cover image Cutting Hill: A Chronicle of a Family Farm

Cutting Hill: A Chronicle of a Family Farm

Alan Pistorius. Alfred A. Knopf, $19.95 (279pp) ISBN 978-0-394-57439-4

In a book reminiscent of Richard Rhodes's Farm , Pistorius ( The Country Journal Book of Birding ) takes us through four seasons on the 350-acre Vermont dairy spread of Dick and Joan Treadway and their four children. Dairying, as we're shown graphically, is more than milking cows--fences must be mended, animals moved from barn to pasture, milking equipment cleaned regulary. Summer is haying; cutting, baling and storing require machinery, which needs frequent repair. There is deep concern about weather and taxes. During the year covered, family and beasts alike have medical problems; a cow dies and a calf is born. At sugaring time, the Treadways hang 1300 sap buckets, but the harvest proves disappointing. With fitting admiration Pistorius acquaints us with folk of grit, a family that in the tradition of its forebears tenaciously holds fast to its farm. (July)