Birth, Death, and a
Tractor
by Kelly Payson-
Roopchand ’88
Down East Books,
223 pages, $24.95
Reviewed by Richard E. Schade ’62
One of the sources for Kelly Payson-
Roopchand’s book is titled “The New-
England Farmer; or, Georgical Dictionary”
(1822), which is not to say that her work
is a latter-day Virgilian
Georgics
, but it is
all about farming in Maine from 1808 to
2010. Her narrative is an even-handed
celebration of the “pastoral,” even as she
traces the biography of one farm in Somer-
ville across six generations.
The first two generations cleared the
land and broke the soil as they estab-
lished the homestead in inland Maine,
the third focused on sheep and wool, the
fourth cultivated poultry and dairy, while
the fifth and sixth favored the profits of
dairy production alone. Most recently,
the young author and family have suc-
cessfully revived the farm.
Each part of this “Georgic” history is
linked to a season, beginning with fall.
The original homesteaders were “drawn
to the wilderness by the hope of a better
future” in 1808: “As quickly as trees are
cut and laid for the cabin, so crops are
planted among the stumps.” Their chal-
lenge was to survive – “the soil is opened
for the plow, transforming the landscape
from a pioneer’s patchwork [that is, non-
contiguous ‘stumpfields’] to a farmer’s
rolling fields.” Subsequent generations
are documented, for example, by refer-
ence to personal letters from the second
generation as well as to the technological
advancements – “Thanks to iron, farming
was more productive…best of all was the
addition of cast-iron tips to plows.” –
not to mention “the rapid development
of the railroad, starting in the 1850s,”
linking the backcountry farm to the cash
market of Boston.
As the author typifies the lives of the
subsequent families – often by means of
household recipes – the reader comes to
understand what her predecessors had to
go through. “By 1879, butter was 14 cents
a pound, but taxes remained high, and
farms continued to be abandoned.”
By 1900, the town of Somerville was
put up for sale, even as the labor-saving
mowing machine enabled the most tena-
cious farmers to hang on through the
Depression. It was technology in the form
of the tractor that abetted the survival of
the small farm of the resourceful sixth
generation.
This historical trajectory from oxen
and horses to the tractor is enriched by
the author’s storytelling. She earned her
graduate degree in the agricultural field,
during which time she married. She and
her husband then settled on the vener-
able Somerville farm. The joys and day-
to-day struggles of making a go of it are
the basis of the book’s autobiographical
trace, from butchering hogs to restoring
the milk parlor. Payson-Roopchand leads
the reader down the mile-long dirt road
to the charming ensemble of buildings, a
trope of passage and arrival she repeats
time and again, metaphorically linking
her experience to that of her predeces-
sors. She joins her husband in the thrill
of acquiring a versatile tractor, which
soon becomes an integral member of
the family. Like the wives of the preced-
ing generations, her labor on the farm –
gathering eggs, tending the garden, her
pregnancies and births, the relationship
to her husband, her tending to and inter-
actions with an infant daughter and pre-
cocious toddler son – reflect the meaning
of their agricultural endeavors.
Describing an April walk on the “Family
Farm,” as the chapter is titled, Payson-
Roopchand says it all, “With my husband
and two children beside me, I realize
that our family is complete….Now we
can grow together, our vines twining
around each other. For this moment, it
is our home – our family – our farm –
our story.”
On the Shelf . . .
The Curious Magpie
Hendon Chubb ’50
A collection of facts, opin-
ions, and utopias in the
form of an eccentric and
philosophical encyclopedia.
The word utopia is derived
from classical Greek words meaning
“nowhere.” It is usually used to describe
some ideal society or the like. But there
are many nowheres. Lilliput and Brob-
dignag in
Gulliver’s Travels
are utopias,
although scarcely prime tourist destina-
tions. In this work, the author describes a
number of different nowheres that are
interesting, but perhaps not always.
Almost There (CD)
Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers ’82
Rodgers’s fourth solo album
of original songs captures
for the first time the full
acoustic band he’s been building for many
years.
Almost There
tells a story about
shaking off the past, remaking oneself,
and moving forward, while accepting and
even embracing where one is in life. Styl-
istically, some of the songs lean toward
country/folk, while others have a rock
and blues feel, as well as touches of soul
and even bossa nova. The music is 100-
percent acoustic, handmade, and heartfelt.
Cave Creek Canyon
Reed Peters ’71, co-editor
This book represents a rare
collaboration of a local
community to bring the
remarkable area of Ari-
zona’s Cave Creek Canyon
to life. More than 40 authors, 30 artists and
photographers, and numerous proof-
readers have worked together to create a
comprehensive guide to the region, from
the wildlife to the ecology to the rich his-
tory of its people.
Martial Bliss
Margaretta Barton Colt
In the seedy New York of
1976, Harris Colt ’53, a
Wall Street refugee, and
his wife, Margaretta, ran
a specialty antiquar-
ian bookstore, The Military Bookman.
Housed in a brownstone on the City’s
Carnegie Hill, the store was a confluence
of old and rare military, naval, and avia-
tion history books, with the rare charac-
ters who coveted them. Those who love
books, bookstores, and New York City will
savor this lighthearted memoir of a fan-
tasy turned reality, a unique enterprise
that flourished in the late 20th century.
