By Steve Berry, Preservation Parks Volunteer & Book Club Facilitator
Gallant Farm hosts eight chickens, three sheep, four lambs and two cows. And a book club, oh my. Yes, you read that right. The Preservation Parks book club — affectionately known as the Gallant Farm Literary & Cowpie Society — is going strong in its eighth year.
Over the years, the club has attracted an eclectic group of suspects, er, participants — teachers, an engineer, two fire chiefs, librarians, a lawyer, college professors, a nurse, a newspaper reporter, and an occasional high-school student. Many participants are retirees, so the average age rises to the high double-digits. Several younger members, however, bring added enthusiasm and energy to the group. (Anyone 14 or older is welcome.)
Farm Educator Robin Mayes and member Nancy Ross conceived the idea for a book club that would reflect the mission of the farm — to re-create how Delaware County farm families lived during the 1930s. Thus, the club focuses on books written during the Great Depression or on older classics that were popular during that time.
The group has read a variety of books ranging from perennial favorites, such as To Kill A Mockingbird, to sleuth-worthy whodunits, like The Maltese Falcon. Occasionally, we take a detour and read a contemporary book on farming or nature or a popular novel that catches our eye. For example, club members recently read All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, a best-selling World War II novel that won the Pulitzer Prize.
Our tally of authors includes John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Pearl S. Buck, Willa Cather, Sherwood Anderson, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Louis Bromfield, James Thurber, Zane Grey, Edna Ferber and Jack London, to name a few.
Sometimes the club meetings hold a surprise or two. When we read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a Mark Twain impersonator showed up for a chat.
One reason for the club’s longevity are the post-discussion desserts. Robin and various members invariably provide some scrumptious treats — many times appropriate to the book title.
For example, when we read No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt — The Home Front in World War II, Robin made No Ordinary Thyme Lemon Loaf. And for The Grapes of Wrath, the table was decorated with bunches of green grapes with angry faces drawn on them. The Dust Bowl saga in The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan inspired Robin to make pecan cookie “sandies” and yogurt pie with Oreo “dirt” on top. When we read about circus life in Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, we devoured homemade elephant ears.
During the pandemic, the club has met via Zoom — sans food. (We meet on the last Wednesday of each month.) Soon we hope to meet again in the farmhouse parlor — its antique furniture and fireplace creating a warm, hospitable setting for our gatherings.
Club members keep the meetings lively with good grace and good humor. And just for fun, we’re often reminded of The New Yorker cartoon that depicts a carload of robbers speeding away from a bank, as one of the robbers observes, “To think that we started as a book club.”
And to think that we started as a book cub — on a farm, oh my.
For more information about the book club, contact Robin Mayes at rmayes@preservationparks.com or Steve Berry at steveberry49@yahoo.com.
