. You'll have to read the book to discover the humorous differences and whether they ring true. For me, most of the book was right on target.
June 2, 2022
Review originally published December 2013
December is a time of quiet reflection on good memories with my family. My father used to share many stories of his youth and growing up on a farm. It could be the reason I chose to write about my favorite book, The Land Remembers, by Ben Logan.
The story takes place on a farm near Gays Mills in southwest Wisconsin in the 1930s. Ben is the youngest of four boys. He is a keenly observant writer who makes you feel like you are sitting in the room during his stories.
He often ponders on the wonder of seeds. They can lay dormant for years, and when placed in the land and properly tended, they go through the cycle of life and produce more seeds.
One of my favorite stories happens when the boys are exploring the woods. They like to find hickory saplings and shimmy up the trunk until the tip bends over and touches the ground. At this point, all climbers should simultaneously let go and watch the tree sway back and forth. During one excursion, all went well until Ben didn’t let go, so he held on tight and rode the tree back and forth until he could safely slide down.
Another favorite story involves the family entertainment during a blizzard. Their mom gives them encyclopedias, so they read the fun facts to each other and then begin acting out the different people and places in the world. There are so many more memories that Ben writes about as the seasons change on the farm. When he goes into detail about the smells, sounds, and sights of the land and home, you are there with him. You finish this book with the feeling that you can go home again and the land remembers you.
This is an old favorite of many readers, but there’s a new generation that hasn’t read this book since it was first published in 1975. You can find The Land Remembers at your La Crosse County Library, located in Holmen, West Salem, Bangor, Campbell, or Onalaska. You can also reserve the book by visiting the county library website, www.lacrossecountylibrary.org
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
December is a time of quiet reflection on good memories with my family. My father used to share many stories of his youth and growing up on a farm. It could be the reason I chose to write about my favorite book, The Land Remembers, by Ben Logan.
The story takes place on a farm near Gays Mills in southwest Wisconsin in the 1930s. Ben is the youngest of four boys. He is a keenly observant writer who makes you feel like you are sitting in the room during his stories.
He often ponders on the wonder of seeds. They can lay dormant for years, and when placed in the land and properly tended, they go through the cycle of life and produce more seeds.
One of my favorite stories happens when the boys are exploring the woods. They like to find hickory saplings and shimmy up the trunk until the tip bends over and touches the ground. At this point, all climbers should simultaneously let go and watch the tree sway back and forth. During one excursion, all went well until Ben didn’t let go, so he held on tight and rode the tree back and forth until he could safely slide down.
Another favorite story involves the family entertainment during a blizzard. Their mom gives them encyclopedias, so they read the fun facts to each other and then begin acting out the different people and places in the world. There are so many more memories that Ben writes about as the seasons change on the farm. When he goes into detail about the smells, sounds, and sights of the land and home, you are there with him. You finish this book with the feeling that you can go home again and the land remembers you.
This is an old favorite of many readers, but there’s a new generation that hasn’t read this book since it was first published in 1975. You can find The Land Remembers at your La Crosse County Library, located in Holmen, West Salem, Bangor, Campbell, or Onalaska. You can also reserve the book by visiting the county library website, www.lacrossecountylibrary.org
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
July 6, 2022
I chose this as my bedtime reading, and it turned out to be great for that. Growing up on a Wisconsin farm in the 1930's may have been a simpler time, but it certainly wasn't easy, so when I turned off my light to sleep, I was exhausted just from all the work that had to be done. As one of the reviewers said when this book was published, "It's not nostalgia for my own past that The Land Remembers made me feel; it's nostalgia for a world he makes me wish I'd known."
Exactly. Except for the blizzards.
Exactly. Except for the blizzards.
November 26, 2017
"Once you have lived on the land, been a partner with it's moods, secrets, and seasons; The living land remembers, touching you in unguarded moments, saying, "I am here. You are a part of me."
And so begins The Land Remembers: The Story of a Farm and Its People.
This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. It touched my soul in a way that is indescribable. I will buy this book and keep it under lock and key, bringing it out to read again and again, memorizing parts to recall when I am 80. To plant seeds, nurture them, and see the results of your care is something that one will always remember. Affecting you in unnameable ways.
This beautiful book is about a man and his memories of growing up in a farming family and in a farming community where men still gather at the local store and discuss the weather, crops, livestock, and children. It is a book where life lessons are learned while sorting and planting seeds, and deep discussions with brothers and Mothers. This is the hardest review I have ever tried to write. How can one describe seeing the sun rise over acres and acres of corn glowing golden in the first rays of the morning sun? Or seeing your Father strapped to a plow drawn by horses humming as he works, or your Mother bent over freshly turned soil lovingly examining seed after tiny seed?
The Land Remembers will take you on a journey you will never forget. When I turned the last page I closed the book and wept at the beauty of Mr. Logan's words, and all I can say is it is a book I would recommend to everyone. It is a must read. And it is a book I will read again and again.
"Let the smell of mint touch me. I am kneeling along a little stream, the water numbing my hands as I reach for a trout. I feel the fish arch and struggle. I let it go, pulling watercress instead. Let me hear an odd whirring. I am deep in the woods, following an elusive sound, looking in vain for a last passenger pigeon, a feathered lightning I have never seen, unwilling to believe no person will ever see one.
Let me look from a window to see sunlight glitter on a winding stream and I am in a one-room schoolhouse . A young teacher has asked me to stay after school because of a question I asked. Voice full of emotion as it seldom is during a normal school day, she reads to me of an Indian speaking to his people. He sweeps his hand in a circle, taking in all lands, seas, creatures, and plants, all suns, stars, and moons. "We are a people, one tiny fragment in the immense mosaic of life. What are we without the corn, rabbit, sun, rain, and the deer? Know this my people. The all does not belong to us. We belong to the all."
Let me hear the seasons changing in the night. It is any season and I am every age I have ever been. Streams are wakening in the Spring, rain wets the dust of Summer, fallen apples ferment in an orchard, snow pelts the frozen land and puts stocking caps of white on fence posts. I cannot leave the land. The land remembers me. It says "I am here. You are a part of me."
Thank you HBalikov , for recommending this book to me. I owe you. Words can not express my gratitude. I will always remember this book, and the land, and those who came from it.
And so begins The Land Remembers: The Story of a Farm and Its People.
This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. It touched my soul in a way that is indescribable. I will buy this book and keep it under lock and key, bringing it out to read again and again, memorizing parts to recall when I am 80. To plant seeds, nurture them, and see the results of your care is something that one will always remember. Affecting you in unnameable ways.
This beautiful book is about a man and his memories of growing up in a farming family and in a farming community where men still gather at the local store and discuss the weather, crops, livestock, and children. It is a book where life lessons are learned while sorting and planting seeds, and deep discussions with brothers and Mothers. This is the hardest review I have ever tried to write. How can one describe seeing the sun rise over acres and acres of corn glowing golden in the first rays of the morning sun? Or seeing your Father strapped to a plow drawn by horses humming as he works, or your Mother bent over freshly turned soil lovingly examining seed after tiny seed?
The Land Remembers will take you on a journey you will never forget. When I turned the last page I closed the book and wept at the beauty of Mr. Logan's words, and all I can say is it is a book I would recommend to everyone. It is a must read. And it is a book I will read again and again.
"Let the smell of mint touch me. I am kneeling along a little stream, the water numbing my hands as I reach for a trout. I feel the fish arch and struggle. I let it go, pulling watercress instead. Let me hear an odd whirring. I am deep in the woods, following an elusive sound, looking in vain for a last passenger pigeon, a feathered lightning I have never seen, unwilling to believe no person will ever see one.
Let me look from a window to see sunlight glitter on a winding stream and I am in a one-room schoolhouse . A young teacher has asked me to stay after school because of a question I asked. Voice full of emotion as it seldom is during a normal school day, she reads to me of an Indian speaking to his people. He sweeps his hand in a circle, taking in all lands, seas, creatures, and plants, all suns, stars, and moons. "We are a people, one tiny fragment in the immense mosaic of life. What are we without the corn, rabbit, sun, rain, and the deer? Know this my people. The all does not belong to us. We belong to the all."
Let me hear the seasons changing in the night. It is any season and I am every age I have ever been. Streams are wakening in the Spring, rain wets the dust of Summer, fallen apples ferment in an orchard, snow pelts the frozen land and puts stocking caps of white on fence posts. I cannot leave the land. The land remembers me. It says "I am here. You are a part of me."
Thank you HBalikov , for recommending this book to me. I owe you. Words can not express my gratitude. I will always remember this book, and the land, and those who came from it.
May 23, 2016
This book parallels my own Grandpa's story so much. He gave it to me to read this month during my visit to Wisconsin. Just like the author of this book, my Grandpa was born in 1920's western Wisconsin. Like Ben Logan, he was raised on a farm with three boys in the family (and a sister). He worked the land with his family growing up and then ran his own farm while raising my mom and her siblings. I have talked to Grandpa so much about what it was like growing up through the Great Depression and World War II years, how it felt to work the land, be a part of the community. The land runs in his blood and it always will, and I feel a connection to it as well because of him. I adored this book and the author's writing style. I loved reading about his experiences and the glimpses that might have been a part of my own Grandpa's life. I enjoyed how the book was divided up into chapters revolving around the seasons of the year. I'm thankful Ben Logan wrote this and shared those parts of his life with the readers. It made me nostalgic for a place and time period I've never grown up in.
February 2, 2010
I first heard this book being read on Wisconsin Public Radio's "Chapter a Day." http://www.wpr.org/chapter/ Once I heard it I knew I needed to get a copy and read it. I've read it several times through and several times through to my boys as a bedtime story that lasted for a month or so. Logan in this book is able to capture life on a small farm in the upper midwest so well that you get nostalgic for a time you never even lived. One of my favorites books of all that I've read. Read it!
June 27, 2022
I read this book in about 1977, and loved it. My brother read it too, and it was then I learned my brother had hidden depths, as we discussed this book, our feelings about our native state, families and how farming impacted us even though we were not from a farming family.
This book should be offered as a choice in Midwest schools for students wanting to understand their region's history and culture.
This book should be offered as a choice in Midwest schools for students wanting to understand their region's history and culture.
March 4, 2009
I rarely re- read a book, but I thought this one deserved a look after the farm Ben Logan remebers was put in consevancy. I don't regret it at all! I loved the way he told the story and could picture every event he described....many were fascinating snapshots of life in an earlier time. In the afterward, he mentions that a reader wondered how you could feel nostalgic about a time and place you never knew......I now understand that feeling.
June 7, 2007
This is an absolutely wonderful book. The writing is pure poetry, and even though I grew up on a farm 50 years after Ben did, there are so many things that I could relate to. This is one book that I go back to over and over again to read bits and pieces again. So good.
June 3, 2015
Beautifully written memoir of the author's childhood on Wisconsin farm in the early 20th century. Ben Logan's parents instilled in him an amazing land ethic. This book belongs right up there with Aldo Leopold's "Sand County Almanac."
June 21, 2025
“Once you have lived on the land, been a partner with its mood, secrets, and seasons, you cannot leave. The living land remembers, touching you in unguarded moments, saying ‘I am here. You are part of me’”
“The farmstead stood on a hilltop, like a castle, like the center of the world.”
“For Mother spring really began with the coming of the birds. We would awake one morning and find the outside world alive with their voices, unbelievably rich and varied after the quiet birds of winter.”
Ben Logan grew up on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin. He beautifully details his early life, in this wonderful memoir, set in the 1930s. It is told in seasonal sections, beginning with spring and covers just about everything that happens in the operation of a
farm. His love of the land and his family resonates on nearly every page. This was written in 1975 and how I managed to overlook it for fifty years is truly baffling. Hey, I found it now and that is the main thing. Highly recommended.
“The farmstead stood on a hilltop, like a castle, like the center of the world.”
“For Mother spring really began with the coming of the birds. We would awake one morning and find the outside world alive with their voices, unbelievably rich and varied after the quiet birds of winter.”
Ben Logan grew up on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin. He beautifully details his early life, in this wonderful memoir, set in the 1930s. It is told in seasonal sections, beginning with spring and covers just about everything that happens in the operation of a
farm. His love of the land and his family resonates on nearly every page. This was written in 1975 and how I managed to overlook it for fifty years is truly baffling. Hey, I found it now and that is the main thing. Highly recommended.
August 20, 2013
Loved this book, it is autobiographical, relating the author's early life growing up on a farm in SW Wisconsin, his Norwegian father, devoted, hard working mother, older brothers, neighbors and school mates. All wonderfully written, and a good read of times gone by.
August 28, 2008
Read this in college for a land stewardship class, then again just a few months ago. So well written, and if you like the outdoors or the "romance" of simple farm life, this is a great book to read.
August 26, 2024
So good. Author has a talent for making you feel part of the family; like his experiences are yours
December 24, 2016
What an eloquent and touching book celebrating a home - a farm, a happy growing up time and a warm family! I felt I was there with Ben Logan as he told stories of his early years on the farm. I loved meeting all of his family and loved getting to know the land. I fell in love with Seldom Seen farm and echo other reviewers - this book truly does make me nostalgic for a time and place I've never been.. I think all of us have a longing for the security of a cozy home life where love encircles us and times with family are so delightful, in a place of stability and warmth, enjoying the simple things in nature and in life. I know I have such longings, remembrances of my own childhood on a little farm in South Carolina, with a father who let my ride on the tractor with him and taught me how to plant seeds in his garden, with a mother who sang while she cooked in the sunny yellow kitchen with the homemade red calico curtains on the windows, on the land crisscrossed with trails through the woods and sunny glades where the horse and cows grazed by the pond, and peeper frogs singing me to sleep from the creek behind the house as the moon climbed slowly through the great oak branches reaching up to the purple sky.. Ben Logan captured the essence of home in this book, and he brought nostalgic feeliings to me without bringing any feelings of sadness or loss. That is a rare gift in memoirs, I think. I felt the joy, the beauty, the simplicity and security of 'home' and was glad that no matter what changes, the 'home' of our childhood memories will always be with us, for the land remembers, and so do we!
January 22, 2009
I have read this multiple, multiple times. I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin in the same area in the '80s and '90s, and there is still so much that resonates with me. I recommend it to anyone who was raised on a farm or who is interested in the human side of agriculture.
I have also met the author on several occasions, and he is a very kind and interesting man. If you are at all moved to write him a letter after reading this, do it. He loves reading them, and will probably reply if his health permits.
I have also met the author on several occasions, and he is a very kind and interesting man. If you are at all moved to write him a letter after reading this, do it. He loves reading them, and will probably reply if his health permits.
September 9, 2017
This is such a good book! It made me glad that I didn't grow up on a farm, but also like I missed out on a lot of life by not having done so.
January 25, 2024
Having been born into and raised within a loving home in a rural farming community, with four siblings, a mom who had beautiful flower and vegetable gardens and put up all kinds of food for the winter, a hard working dad, family members who were fantastic storytellers, and all of us tied to the earth and its beauty and generosity, the familiarity of the stories and people in this book tug at my heart strings.
I learned recently that my sister, as a hospice volunteer, reads portions of the book to the patients she visits in her rural community.
I learned recently that my sister, as a hospice volunteer, reads portions of the book to the patients she visits in her rural community.
October 10, 2021
One of my favorites! ♥
January 31, 2020
Beautiful book. Seasons of a farm life in southwest Wisconsin, beautifully, meaningfully told.
November 8, 2010
Many of the reviews talk about this book giving you a nostalgic feeling for a time and place you wish you had known....nothing could be more true.
Ben Logan wrote collections of boyhood memories from the years he grew up on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin. They don't necessarily follow a tight chronological order but do follow the seasons. This movement of the story was most magical for me because it followed the same remembering patterns our minds fall into when thinking of childhood. Our memories are so neatly packaged into categories that can be accessed through many different experiences. Just think about Christmas for a moment and you will flash on many different years and most likely not in chronological order. Your mind can so easily follow and appreciate the path Ben Logan's took through his history while writing this book. It made it more accessible...more real and human.
But not only was it a memoir of a boy but it was also a memoir of the land, of the communities that once were, of the farms that once were and of the relationships and respect we once had for the land. Ben Logan grew up on the farm in the late 1920's when major farming technology hadn't yet touched the industry in great waves but was very much beginning to. Most people knew how, and still were living in some sort of symbiotic relationship with the land, it's crops and the animals raised on the farm. Families still worked as teams with no aim other than keeping the farm running which in turn meant keeping themselves alive.
This last part, working to keep themselves alive, sounds heavy and hard. But it didn't become that until we let ourselves attempt to control too much of nature and the balances we had once easily lived by. The insight Ben Logan's father had on the footprint we humans were beginning to stomp out the great Earth balance with, was astonishing considering it was almost 80 years ago. I guess the part that is actually astonishing is that we have let the pattern of control HAPPEN and grow for the last several decades even though we knew then what we still know now.
This is a book for those who appreciate memoirs, who appreciate warm stories of childhood, who love the land and what it can give you as you give back, and those who love to read of history. It was a touching, precious and beautiful story.
Ben Logan wrote collections of boyhood memories from the years he grew up on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin. They don't necessarily follow a tight chronological order but do follow the seasons. This movement of the story was most magical for me because it followed the same remembering patterns our minds fall into when thinking of childhood. Our memories are so neatly packaged into categories that can be accessed through many different experiences. Just think about Christmas for a moment and you will flash on many different years and most likely not in chronological order. Your mind can so easily follow and appreciate the path Ben Logan's took through his history while writing this book. It made it more accessible...more real and human.
But not only was it a memoir of a boy but it was also a memoir of the land, of the communities that once were, of the farms that once were and of the relationships and respect we once had for the land. Ben Logan grew up on the farm in the late 1920's when major farming technology hadn't yet touched the industry in great waves but was very much beginning to. Most people knew how, and still were living in some sort of symbiotic relationship with the land, it's crops and the animals raised on the farm. Families still worked as teams with no aim other than keeping the farm running which in turn meant keeping themselves alive.
This last part, working to keep themselves alive, sounds heavy and hard. But it didn't become that until we let ourselves attempt to control too much of nature and the balances we had once easily lived by. The insight Ben Logan's father had on the footprint we humans were beginning to stomp out the great Earth balance with, was astonishing considering it was almost 80 years ago. I guess the part that is actually astonishing is that we have let the pattern of control HAPPEN and grow for the last several decades even though we knew then what we still know now.
This is a book for those who appreciate memoirs, who appreciate warm stories of childhood, who love the land and what it can give you as you give back, and those who love to read of history. It was a touching, precious and beautiful story.
January 20, 2018
Wonderful. Brings to mind Norman Maclean and A River Runs Through It. The same beautiful turning of a phrase, linking of words into beautiful sentences. The opening chapter is a precursor to the beauty within.
The opening line of the first chapter: "Once you have lived on the land, been a partner with its moods, secrets, and seasons, you cannot leave. The living land remembers, touching you in unguarded moments, saying, "I am here. You are a part of me."
If you have a place... a land... that ties you and binds you - that defines you, then you'll love this book.
A story of growing up. A story of reflecting back on that growing up. A story of family. A story of appreciation.
On my all-time top ten list of personal bests.
The opening line of the first chapter: "Once you have lived on the land, been a partner with its moods, secrets, and seasons, you cannot leave. The living land remembers, touching you in unguarded moments, saying, "I am here. You are a part of me."
If you have a place... a land... that ties you and binds you - that defines you, then you'll love this book.
A story of growing up. A story of reflecting back on that growing up. A story of family. A story of appreciation.
On my all-time top ten list of personal bests.
April 15, 2019
Readers of the North would do well to read this near the end of winter. The promise of another year springing to life as full of potential as it's ever been. There's an ebb and flow that feels familiar; whether you live low, or just wish for a greater connection to the land.
I'm happy to say the book has it's surprises, though not always through rose colored glasses, and that's fine. Ben Logan speaks fondly of Leopold and Carson in the twenty fifth anniversary edition, but I'd wager that he wrote a more realistic view of conservation than his predecessors.
Young and old reader will delight in this book; the old because it's stories are familiar, and the young for the way they capture imagination.
I'm happy to say the book has it's surprises, though not always through rose colored glasses, and that's fine. Ben Logan speaks fondly of Leopold and Carson in the twenty fifth anniversary edition, but I'd wager that he wrote a more realistic view of conservation than his predecessors.
Young and old reader will delight in this book; the old because it's stories are familiar, and the young for the way they capture imagination.
April 2, 2021
Incredible, glorious and sad. This book is a fantastic and emotional view into a childhood on an early 1900s farm.
It invokes a feeling of homesickness for something I never had: siblings and a connection to the land. I grew up with some close friends that I certainly had some similar emotional and adventure connections with, but this really does show the deep connection a set of brothers have with each other, the land and their family.
His choice to flow the book across the seasons in the year and then pull stories from different ages in those seasons hits well.
I had no idea of the following this book had when I picked it up and I guess it is deserved. It has certainly made me want to make sure to have my kids have a great connection with our land
It invokes a feeling of homesickness for something I never had: siblings and a connection to the land. I grew up with some close friends that I certainly had some similar emotional and adventure connections with, but this really does show the deep connection a set of brothers have with each other, the land and their family.
His choice to flow the book across the seasons in the year and then pull stories from different ages in those seasons hits well.
I had no idea of the following this book had when I picked it up and I guess it is deserved. It has certainly made me want to make sure to have my kids have a great connection with our land
March 16, 2022
This book is not a story, it is not a memoir, it is an experience you will live with each page and chapter. It is woven together as solidly as a pot of nutrient dense soup that has slowly simmered for long hours and been set aside for a few days to coalesce into a satisfyingly delicious experience. Each chapter is rich with the flavors of life well lived and thoroughly enjoyed. They are combined to bring about a sense of satisfaction enjoyed as with each sip from the bowl of soup, supplying nutrition to fill your soul, heart and mind with such deep enjoyment of such a well-told story but by the end you will not want the bowl to be empty but look for a refill or reread to continue the sensation of still being nourished.
May 26, 2017
I picture this as a vivid description of life when my grandparents were growing up in the early 1900's. Farm life in Wisconsin. And much of this lifestyle was still in place in the 1930's when my parents were children. Gardens, crops, milking cows, pigs, chickens, neighbors, one room school, running in the woods, the four seasons, threshing crews and lots more. Religion was an integral part of most Norwegian immigrants life, but that was one aspect not mentioned at all in this book. Still, very, very interesting read.
August 29, 2018
This book is something that I re-read from time to time. The book is a detailed, slow review of memories of a farm from a time that nearly no longer exists. I have been fortunate in my life to have personally known shades of the reality that is discussed in this book. The style of writing is lyrical and relaxing. I could feel myself on the hilltop farm watching the old machinery and men work, and stepping into the buildings and fields described in this book. Great nostalgia piece with some good land ethic mixed in.
November 19, 2018
As a person who grew up In rural Wisconsin in the 70s, this book about life in SW Wisconsin resonates deeply with me, despite it containing reflections on the writer’s experiences 40-50 years earlier. They were simpler times in those days, where family and community meant everything, and the web of community strengthened the social fabric to the benefit of all. We would all be richer by heeding the implicit lessons of this fine memoir.
February 14, 2019
I loved this book. Written in a period of time so often dominated by the doom and gloom of the Dust Bowl. The stories Ben Logan shares are wholesome, relatable, and short. It reminds the reader what yesteryear was like but also what it means to grow up without the digital distractions of today. Now I want to travel there and let the spring breezes blow past my face as I gaze into the river valleys of the Driftless region.
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