In “A Can of Peas” by Traci DePree, we learn about teh Morgan family. Peter Morgan’s grandfather Roy was a farmer, devoted to his land. Whenever Peter would go to the farm for a visit, he loved to follow Roy around, watching him operate the machinery, milk the cows, and run the tractor up and down the fields, but he wasn’t there often enough to get a feel for how everything was done. Years later, when his grandfather passes away and his grandmother is trying to figure out what she’ll do with the farm, Peter strongly feels that he and his wife Mae should buy it, but there’s just one problem: Peter doesn’t know how to be a farmer.
His grandmother, Virginia, gives him all the advice she can, and Bert, a neighbor, comes over to teach Peter the ropes. He didn’t know what he was getting into and often he wonders if he really should have taken on such a huge project, but the farm is the only connection he has to his grandfather. He had a very unsettled childhood and his grandfather provided a lot of comfort through the chaos; how can he let his grandfather down by letting the farm fall into the hands of strangers?
Meanwhile, Mae’s mother is coming down on her for following “that dreamer” who will never amount to anything. Peter gave up a promising counseling career in order to run the farm, and Mae’s mother is sure that he’ll be Mae’s ruin. Finally, Mae finds it necessary to break ties with her mother, something that she might never be forgiven for.
As the first few months roll by, both Peter and Mae realize that the job is much bigger than they ever dreamed. Peter is out in the barn almost non-stop, milking, tending to a sick cow, or repairing a broken tractor. Mae supports him as best she can with hot meals and clean clothes, but she misses the closeness they used to have.
Sprinkled throughout the story are tidbits from the past of each of the characters, which give a depth to the feeling of the town where Peter and Mae now live. We see a close-up of how a farm is run and the challenges that go into making ends meet (or making hens meet, for that matter) I did find the writing to be a little off here and there, but I’m persnickety so you just have to expect me to make comments like that from time to time. Overall, I found the book to be a good read, absolutely clean, and it leaves you with a feeling of hope at the end.
(This book was published in 2002 by Waterbrook Press.)
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