Carol Bodensteiner grew up on a family-owned dairy farm in the 1950’s, a time when a family could make a good living on 180 acres. In this richly detailed memoir, Carol takes readers along as she attends a one-room country school, sells radishes from her 4-H garden, and learns to drive a tractor. She shares the triumphs and challenges, successes and disappointments that informed her lifetime values. Through Carol’s eyes, readers experience a time in our country’s history when a child found value in working side-by-side with her parents, experienced adventure in the same field as a playful cow, and realized the most fun she could imagine in surprising her mom with a bucket of half-ripe mulberries.

 

In these pages you can step back and relish a time simple but not easy, a time innocent yet challenging. If you grew up in rural America, these stories will trigger your memories and your senses, releasing a wealth of stories of your own. If the rural Midwest is foreign territory to you, Carol’s stories will invite you into a fascinating and disappearing world.