Re-Discovery
Now father-in-law has gone and his room is completely clear, I have been able to get to books I've not seen in months and months. Some I've not seen in years.
Amongst them were Jeanine McMullen's "A Small Country Living", "A Small Country Living Goes on" and "The Wind in the Ash Tree".
I first discovered this lovely author from her broadcasts on the BBC. The programme with the same name as the book "A Small Contry Living" was a regular and much looked for pleasure.
Jeanine McMullen was an ex-pat Aussie who bought a small and remote Welsh small holding where she kept a variety of live stock, mainly goats and chickens.
Her stories and the stories she recorded of other people making a living from the land and from traditional crafts are both a delight and an inspiration.
They were also highly realistic, she had no illusions about how hard it was and she never disgusied the heartbreaks and the toll such a way of life can bring.
She died in 2010 and the world lost her distinctive voice and her joy in the life of all things.
No more stories of the wonderful whippet Merlin, the only hooking dog. Or Doli the bloody minded shire horse, Dolores the goat with nymphomania or Blossom the sow.
Even if this way of life holds no appeal (and I will be honest, although the craft side does for me,you can keep the argicultural side of it) do try her books and experience someone for whom all life, both animal, vegetable and human, was a source of inspiration and hope.
Amongst them were Jeanine McMullen's "A Small Country Living", "A Small Country Living Goes on" and "The Wind in the Ash Tree".
I first discovered this lovely author from her broadcasts on the BBC. The programme with the same name as the book "A Small Contry Living" was a regular and much looked for pleasure.
Jeanine McMullen was an ex-pat Aussie who bought a small and remote Welsh small holding where she kept a variety of live stock, mainly goats and chickens.
Her stories and the stories she recorded of other people making a living from the land and from traditional crafts are both a delight and an inspiration.
They were also highly realistic, she had no illusions about how hard it was and she never disgusied the heartbreaks and the toll such a way of life can bring.
She died in 2010 and the world lost her distinctive voice and her joy in the life of all things.
No more stories of the wonderful whippet Merlin, the only hooking dog. Or Doli the bloody minded shire horse, Dolores the goat with nymphomania or Blossom the sow.
Even if this way of life holds no appeal (and I will be honest, although the craft side does for me,you can keep the argicultural side of it) do try her books and experience someone for whom all life, both animal, vegetable and human, was a source of inspiration and hope.
No comments have been added yet.
