Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock and Big Life Lessons down on Mischief Farm – Book Review

The beloved actress and star of One Tree Hill, White Collar, and Lethal Weapon, Hilarie Burton Morgan, tells the story of leaving Hollywood for a radically different kind of life in upstate New York with her husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan—a celebration of community, family, and the value of hard work in small town America.

While Hilarie Burton Morgan’s hectic lifestyle as an actress in New York and Los Angeles gave her a comfortable life, it did not fulfill her spiritually or emotionally. After the birth of their first son, she and her husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the star of The Walking Dead, decided to make a major change: they bought a working farm in Rhinebeck, New York, and began a new chapter in their lives.

The Rural Diaries chronicles her inspiring story of farm life: chopping wood, making dandelion wine, building chicken coops. Burton looks back at her transition from urban to country living—discovering how to manage a farm while raising her son and making friends with her new neighbors. She mixes charming stories of learning to raise alpacas and buying and revitalizing the town’s beloved candy store, Samuel’s Sweet Shop, with raw observations on the ups and downs of marriage and her struggles with secondary infertility. Burton also includes delicious recipes that can be made with fresh ingredients at home, as well as home renovation and gardening tips.

Burton’s charisma, wide eyed attitude, and fortitude—both internal and physical—propels this moving story of transformation and self-discovery. The Rural Diaries honors the values and lifestyle of small-town America and offers inspiration for anyone longing to embark on their own unconventional journey.

No. of pages:- 257 pages

Date published:- May 5th 2020

Publisher:- Harper

Genre:- Biographies/Memoir

Rating:-

OK, One final blog post and I am done! This review is very simple and short, just sharing the thoughts only.

Normally, I am not a fan of biographies or memoirs but then if I feel like a mood to read one, I’ll read one. And surprisingly, I enjoyed this biography so much.

If you have watched One Tree Hill and Supernatural, you would know who Hilarie Burton is–she portrayed Peyton in One Tree Hill, and her husband, Jeffrey Dean Morgan was the father of the Winchester boys in Supernatural and he is in Walking Dead too (I don’t watch Walking Dead so I am not sure which character he is portraying). And for those of you who don’t know either of them, well, I have just told you and you could check those TV shows out.

After the birth of their first child, Gus, they leave behind the hustle and bustle of the city life and move to the rural farming community where they buy a farming house with a barn. I listened to the audiobook and Hilarie is the narrator so she did a good job making us feel like we are in this part of journey together. This biography mainly talks about their transition to their move to the farm, how they learned to pick eggs from hens, maintaining alpacas, buying donkeys, maintaining the farm house and at the same time, with some of their friends, take over a sweet shop owned by one of their dear friends who died suddenly. This book is mainly talking about the experiences, what it is to live in a farm, with a community who supported one another. However there is also a sensitivity issue that is spoken here–the infertility, the inability of producing a child, that maybe a bit unbearable for someone who is trying to have a child. Overall, I truly enjoyed this book, it’s like I am experiencing this journey with the Morgan family.