We Sagebrush Folks

Book excerpt: First published in 1934, this book tells the story of an American farm woman, her husband and family, and vividly describes farm life and farm psychology. “We Sagebrush Folks tells the experiences of a woman of education, refinement, and culture, who went with her husband to plow up wealth in the land under the then new Minidoka Irrigation Project in Southern Idaho. The ‘heart of gold’ that experience held was the beauty of Idaho, its sunshine, its sky by day and by night, its mountains, its vast stretches of gray-green sagebrush, which she saw transformed into fields and farms, its pure, clear, inspiring, stimulating air—and what all these meant to her, emotionally and spiritually. She writes with intelligence, a notable gift for expression, and a considerable interest in and knowledge of economics. An intimate, colorful portrayal of the daily life of the sagebrush farmers and their families, mercilessly truthful, but written with vivacity, cleverness, and humor, full of anecdotes, tales, and incidents that are often amusing, sometimes tragic, but always told with a keen sense of their dramatic values.” (FLORENCE FINCH KELLY, New York Times Book Review)