Keep

Henry T. Ireys is a former health policy researcher. He published numerous papers in health policy journals and, since his retirement, has been writing for The Hampshire Review about farming and the natural world. Priscilla M. Ireys worked in the fashion industry for thirty years, where she designed and made stage clothes for country music stars such as Loretta Lynn before leaving to focus on farming and the conservation of heritage breeds. Together, they have lived on a farm in Hampshire County since 2001, tending a core herd of fifty Spanish and Savanna goats. The Keep is their first book together.

• PrefaceIntroductionPart I A Place to LoveLetter to MomMud Between My ToesPart II DecisionsTiny TimAll that the Land ContainsSid’s TwinsMindful MeddlingThe Dilemma of Loving HogsPart III SurprisesOf These MountainsEarly YearsHerculesMorels on the MountainArnost and the EaglePart IV Say What? No Way!”Hog GossipThe DucknessSex in the PastureHat of ShameFrom Power Take Off to Artificial IntelligencePart V Hard TimesPedroDeath on the FarmJanuary 11, The FireJanuary 12, The FireThe Forgiving LandThe Old OakPart VI GiftsWinter’s WoodUnexpected OutcomesLucyIzzy’s BridgeHome Before BreakfastPart VII Quiet TimesThe PondOn a Summer BreezeA Fisher’s SolitudeLovely OctoberPart VIII EpiloguesThe Near FinalLetter to My Mother-in-LawAcknowledgments

“The Keep is honest and compelling storytelling told through the contrasting and complementarity of Priscilla’s and Henry’s individual voices. Priscilla has an intimate view of animal husbandry, while Henry is more prone to philosophizing; yet both are deeply engaged with the land, and both are thoughtful and lively storytellers. Neither shies away from complexities and challenges. In her accounts of raising goats and hogs, Priscilla captures both the necessary brutality and profound tenderness required for successful animal husbandry.” —Arwen Donahue, author of the graphic memoir Landings: A Crooked Creek Farm Year (Hub City, 2022) and the oral history collection This is Home Now: Kentucky’s Holocaust Survivors Speak (University Press of Kentucky, 2022). Arwen lives on a farm in Kentucky. “A delightful chronicle of a moment in time on a parcel in Appalachia.” —Gretchen Legler, author of Woodsqueer: Crafting a Sustainable Rural Life; On the Ice: An Intimate Portrait of Life at McMurdo Station, Antarctica; and All the Powerful Invisible Things: A Sportswoman’s Notebook.