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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 li≠ and, perhaps most daunting, the pleasures of sporting a professional manicure. But the pull of the land is irresistible, and they dream 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 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.… (more)
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Imbued throughout with the couple's firm commitment to their Christian faith and to the belief that Divine Providence will guide them on the appropriate path, they sell their home in central Oregon and move to the unimproved property, which has no electricity, potable water, or telephone service, and which is can be reached only by air or via a treacherous hillside roller-coaster path generously called a road.
Kirkpatrick and her husband are neither flower children nor tenderfeet. They go into the venture with carefully made plans -- improbable, but carefully made -- and a clear understanding of what it will take to reach their goals. Most readers will end up shaking their heads in amazement that anyone -- particularly a couple in which one partner has significant physical disabilities -- would tackle such a brutally difficult project with so little guarantee of eventual success.
Along the way, Kirkpatrick seques from administrative work with the Warm Springs Indian Reservation to full-time writing, with a specialty in the fictionalized lives of early women pioneers in the area. She and her husband battle climate, wildfire, family upheaval, rattlesnakes, flood, wind, and isolation with a persistance that at borders at times on mania. They also become part of a ranching and farming community that shares their devotion to the land, providing friendship and support.
She gets extra ploints from this reader because of the locale. It helps if the reader is familiar with the area, and it's always a thrill to recognize a place name, a family name, or an event with which one is directly acquainted.
Beyond that, the book is neither a how-to manual nor a fish-out-of-water comedy. There's humor here, and heartbreak, and an honest representation of what it takes to create and sustain a self-sufficient haven on an inhospitable piece of land. Whether the reward is worth the effort is a decision each reader will have to make on their own.