Sheepish: Two Women, Fifty Sheep, and Enough Wool to Save the Planet

by Catherine Friend

Overview

What do you do when you love your farm . . . but it doesn’t love you? After fifteen years of farming, Catherine Friend is tired. After all, while shepherding is one of the oldest professions, it’s not getting any easier. The number of sheep in America has fallen by 90 percent in the last ninety years. But just as Catherine thinks it’s time to hang up her shepherd’s crook, she discovers that sheep might be too valuable to give up. What ensues is a funny, thoughtful romp through the history of our woolly friends, why small farms are important, and how each one of us—and the planet—would benefit from being very sheepish, indeed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306818448
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	04/26/2011
Pages:	280
Sales rank:	395,031
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Catherine Friend is the author of Hit by a Farm and The Compassionate Carnivore, as well as seven children’s books and three novels. She farms in Minnesota with her partner of twenty-eight years.

Table of Contents

Part 1 The Muffins Go Farming

Shocking 3

Sheepishness 7

No Snowballs on This Farm 14

Getting Naked 19

Freakishly Exotic People 23

Spinning in Circles 27

Sheep Sex and Other Natural Disasters 32

The Failed Environmentalist 38

Minnesota Cranky 43

The King and I 47

Brokeback Farm 49

Searching for Memoirs by Moonlight 55

Part 2 Telling Farm Tales

To Sproing and Worfl 63

The First Pasture Goddess 67

My Nursery 74

A Gaggle of Goddesses 78

A Cure for Writer's Block 84

Enough Happy Endings? 89

Does This Bale Make Me Look Fat? 94

Tending the Vineyard 98

The Perfect Nest 102

The Farmer's Wife 106

Just Ducky 110

The Incredible Shrinking Jeans 115

This Is Your Brain on Oxytocin 119

Part 3 Spinning Yarns

Woolology 101 127

Turquoise Treasure 133

Super Sheep 138

The Fuzzy Patriots 143

The Queen of Do-It-Yourself 148

Greener Than You Think 152

And Photogenic, to Boot 157

Of Warp and Woof 163

Counting Bed Mites 167

A Recipe for Carpal Tunnel 171

The Stealthy Flock 175

Re-cycle. Re-create. Re-enjoy. 179

We Are the Champions (of Sheep) 184

I'd Turn Back If I Were You 189

Part 4 Unravel

Something's Up 195

Adventures of the Backup Farmer 198

Holy Hanky Panky, Batman 202

Dividing Up the Cake 206

More Babies 210

Not Exactly a Goddess 214

Focus on Feet 217

My Head Is Full of Colors 221

An Intimate Secret 224

Part 5 The Love of You Sings

Real, Not Virtual 231

Wave of the Future 235

Listening to Sheep 240

Rhubarb Sauce and Candy Corn 244

Freaks 'R' Us 247

Sheepish and Proud 251

Acknowledgments 257

Sheepish Mitten and Hat Patterns 259

Editorial Reviews

In this follow-up to her first memoir, Hit by a Farm, Friend details the challenges of balancing a writing career with sheep farming in southeastern Minnesota, where she lives with her partner, Melissa. As she ponders the content and meaning of her life, Friend regales readers with funny and fascinating tales of daily life on a farm, from the humor and peril unique to sheep shearing to viewing death as "part of the job." Tidbits on sheep in history and literature add color; for example, the author argues that sheepherding is actually the oldest profession and points out the animals' presence in our language, via expressions like "fleeced" and "dyed in the wool." Her voice is wry and funny; she's self-deprecating and thoughtful, and strikes a balance between teasing and kindness, whether her subject is pregnant sheep, yarn-loving "fiber freaks," or spirituality and nature. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Imagine a serene pasture filled with contented, nameless sheep. Then imagine a reluctant shepherdess at the helm, add in llamas, cats, dogs, chickens, a peacock, frisky calves, knitters, and Elvis, and you've got a good yarn.”
 
Books, Yarn, Ink, and other Pursuits (blog), 5/11/11
“Catherine Friend brings another wonderful tale of life on her Minnesota farm. With laughter and a few tears, Friend weaves together her stories like the threads on a loom, and as any fiber freak can tell you, this is a yarn we like to spin!”
 
Portland Book Review, 6/6/11
“Whether you already know Catherine Friend from her exploits in fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature, or if you’re just discovering her, this latest laugh out loud memoir on farming is a can’t miss read.”
 

Lambda Literary Award Finalist

Novella Carpenter, author of  Farm  City
“Fans of Hit by a Farm will get another dose of Catherine Friend’s signature wit and moxie with Sheepish, as she faces a rough patch on the farm, but still manages to be hilarious. In the end, Friend’s enthusiasm will make you want to raise sheep, or at least wear wool undies.”

Rachael Herron,  How to Knit a Love Song
“A graceful collection of farm-life vignettes becomes a whole even greater than the sum of its lovely parts as Catherine Friend . . . builds the story of a partnership rich in love, humor, and perhaps most importantly, sheep.”
 
Meg Daly Olmert, author of  Made for Each Other
“ Sheepish is as smart and funny as its title. Catherine Friend takes us along on her quest to master the other ‘oldest profession.’ Warning: It may make you want to drop everything and go tend a flock.”

Library Journal, 3/17/11
“Chock-full of wild and wooly stories about the vagaries of sheep, this series of ruminations on life at Friend's farm also offers a glimpse into the world of fiber freaks. Friend's light tone does not prevent her from addressing weightier issues such as mid-life angst and heart-breaking aspects of life and death on an animal farm.”

E: The Environmental Magazine, April 2011
“A meaningful and informative narrative on the forgotten art of shepherding.”

Booklist, 4/15/11
“As provocative as her reflections are, it is Friend’s acerbic wit that keeps the reader turning the pages. A perfect choice for book groups, this is a look at the road not taken with a guide that pokes as much fun at herself as she does at the world around her.”
 
Publishers Weekly, 4/4/11
“Friend regales readers with funny and fascinating tales of daily life on a farm…Tidbits on sheep in history and literature add color…Her voice is wry and funny; she's self-deprecating and thoughtful, and strikes a balance between teasing and kindness, whether her subject is pregnant sheep, yarn-loving ‘fiber freaks,’ or spirituality and nature.”
 
Kirkus Reviews, 5/15/11

Joanne Seiff, author of  Fiber Gathering and  Knit Green
“Wry, witty, and honest, Sheepish describes a magical personal transformation—from urban to rural. Catherine Friend finds meaning in the middle of life, love and even knitting projects. Friend brings out the urge to farm in knitters, spinners, and ‘fiber freaks’ everywhere, teaching us to find joy and contentment in the small, sheepy parts of our world.


New York Times Book Review for  Hit by a Farm
“A charming memoir . . . [with] magical moments.”

Garrison Keillor on  Hit by a Farm
“A sweet and funny book in the classic Hardy Girls Go Farming genre, elegantly told. . . . It has dogs, sheep, a pickup truck, women’s underwear, electric fences, the works.”

“The author's humility is engaging…Friend ably weaves together comical stories, strands of self-help, historical and environmental facts. Like sheep themselves, the author’s account often wanders outside the confines of the pasture and into the readers’ hearts.”
 
Ode, Spring 2011
“A witty collection of farm life tales and an examination of the world’s “other oldest profession” shepherding.”
 
Minneapolis Star Tribune, 5/8/11
“Friend writes with honesty as biting as a cold apple, and a sweet self-deprecating good humor…This memoir is special…a humble page-turner.”
 
Rochester Post-Bulletin, 5/2/11
“Fans of Friend’s previous books about her farm adventures and what she’s learned on that farm north of Zumbrota will like Sheepish.”
 
San Francisco Book Review, May 2011
“Plenty to enjoy.”
 
Examiner.com, 5/19/11
“Slip the book in your knitting bag. It is a perfect read for the beach.”
 
“The Bookworm Sez” nationally syndicated column, 5/30/11

From the Publisher

What is the common thread between road rage, Elvis and socks?

The answer: wool, writes Friend (TheCompassionate Carnivore, 2009, etc.) in this memoir about raising sheep with her partner. The story begins with an anecdote about a man who, during a visit to the author's farm to purchase beef, became riveted by a sign that read, "Warning Electric Fence." It's the perfect extended metaphor for Friend's adventures on the farm—that caution often gives way to curiosity, demonstrated soon after as the man reached out and was shocked. Like her customer, the author has been intrigued by adventures into unknown territory. In her latest installment of life on the farm, the author focuses on the middles, the times not often celebrated, ruminating on being both mid-career and middle-aged. The author's humility is engaging, and she is well aware that sheep farming isn't the broadest of interests: "If people are relying on me to show them the way, they're in big trouble...basically because I've begun turning to memoirs myself in search of direction and encouragement." But she's quite wise, as well, offering severalinsights into what humans can learn from sheep. Friend ably weaves together comical stories, strands of self-help, historical and environmental facts.

Like sheep themselves, the author's account often wanders outside the confines of the pasture and into the readers' hearts.

Kirkus Reviews

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