Bitterbrush Country: Living on the Edge of the Land

Bitterbrush Country is a collection of autobiographical essays written by the author in the 1980s and 1990s to record the beauty and the pain of her life as a sheep and cattle rancher in south-central Idaho. She came to this life by marriage rather than by birth. Her initial attraction to her husband was due to a shared love of politics (he was an Idaho state senator when they met) but she soon realized that what defined her husband was his love of the ranch that had been in his family for three generations. She comes to fully embrace and share his love for the work and landscape and eventually to look for ways to save their ranch from the ravages of weather, government farm policies, globalization, and encroaching development.

The show more essays are arranged by season but jump back and forth in time so you’re left with impressions of what her life is like rather than knowing exactly what happened when. It’s sort of like having a friend tell you stories or memories about their life. What comes through is how the seasons of her life are tied in with the cycles of life--new growth in the spring, and new lambs and calves; the heat and lushness of summer, the long days of hard work, and the fear of lightning and fires; the bittersweet nature of fall as they get the ranch and the animals ready for winter; and then the starkness of the winter.

The overriding theme of the book is the value she finds in having a connection to the land and her fear that this way of life is threatened by forces outside her control. She makes efforts to bring together ranchers and environmentalists, sets up the Trailing of the Sheep Festival in Ketchum when new homeowners object to their decades long practice of bringing sheep south for the winter through the town, and becomes a regular contributor to the local NPR station reading these essays to listeners who know nothing of her threatened lifestyle.

As a relatively new resident and big-time fan of Idaho, I loved this book but I’m not sure what someone from outside the area would think of it. The writing is very good and it’s an easy read in that each essay is only 2 to 4 pages long. Despite my focus in this review on the threats to the ranch, the real emphasis in the book is on the beauty of the land and the author’s almost spiritual connection to it. If you think you’d be interested in it, I’d recommend taking it out of the library. I’m thinking that at least one of my 4.5 stars may be for my strong identification with the subject.

Here’s a quote I liked which speaks to the author’s reasons for writing these essays: "I began to write in memory of friends who left the land, losing their balance in life. All of us struggled against huge economic odds and a marketplace run by multinational corporations that fixed prices far below the cost of production. Then came stories prompted by a new fear, as environmentalists (of which I am one) and cattlemen (of which I am one) shouted at each other over the very thing they shared in common: a love of the land. The strident voices were frightening--neighbours and friends at war with each other. Radical environmentalists made newspaper headlines, demanding that we be thrown off grazing lands we’d used for decades and depended upon for survival. As a lifelong environmentalist, I was stunned. As a rancher, I was terrified. Between extremes, I planted myself in the center, looking for solutions to save both the land and its people." show less

Never having been to Idaho and having no exposure to this western state of my very own country, I was anxious to read a really good book about this region. Pat (phebj) - Idahoan - recommended this one and it hit the spot!

Written by a woman, rancher-by-marriage, and lover of the land, this is a collection of meditative essays that will immerse you in rural Idaho. The subject matter is not philosophically deep. It is thoughtfully sensitive to the controversy of land use between ranchers and developers while lovingly descriptive of the history and beauty of the desert and mountains. Easy and delightful to read.
The land and animals, the hardships and hope, the humor and friendships – Idaho style.

“Living on the land, the cycles of life show more and death seem more closely bound together than anywhere else. But for every lost lamb or bird I mourn, my husband points out new life. Lambs, colts, and calves rolling in green grasses. Nests of squeaking birds around our cabin, young antelope running in the hills, puppies falling over each other at the sheep camps, young owls waiting for night in the cottonwoods behind our house. And this cycle of life tracks the seasons of the year, giving meaning to the vast space around me as we move forward, always forward, hoping for a better year, more rain, full crops, healthy animals.”

I wanted to visit Idaho even before I read this book. Now I feel an urgency to put this treasure of a state on my bucket list.
Recommended reading! show less