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. ( )

Enjoyable and inspiring story of doing whatever it takes, thinking outside the box in an effort to save a small family farm. You find yourself cheering for the guy and really thinking about what you eat. Local is good! ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )