Ben Logan

“Once you have lived on the land, been a partner with its mood, secrets, and seasons, you cannot leave. The living land remembers, touching you in unguarded moments, saying ‘I am here. You are part of me’”

“The farmstead stood on a hilltop, like a castle, like the center of the world.”

“For Mother spring really began with the coming of the birds. We would awake one morning and find the outside world alive with their voices, unbelievably rich and varied after the quiet birds of show more winter.”

Ben Logan grew up on a farm in southwestern Wisconsin. He beautifully details his early life, in this wonderful memoir, set in the 1930s. It is told in seasonal sections, beginning with spring and covers just about everything that happens in the operation of a
farm. His love of the land and his family resonates on nearly every page. This was written in 1975 and how I managed to overlook it for fifty years is truly baffling. Hey, I found it now and that is the main thing. Highly recommended. show less

While few books can capture the magic of THE LAND REMEMBERS,
EMPTY MEADOW does carefully explore the mysteries of first loves, sexual attraction, beer,
farms, trains, and towns all wrapt up in nature

A coming of age story set in Wisconsin's rural Kickapoo Valley in the early 20th century. Essentially, a young man discovers the female sex and learns, to his surprise, that they are complicated creatures whom few men, despite their pretensions, truly understand. Atmospheric with more than a few odd characters. A pleasant enough read that's more nostalgic than deep.

A nostalgic look back at growing up on a farm in Gays Mills, Crawford County, Wisconsin in the 1920's and 30's. This classic American memoir is about a farm and its people, of a boyhood on a southwestern Wisconsin hilltop world in the 1930's. Ben Logan grew up on Seldom Seen Farm with his three brothers, father, mother, and hired hand Lyle—“the fifth Logan boy.” The boys discussed and argued and joked over the events around their farm, marked the seasons by the demands of the land, show more tested each other and themselves, and grew up learning timeless lessons. show less