Homestead : A Memoir

Joining her husband in the fight to create a home out of a rugged stretch of sagebrush, rattlesnakes, and sand in Eastern Oregon, Jane Kirkpatrick uneasily relinquishes the security of a professional career; the convenience of electricity, running water, and a phone line; and, perhaps most daunting, the pleasures of sporting a professional manicure. But the pull of the land is irresistible, and the couple dreams of gathering their first harvest from a yet-to-be-planted vineyard.

Rather than the simple life they had envisioned, Jane and Jerry find themselves confronting flood and fire, government bureaucracies, and runaway calves, among other disheartening setbacks. Jane frequently questions the sanity of pioneering in this remote area, known as Starvation Point, and she fights against panic with each trip they make down the seven-mile, boulder-strewn, rut-carved “driveway” she calls “the reptile road,” which threatens to spill them into the ravine with every lurch of the truck.

But as she learns to navigate her new life, this novice rancher discovers that disappointment, isolation, and danger can’t compete with the generosity of their rural community, the strength of family bonds, and the faithfulness of the God who planted in their hearts the dream of carving a refuge out of an inhospitable land.