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    Gaining Ground: A Story of Farmers' Markets, Local Food, and Saving the Family Farm
    Gaining Ground: A Story of Farmers' Markets, Local Food, and Saving the Family Farm
    Gaining Ground: A Story of Farmers' Markets, Local Food, and Saving the Family Farm
    Audiobook9 hours

    Gaining Ground: A Story of Farmers' Markets, Local Food, and Saving the Family Farm

    Written by Forrest Pritchard

    Narrated by Roger Wayne

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    One fateful day in 1996, after discovering that five freight cars' worth of glittering corn have reaped a tiny profit of $18.16, young Forrest Pritchard vows to save his family's farm. What ensues-through hilarious encounters with all manner of livestock and colorful local characters-is a crash course in sustainable agriculture. Pritchard's biggest ally is his renegade father, who initially questions his son's career choice and rejects organic foods for sugary mainstream fare. But just when the farm starts to turn heads at local farmers' markets, his father's health takes a turn for the worse. With poetry and humor, this inspiring memoir tugs on your heartstrings and feeds your soul long after you've finished.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateDec 30, 2013
    ISBN9781452688602
    Gaining Ground: A Story of Farmers' Markets, Local Food, and Saving the Family Farm

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    Reviews for Gaining Ground

    4.5/5

    53 ratings9 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Thanks for sharing your journey. Your book is a blessing.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed listening to this book. Forrest is a great author painting word pictures that are vivid and entertaining. I found the book inspiring, honest, educational, and well written. And the narrator does an amazing job of making each character come alive as well!
    • 4/5
      A humble, and sometimes bumbling, adventure in saving the family farm. With all the advances in technology and knowledge in the quest to dominate nature, sometimes the best efforts are merely to follow nature's lead. A quick, inspiring read that turns the head on economics: supply and demand...sometimes demand must be ignored if you are to have anything left to supply.
    • 5/5
      Reminded me of my own grandfather's farm. A delightful story of the author's and his family's efforts to save their grandfather's farm. Both humorous and sad. A fun, fast read.
    • 3/5
      Gaining Ground is a memoir written by Forrest Pritchard, recounting his efforts to save his family farm in the Shenandoah Valley. It was decently written, and a quick read. I'm not sure I really learned anything new or was particularly inspired by the book, maybe because I have read many similar books. It was fairly run of the mill as far as farming memoirs go, and at times read a little too much like an adventure novel for my tastes. Pritchard is no doubt a passionate and dedicated farmer, committed to making the sustainable, local food movement succeed. I wish I had half the ambition and stick-to-it-iveness he has.
    • 4/5
      I have no farm experience. I've rarely even thought for a moment about living on a farm. So when I set out to read this book about Pritchard's experiences in running his family's farm, I expected it to be kind of boring. I was pleasantly surprised. Prichard was an English major in college and he does know how to write well, so that helped. He also had quite a few crazy experiences that may not all be laugh out loud funny, but overall paint a picture of a pretty disastrous path to success. I really enjoyed this and found it a fairly quick read for nonfiction (which I don't read all that much of). It reads more like a memoir or novel than you might expect, and is not overly preachy about choosing to buy local. If his experiences don't convince you, he isn't going to bother preaching to you about it, which I found refreshing. Not that he doesn't give you plenty of reasons throughout as to why local farmers' markets and buying from family farms is good, but he isn't shoving it down your throat. He's simply recounting his own experiences and I'm glad he did.
    • 5/5
      This book was mentioned in The Soil Will Save Us, so I ordered it too. This book is quite different from other permaculture/sustainability books. It doesn't give you nuts and bolts how-to. It's more a bildungsroman, coming of age story. Pritchard had aspirations as a writer from an early age, and his skill is very evident. The story flows well, and it's been a pleasure to spend time with him and his family. He's not shy about sharing his most embarassing moments, and coming from a Ag background, I have to say there were some doozies. I just have to say "Thank God for Travis!" I could have wished for more detail on issues like pasture recovery after the pigs, as that remains too much of a mystery. But all in all, Go Forrest!
    • 5/5
      The book is wonderful. It draws the reader into a coming-of-age tale, or maybe a conquering hero tale, or a straight up historical narrative about family farming in the USA. I am not the English major in the household. I read, I cook, I spend a lot of time bring local food into my home, and preparing it simply for the family. Gaining Ground reinforced the decisions that I make every week. But while I was reading it, I really just wanted to keep reading it, and hoped that dinner would prepare itself :)! The narrative sings, the writing is lyrical, and brings you into the story as it is lived by "Farmer Forrest" and his family. There is hardship and sadness but the story is victorious in the end, as I am sure that you all might have imagined simply by the cover!Highly recommended!
    • 5/5
      Really enjoyed this book. It's the story of how one man decided to save his seventh generation farm through a lot of labor, intelligence, and willingness to turn conventional wisdom on its ear. It's full of useful information which is presented in a dramatic theme and works. And one of the best things about this book is he doesn't preach. Many books in this genre are so driven to "dump manure" all over conventional farmers and consumers who frequent the grocery store rather than always buying organic, that they turn off the reader. Pritchard doesn't - he makes his case for a rational approach in a non-lecturing story. If you've ever been to a Farmers' Market, you will enjoy this "back stage" look on it works. And please note - he raises animals - grass-fed beef, lambs, pigs, chickens - so this is not a vegetarian credo.