Before Lynn Cassells and Sandra Baer were featured on the BBC's This Farming Life, they were simply two women dreaming of a few acres of their own. To their surprise, they fell in love with Lynbreck Croft, a large piece of land in rural Scotland, and upended their lives to turn it into a sustainable working farm. In Our Wild Farming Life, their engaging joint memoir narrated by Cassells, the women explain how they began picturing--and eventually creating--a life centered on living in symbiotic rhythm with the land.
Cassells and Baer met while they were working for the National Trust; they shared a deep interest (but no training) in sustainable farming. Cassells recounts their early journeys to view pieces of land near their home in southern England and how their travels eventually led them much farther afield. She details the process of buying Lynbreck and throwing themselves into learning about the land's history and the crofting practices passed down by generations of local farmers. Along the way, she introduces readers to the cast of animal characters, including chickens and cows, that now populate Lynbreck's acreage. Readers learn all about their first several years at Lynbreck and its challenges and joys. Cassells's practical, down-to-earth style occasionally flounders in too much detail but, for the most part, is clear and compelling.
Warmhearted and candid, Our Wild Farming Life invites readers on its authors' journey and prompts them to consider how to live more sustainably by supporting local farmers. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams