My thanks to Diane Hovey for inviting me to the Gorham Free Library to have a book signing on Sunday the 7th of March at 2:00 pm. I’ll be talking about my book, “The Last of the Family Farms” in which I recount my childhood experiences of growing up on a family farm near Wooster, Ohio.
I am excited to meet my neighbors and friends who live in the Town of Gorham. A few who come to the book signing will understand what it’s like to raise your own animals and vegetables for food and that chicken for Sunday dinner started with the beheading of a chicken on Saturday. And some will only know their Sunday chicken dinner by the pieces of cut up chicken which was purchased in a blister pack. And if any children attend the signing, they might only understand their Sunday chicken dinner as warmed up pieces of frozen chicken nuggets, animal shaped chicken parts, or boneless chicken wings!
Nothing would please me more than to have a couple of horse and buggies parked outside by the library. The family farms of the Mennonites in the area remind me so much of our family farm and the way of life that I knew when I was a boy. And since I have completed my book, I have learned much about the Old Order and Conservative Mennonites that live near Gorham, NY. Come find out which one of our Gorham neighbors found several errors in my book – and helped me understand what is going on in our Finger Lakes neighborhood!
James R. Bupp