Alumna Reading/Book Signing for "The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey"
Mary Grace Guebert Foxwell '07 and her father,
syndicated columnist Alan Guebert, co-wrote
the book "The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey."
They will be on campus on Monday, August 31.6 to 8 p.m., Monday, August 31
Rice Commons, Student Center
Nationally syndicated agricultural columnist Alan Guebert and his daughter Mary Grace Guebert Foxwell ’07 will read from their recently released book The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey on Monday, August 31 from 6 to 8 p.m. in Rice Commons of the Student Center at Saint Mary’s College.
Published by the University of Illinois Press, the book is a collection of personal memories written over the past two decades as part of Guebert’s Farm and Food File column, which runs weekly in more than 70 newspapers throughout the United States and Canada, including the South Bend Tribune. Each column recalls and reflects on the people, food, and values he learned on the 720-acre, 100-cow “southern Illinois dairy farm of my youth” in the 1960s.
The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey was recently included on Bon Appetit Magazine's 20 Food Books to Read This Summer, Los Angeles Magazine's Top 10 Summer Books for Foodies, and Food Tank's Summer Reading List.
Foxwell, who majored in humanistic studies at Saint Mary’s, explained, “Uncle Honey was my great uncle who retired from his in-town job to ‘help’ my father on our farm. Several of the stories in the book center on how this gentle, quiet man—truly, a ‘honey’ of a guy—turned into a steel-bending, throttle-breaking terror as soon as he put any tractor into gear, without the use of the clutch, of course.”
Foxwell conceptualized, compiled, and edited the book. She also wrote the epilogue which details her own memories of her father and lessons gleaned from her grandparents’ farm.
“While the majority of the book’s characters passed away long before I was born,” notes Foxwell, “I have often smiled and laughed hearing their stories, much like my father’s longtime readers. I wanted to honor those people and those values—hard work, honesty, and humility—for generations to come.”
Advance reviews describe the book as authentic, humorous, and astute. Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, notes "Alan Guebert is one of America's finest writers on the workings and the politics of our food system. This book eloquently describes a rural way of life that's been lost. But the values of that world—family, community, social justice, a respect for the land—are timeless."
Foxwell and Guebert will read selections from The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey and answer questions. Copies will be available for purchase and signing at the event.
The book contains 24 black-and-white photographs from Guebert’s youth on Indian Farm and is available for online purchase through various outlets including University of Illinois Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, as well as at bookstore nationwide, and as an e-book. Additional information, including future events and the authors’ contact information, may be accessed at www.farmandfoodfile.com.