Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm

Separated from her soon-to-be ex-husband, Link (Isadore's Secret) is suddenly living the life of a homesteader. Through adversities and tight finances, and with humor and biting wit, Link chronicles her struggle to provide for her three sons and hang on to her little farmstead. When bills pile up, lucking into prize money from a zucchini contest turns out to be a major windfall. As the cold Michigan winter sets in, there is no money for the heating bill and the clan scrounges the roadsides for firewood, until the summer arrives when they can tend to their garden and rear a flock of chickens. The realities of living off the land, though, require determination, as "food gathering methods...deviate from a grocery store, a grocery cart, and a checkbook." Through it all, rather than becoming overwhelmed by desperate circumstances, Link perseveres. With resilience, resourcefulness, and plain stubbornness, she manages to hold everything together, all while keeping her family's pride and dignity intact. Her experience as a single parent will resonate with any single mom and her story of what it's like to raise your own food out of necessity serves as a cautionary tale to anyone who has ever romantically dreamed of "living the simple life." (June)