In Working the Land: Building a Life, Fran Cirbo writes about a remote part of everyday life in America, farming. In the book, Fran recalls life on her family's farm in Eastern Colorado. It s a book filled with history lessons and poignant stories told in a vivid narrative, giving a snapshot of life on the plains in 1920s and 30s Colorado. The book begins in turn-of-the-century Czechoslovakia, better known then as Austria-Hungary, where her parents Andrew and Lucy Kochis farmed with their families and the rest of their community in a small village called Rudnik. Andrew, Lucy and their first-born son John came to America in the early 1900s eventually settling in Matheson, Colorado where they had received land through the Homestead Act of 1862. Many farmers gave up working the land, but not Andrew and Lucy; they stayed and persevered amidst the winter blizzards, summer droughts and dust bowls. Lucy gave birth to Fran in 1927. As the youngest of 14 children, Fran had the benefit of learning about her family's struggles and triumphs through the stories her parents, aunts and uncles, and older brothers and sisters told to her. Her book captures it all--the lessons learned and the lessons taught. In Working the Land: Building a Life, Fran describes her life on the farm in a way that brings every word to life. Her storytelling is interactive and puts the reader right alongside her, center stage on the farm, watching the seasons and technology change, riding the tractor, working the cream separator, canning the vegetables and harvesting the grain. Anyone raised on a farm can relive those times through the pictures Fran Cirbo paints her book. Working the Land: Building a Life is a tribute to homesteaders and pioneers, not just those from the Eastern plains of Colorado but everyone who grew up under blue skies and knee deep in Mother Earth. It reveals a culture of values, tradition, family, hope and prayer, a culture that epitomizes the old saying, "an honest day's work for an honest day's pay." Fran closes her book with a chapter titled Bits and Pieces, where she continues her story in vignettes that offer flashes of her last years on the farm. Working the Land: Building a Life is truly authentic in both its writing and structure, written with all the rawness and freeform of a personal journal--all of which makes Fran's book even more endearing. This book captures and draws its reader into its pages. - from Amzon