What! Sell the farm? : remembering generations of growth / by Jackie Qualley Brodshaug.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

What! Sell the Farm? Remembering Generations of Growth is a memoir of Jackie Qualley Brodshaug's life growing up and raising a family on a farm near Fargo. Poor crops due to flooding and record-high values for land and farm equipment led family members to consider selling the farm and land her great grandparents purchased from the railroad in 1878. The author uses 2011 meetings with family and farm advisers as a framework to share her conflicting emotions and decades of memories.

Rooted in the fertile black soil of the Red River Valley, the tough times of the author's childhood offer a stark contrast to North Dakota's more recent economic boom. Her life revolved around the typical domestic duties and community service of women in rural America but she grew frustrated at farm programs that discounted her role in the growing family farm. As her four children finished high school, the author finally pursued her own dream of going to college, earning both a bachelor's and a master's degree. Her lifelong interest in public affairs led her to serve on the governor's staff and win a seat in North Dakota's legislature. She and husband Robert gradually turned active management over to their oldest son. Still active in politics, she enjoys reading, travel, bridge and a variety of writing projects.

What other North Dakota writers say about this memoir:

" Eldest child of a farm family, wife, mother of four, active partner in a large family farm, and a long-respected leader in her community and her state, Jackie Brodshaug now looks back, sharing the ups and downs of a life well lived on the land she loves."

- Nancy Edmonds Hanson

" Year after year, the number of Americans living on the land shrinks. This is the tale of the end of a family farm after 133 years. Instead of mourning, however, the author celebrates a way of life that led her to be deeply involved in her community."

- Kevin Carvell