Homestead: A Memoir

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 line; and, perhaps

most daunting, the pleasures of sporting a professional

manicure. But the pull of the land is irresistible, and the

couple dreams of gathering their first harvest from a yetto-

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 they make 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