Non-Fiction Tuesday: Land Rich Cash Poor

I grew up in the 80s on a farm in Iowa, the same farm my mother grew up on with her five siblings.  That background permeates every part of who we are.  I found Land Rich Cash Poor to validate what I've long felt about farm life.  It is hard - back-breakingly hard at times, but also rewarding.  My parents worked to buy my grandparents' farm from them, and as my mom ages and contemplates what will happen to the land when she moves away from her lifelong home, it is hard to even grasp what that loss will feel like.

Reisinger captures this all so accurately as he is a member of a four generation farm family, and has watched his parents and grandparents work hard to preserve the farm that they have all grown up on and worked on.  
 

Anecdotes of tough times - along with some fun times - are included in every chapter.  From their house burning down to a variety of accidents that were suffered, Reisinger's book also explores the economic impact farmers have felt throughout the generations and the ways different legislation has hurt the family farm.

I think this book should be read by the urban dwellers who don't necessarily understand what rural life is like, and as our country is so diverse this book provides a great representation of the families that still are eking out a living in farming.