The title of this fun yet endearing collection of essays by S.A. Molteni, I.T. Geek to Farm Girl Freak – Leaving High Tech for Greener Pastures, pretty much says it all. Molenti spent years climbing the ladder in a successful high-tech career, then one day, life happened! She then faced some tough decisions. That is how we are introduced to Molenti and I had to applaud the final decision. She opted to sacrifice her career in order to not only put her marriage but her entire family (parents and siblings), first. This decision led to fast tracking a dream she shared with her husband: retiring, literally, to greener pastures! Although they weren’t completely retired at the beginning of the journey, by the end of this book Molteni was, and her only “regret” was not giving up the “9 to 5” sooner!
I decided to review this book, however, out of sheer curiosity! You see, I have close friends who have a productive hobby farm, and my husband and I have an interest in self-sustaining practices (our fist labor of love together was planting tomato starts we were gifted – and watching them grow and produce their first fruits). The stories shared about the work, money and frustration that come along with learning to farm, are humorous and heart-warming. This is a nice collection of essays relaying how much heart and soul it takes to not only get a farm up and running, but in keeping the land and animals going, long-term. My only wish is that the author had relayed more detail.
I laughed and cried right along with the author as she relayed the mishaps and the tragedies they often faced with their beloved furry, farm family! The animals they often adopted all had personalities and needs of their own, as this couple of fresh-faced farmers quickly learned: from chicken and cows; to dogs, bunnies and goats…they ran the full gamut of barn yard mayhem! This book will definitely tug at the hearts of anyone with a heart for animals!
This is a great, quick read (actually, it would be a great gift) for anyone who would like a glimpse of the reality of such a lifestyle. She honestly had me with the fabulously creative book cover art! It is too cute but so the “reality” if you know anything about farm life! (Inside the front cover it states “Book 1” so I presume Molenti plans to share many more tales of their adventures down on the farm.)
You can purchase a copy of this title on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VZI0BUK
Catch her adventures on social media or her blog:
Blogspot: http://samolteni.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.samolteni
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samolteni