One Woman Farm by Jenna Woginrich: A Book Report

One Woman Farm by Jenna Woginrich - Book Report by Steph CalvertOMG guys I have an amazing book for you this time. You gotta read One Woman Farm by Jenna Woginrich.

This time when I went to the library, I changed things up a little and actually got to focus on the big people books. Rincon library’s pretty small, so I helped the kids get the books they wanted, then I set them up with the learning toys in the children’s section.

And then.

I walked across the little building all by myself to the big people books (adult section sounds so seemly, dudes). Every aisle I came to the end of, I popped back across the library to where the kids were playing quietly to check on them. Then I’d get to browse another shelf.

And I found One Woman Farm by Jenna Woginrich.

I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but that’s really hard to do when you’re an artist. I pick up books because they have amazing cover art. All. The. Time.

I took this book with me while I was substitute teaching last week, and read it cover to cover throughout the course of the day.

I promise you, I am absolutely paying attention when I’m substitute teaching. But when you sub for high school, kids filter in, you take attendance, and then they quietly get to work on worksheets… It’s either stare at a bunch of heads that are bent over papers or read a few pages of a book.

And don’t even get me started on what you should do if you’ve got a planning period where there’s nothing going on.

I just really like how much more enriched my day feels when I’ve got a book with me on sub teaching days. And this book… I literally ate it up. So much so that I finished it by fifth period and had read a third of it again by the end of the school day.

One Woman Farm is autobiographical – it’s Jenna Woginrich’s story about leaving her very normal city life with it’s very standard 9 to 5 cubical job. It’s about falling in love with a farm, leaving the city, and moving somewhere remote where life is harder but more real.

I cry easily, guys. I cry when things are just freaking artistically perfect. If you get me talking long enough about everything I love about the movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, I’ll inevitably start the waterworks.

This book spoke so deeply to me. I had problems not crying as I read it. It hit me in the feels all over the place, from Jenna’s way of talking about her longing for this life, to the way she describes her daily chores, to her thoughts on ancient traditions and how they relate to her rural lifestyle today.

The emotional text, paired with the amazing illustrations and lettering by Emma Dibben.

It’s perfection.

At lunchtime I started texting screenshots of the best pages from One Woman Farm by Jenna Woginrich to send my husband.

Sucker punch to the gut:

One Woman Farm by Jenna Woginrich - Book Report by Steph Calvert

I probably also do too much. But can not stop.

One Woman Farm by Jenna Woginrich - Book Report by Steph Calvert

Scrappy is like the best word ever to describe our house. It’s farmy and homey and warm and I love it.

One Woman Farm by Jenna Woginrich - Book Report by Steph Calvert

And this. Omg this.

All of this.

One Woman Farm by Jenna Woginrich - Book Report by Steph Calvert

Jenna’s writing style… I probably need to actually buy a copy of this, and all her other books. I just clicked over to her blog and waterworks.

The way she writes about her rural life – it’s like a perfect description of why Josh and I left southern California four years ago.

I love our 10 acre fixer upper farm, dudes. It’s scrappy in every sense of Jenna’s description of her own, and more so. Our farm has messy fences, overgrown trees, and two ponds that meet in the middle every time a good rain passes through. Up until last Christmas, we had squirrels living in the walls.

I want to tell you I’m joking.

But we have little kids, and full time jobs… and in time we’re gonna get a handle on it.

And dangit, I love our farm.

The end.

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Freelance Illustrator Steph Calvert • Steph Calvert Art | https://stephcalvertart.com

Freelance illustrator Steph Calvert is an award-winning artist with 24 years of experience working as a creative professional. She is based in McDonough, Georgia, just south of Atlanta.

Steph Calvert has expertise as a children’s book illustrator. She is an expert surface pattern designer for art licensing and creates line drawings for publishing and product design. Steph has years of additional expertise as a mural artist, creating original art, and logo design for small businesses. She is currently querying literary agents with her first author/illustrator book projects.

National SCBWI Conference, 2023
Illustration Summer Camp – The Highlights Foundation, 2021
Make Art That Sells, 2017
BFA in Computer Art – SCAD, 1999


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