Sarah Neidhardt: Twenty Acres A Seventies Childhood in the Woods

Twenty Acres: A Seventies Childhood in the Woods – Sarah Neidhardt – University of Arkansas Press – Paperback – 320 pages – 9781682262276 – $29.95 – Published March 7, 2023. Audiobook and ebook versions available at varying prices.

Twenty Acres is a wonderful, rewarding family memoir that will resonate both for elder veterans of the sixties and seventies “back to the land” counter culture but most especially for their now adult children, of which author Neidhardt is one. She was just a baby when her quite intelligent, middle class, young, naive parents left Colorado Springs to move to an extremely isolated part of the Arkansas Ozarks, where despite being woefully unprepared and underfunded, they managed to build a cabin and set out to live their lives and raise their children away from the materialist world they came from.

Their idealism was quickly met with the harsh realities of country life, of course. Sarah Neidhardt’s early life with her struggling parents and her siblings was not easy, and the crushing poverty and difficulties they endured as a family are reconstructed by Neidhardt as a way to understand her early life in deeply rural Arkansas. Still, the book is filled with many joyful and humorous moments – it’s not an altogether dark story, but a complex one that is filled with the ambiguities and complexities of family life in any time or place.

This story is similar to other back to the land adventures I’ve read that did not end well, or ended with the participants deflated by the rigors of a life they were never prepared for, though it is different from some because of the relatively extreme isolation the Neidhardt family experienced. Communards had it better in some ways than those who set out on their own in places where the culture was so deeply foreign to their generally urban or suburban backgrounds and counter culture values. But the underlying conflicts of culture, education, expectations, and the challenges of rural life really are common for so many of the children of the counter culture, unwilling participants in what was generally a short-lived socio-political explosion that had long lasting ramifications for its youngest and most innocent participants (even as that era’s most deeply held values and beliefs have survived and become entwined in modern culture in so many important ways).

It’s been more than fifty years since the era of the hippies, and books like this one will help set down and explain the history of that brief period of time, when so many young people thought we could change the world for the better. Talking to Sarah about her book, her family, and the process of writing their story was rewarding for me and I hope for all who listen to our conversation.

Sarah Neidhardt has worked as a bookseller, secretary, paralegal, copyeditor, and stay-at-home mother. She grew up in Arkansas and Northern California and now lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and teenage son.

“Disillusioned with the modern world and idealistic about living closer to nature, Sarah Neidhardt’s parents packed up from Colorado–a place that some other back-to-landers would seek out–and moved to small, isolated Fox, Arkansas to attempt living completely self-sufficiently and off-the-grid. In this memoir, Neidhardt examines her memories from that time, and also pinpoints one of the most particularly problematic parts of the back-to-the-land movement, which is that many of its participants were anchored in privilege. … A memoir infused with both empathy and inquiry.”—–Wendy J. Fox, Electric Literature

Author website here.
Buy the book here.

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Amy Stross: The Suburban Micro-Farm

The Suburban Micro-Farm: Modern Solutions for Busy People – Amy Stross – 9780997520835 – Twisted Creek Press – Paperback – 356 pages – $34.95 – March 23, 2018 – ebook versions available at reduced prices.

“…this book takes a permaculture approach to starting a micro-farm in the suburbs that speaks not just to a stay-at-home mom or dad, but to all busy people. Indeed, it is one of the few gardening books that is aware that you may not have a lot of time to start a garden, and shows you that it’s still possible anyway.” – Jesse Frost, Hobby Farms

I love gardening, gardens, and would be thrilled if every suburban lawn was turned into a vegetable garden, berry patch or orchard (or all of those things). I’m an enthusiastic gardener, but not a great planner, and I need the kind of help that Amy Stross provides in this truly excellent book. Even if you never pick up a hoe or dig in the dirt, you will learn a huge amount about food growing in relatively small spaces from this book and you will be able to explain to your neighbors, friends and family why they all should be outside right now working on their gardens.

There is so much good information, and reading this book is so inspiring, it is impossible to know where to begin in describing it. Suffice to say, while there are many great books about gardening, but this one deserves to be on every gardener’s bookshelf, and especially for any beginner who wonders how to get started, this book is essential. There is alot of work involved when you seriously grow vegetables and fruit in a small space, and planning is essential. This book provides the gardener, beginner or otherwise, with terrific tools for planning and organizing, and for avoiding the many mistakes that are easy to make along the way to growing your own fruit and vegetables.

Now that it’s fall, this is the perfect time to start planning your garden for next year. Read this book, lay out and build your garden beds, and order seeds for spring! If you’ve never gardened before, start with a small space you can handle and build from there.

Here are just a few things covered in The Suburban Micro-Farm:

How to make your landscape as productive as it is beautiful
Why the suburbs are primed with food-growing potential
How to choose the best crops for success
Why you don’t need the perfect yard to have a micro-farm
How to use easy permaculture techniques for abundant harvests

The idea of an edible yard is more than just romantic, it is a practicality for many of us. There are lots of benefits besides being able to grow your own food – getting rid of lawns and lawn maintenance is good for the natural environment and makes a dent in climate change mitigation, raising vegetables and fruit is healthy for your body in two ways – the work of gardening is good for your health and the food you eat from the work you put in is always better than what you can buy in a store, even an organic one.

Amy is a terrific teacher, well organized, thoughtful and clear eyed.

I really enjoyed speaking with her and recommend this book to any and all who will listen. Visit her website here to learn more about Amy, her approach to gardening, and where to buy the book (though I recommend purchasing from my friends at Chelsea Green Press, who have been publishing books in this category for many years).

And have fun in the dirt! I was inspired by reading this book to build a bigger garden this year, which was very productive, and next year, we are planting blueberries and fruit trees in our very small front yard. Thank you Amy Stross!

Nonfiction Book Awards 2018 Gold Winner

Foreword INDIE Awards 2018 Gold Winner (Hobbies & Home category)

Nautilus Book Awards 2018 Silver Winner (Green Living & Sustainability category)

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