Gene Logsdon (1931–2016)

Where, how and why I got this book I simply don't recall. But if I had read it when it first came out it would've saved me a lot of puzzlement, experimentation and hair. I spent a decade and a half as exactly the kind of farmer described in this book before having to surrender to heart problems and move into town. Every thing that the author describes is almost exactly as I found it to be - this is simply the best book on modern small farming from a practical standpoint that I have ever show more read. I honestly don't think a better book of advice on this subject could be written. Oh, and it's also poetic and powerful as well as practical. If getting back to the land as a small holder is your goal, get this book first. A more honest appraisal of this life you shan't find. show less

I was (and still am) intrigued by the book's premise that farming is an art in and of itself and is inextricably linked with the visual arts, music and literature. Logsdon takes an unconventional approach when exploring this premise, however, choosing to focus largely on artists, musicians and writers whom he knows personally or to whom he has some personal connection. On the one hand, this approach makes the book very accessible and allows him to offer unique insights on great artists and show more writers like Andrew Wyeth and Wendell Berry. On the other hand, it leads him to spend many pages and chapters on relatively unknown or amateur artists, some of them relatives. I understand that he uses many of these lesser-known artists as examples of how the creative impulse in farming and rural people isn't limited to a few exemplary artists - rather, it suffuses the daily life of all farmers and rural communities. However, I would have liked to see more effort on his part to research and include more well-known artists with whom he isn't already personally familar, especially women. Logsdon spends no significant amount of time discussing any female artists, musicians or writers - when they do come up, they are often mentioned as the spouses of men whom he discusses at length. My frustration with this pattern reached a boiling point when, in the introduction to the chapter on "New Agrarian Writers," he spent a sentence each discussing Barbara Kingsolver and Bobbie Ann Mason before turning to lengthy profiles of four male authors. This book was definitely a worthwhile read that turned me on to many other agrarian writers, artists and musicians that I would like to explore further. However, had Logsdon made the effort to make the book more comprehensive, particularly with respect to women, I probably wouldn't be the only person with The Mother Of All Arts in her LibraryThing library! show less

Good, but not what I expected - or wanted. I'll be brutally honest. I read some Farm Journal stuff when I was a kid, but I just could never quite warm up to this book, and it wasn't because of "The Blizzard" chapter either. There was plenty of stuff here that I could relate to, and even more that I should have been able to, but, finally, I just kinda skimmed the last few chapters and put it back on the shelf. Sorry, Gene. There are simply too many other good memoirs out there that I can't show more wait to read, and several are already in my teetering to-read pile. What first attracted me to YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN was the pr copy that mentioned Logsdon had spent several years in the seminary, an experience I thought I'd relate to, since I did some time in one of those institutions myself. But even that part didn't really grab me - a bad sign from the get-go. And then when he got deeper and deeper into the back-to-the-land, grow-your-own-food kinda stuff, my interest really started to wane. Don't get me wrong, there have been a couple of farm memoirs I've really loved (I was a "pseudo" farm kid myself, growing up next door to my Grandpa's small farm). Ron Jager's EIGHTY ACRES is an all-time favorite of mine, as is the late Curtis Stadtfeld's FROM THE LAND AND BACK. Both books are set on farms less than an hour from my own hometown (Reed City): near McBain and Remus (all three towns in west Michigan). Another beautifully written Michigan farm memoir is Anne-Marie Oomen's PULLING DOWN THE BARN. Perhaps my biggest beef with Logsdon's book is (and this is my opinion only) there's a little too much about the farming and not enough about the people involved. Lemme close this way. Perhaps if the national economy really goes to hell this year and I have to get out in the back yard and plant my own vegetables just to survive, I'll take this book down and give it another try. In the meantime, all the best to you, Gene Logsdon. I tip my hat to your self-sufficient lifestyle. show less

This collection of essays is thought provoking, poignant, and optimistic. Gene Logsdon is a farmer, and these essays were composed after he was diagnosed with cancer and was facing his own mortality. He writes with a straightforwardness toward death that is lacking in American society in general. His perspective of death in nature and its role in the rejuvenation and continuation of life offers comfort to those who are unwilling or unable to find solace in religious myths surrounding death show more and an afterlife or in the myriad of scientific promises of some form of everlasting life.

Logsdon is indeed a contrary farmer, and his essays may be offensive to some, but his essays offer humor and observations of the natural world that you don't often get to read. Overall, he offers a hopefulness about nature's ability to regenerate herself and the comfort that our own deaths can continue those regenerative processes. show less