Bad Axe FFA spotlights Hatchet Country Farm Day for National FFA Week
By: Katy Snodgrass Staˆ Writer
National FFA Week, which was Feb. 21–28 this year, is a time for reflection and celebration as FFA chapters across the country share the impact the organization has had on them.
In preparation for this year’s event, Bad Axe’s FFA reporter Gabryella Bucholz spent a lot of time thinking back on her positive experiences in the program with her fellow classmates.
According to Bucholz, the whole officer team was asked their opinion on the coolest thing the Bad Axe chapter does.
“While most said going to National Convention or Ag Olympics during National FFA Week, I had to disagree and say our annual Hatchet Country Farm Day,” Bucholz said.
She explained this event, which
takes place right before school is let out for summer, provides local kids with an opportunity to experience agriculture in a fun, interactive way.
“Throughout the day, students learn about basic farm safety, plant seeds in the garden and how crops are grown and cared for,” Bucholz said. “They also get to see all of our fair projects including rabbits, sheep, pigs, goats and cattle.”
Bucholz’s reasons for enjoying Hatchet Country Farm Day so much are twofold: passing agriculture on to the next generation while enjoying time in nature.
“It’s a great time for us to teach them about each species and let them see the cool things we do in our agriculture classes,” she said. “But best of all, they’re learning where their food comes from, enjoying some time on our school farm all while getting to enjoy a day in the sun doing what we love.”
Kylee Swiercz, Gabby Bucholz and Jade Bolzman teach students the difference between dairy and meat goats then show off their goat showmanship skills. (Bad Axe FFA/Courtesy Photo)
Elayna Laskowski teaches students about raising cattle and showing at the fair. (Bad Axe FFA/Courtesy Photo)
Lucy Kaczuk, left, teaches students about the egg cycle while holding one of her chickens. (Bad Axe FFA/Courtesy Photo)
Author Sara Maurer channels farm
life in debut novel "The Good Animal"
By: Katy Snodgrass Staˆ Writer
One ordinary day in 2019, Sara Maurer was struck by a sudden image: two teenagers, a truck and the small town that raised her. The scene arrived fully formed, rooted in the tension between staying and leaving — a choice that defines so many rural lives.
Afraid of losing it, Sara began to write. What started as a single image quickly unfolded into something larger, as years of half-buried stories surfaced. In the process, she rediscovered her passion for storytelling and began shaping what would become "The Good Animal," her new novel published Tuesday, Feb. 24.
Originally born and raised in Sault
Ste. Marie, a city of 13,000 people in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Sara spent much of her childhood helping out on her family's cattle farm and showing animals at fairs. After high school, she attended Albion College as an English major, where she met her husband, Ubly native Ryan Maurer.
After marrying, Sara earned her master’s degree in written communications from Eastern Michigan University and began her career as a news reporter before transitioning into technical writing. She and her husband later returned to the Upper Peninsula to raise their children closer to her family. It was during that time that inspiration struck her. Then, in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the world shut down for months,
Maurer used that time to rededicate herself to writing.
"The Good Animal" is a comingof-age story set in 1995 on a sheep farm in Sault Ste. Marie. It follows 17-year-old Everett Lint, whose dream is to take over the family farm, when he meets Mary Williams, a Coast Guard brat who just wants to graduate and get out as fast as she can. After the unlikely couple falls in love, the story follows the conflicts and consequences that arise as the young couple battles his desire to stay against her desire to leave.
Although it was just released, "The Good Animal" has already received glowing reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal and the Chicago Review of Books. Additionally, it was recently selected
as an Exclusive February pick by the Book of the Month Club.
To celebrate the release, Sara will be traveling to Sleeper Public Library in Ubly Thursday, April 16, at 3 p.m. for a book reading, Q&A and signing event.
Sara explained that although not necessarily based off a true story, her novel pulls a lot from her life growing up in the eastern Upper Peninsula.
"Our whole life revolved around show animals and the culmination of the year was going to the Chippewa County Fair," she recalled. "It was like a family reunion because all my cousins were there, we all had campers, and I just really tried to bring that whole experience out in the book."
One example Sara described is
when Everett becomes obsessed with winning grand champion lamb at the fair, hyperfixating on the standards to breed the perfect lamb. She explained that was based on her own thoughts and desires as a kid.
On top of her own experiences, Sara infused some of the traditions she's learned from her husband's family. Her in-laws, Jim and Jeannie Maurer, are the former owners of the Ublybased business Maurer Meat Processors.
"My husband's mom and dad live in their original farmstead and they've maintained so many Polish and German traditions, even religious and family traditions," Sara explained. "It was really important to me as I was writing to think about what family means and what agriculture traditions mean, especially when you grow up in an agricultural community."
Sara's perspective of her
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Sara Maurer, whose coming-of-age novel The Good Animal follows a teen on a Sault Ste. Marie sheep farm. (Photo Courtesy of: Libbey Ann Studios)
Continued from page 5
hometown was another driving force, as she felt strongly that the U.P. and agricultural life as a whole has not been represented accurately in media.
"It's really based on this deep woods type setting where you're out in the middle of nowhere. But for me in the eastern Upper Peninsula, it's all farmland," she described. "I don't think people typically think of the U.P. when they think of landscapes like that, but it's a big part of at least the eastern U.P."
However, Sara was also quick to clarify that Sault Ste. Marie is more than just farmland, which adds to the city's uniqueness.
"Sault Ste. Marie is just this interesting place where you have an international border, the locks with all these ships going through, Interstate 75 starts here and goes all the way to Florida, you've got these Coast Guard families coming in and out. There's all this movement, but Everett is this character that wants to
stay still."
That contrast Sara created also served as a bigger metaphor for Sault Ste. Marie as a whole.
"For better or for worse, Sault Ste. Marie hasn't changed a ton over the years," Sara said. "I think that's good in a way because it stays true to the type of town it is but it also is resistant to change sometimes and that's kind of how Everett is too."
However, Sara did not always feel so positively about her hometown, recalling how in her younger years she was eager to leave Sault Ste. Marie behind for good much like her character Mary.
"When I graduated from high school, I believed the narrative that you had to get away from your small town to make something of yourself and try new things — which is important — but I just really bought into that," she said.
After eventually moving back to raise her kids, Sara felt it was important to pass this lesson along in her book as well.
"I think a lot of times in literature and movies there's this trope where this talented person has to get away from their small hometown to make something of themselves or follow their dreams," she said. "So I really intentionally wanted to create a character who wanted to stay put and celebrated being rural because I think it's just as valuable of a life choice to stay in your community as it is to go away."
The positive response of the book so far has been hugely validating for Sara that she gave life to a meaningful and impactful story. Additionally, it's encouraged her on a more personal level as she doubted herself throughout the writing process, not knowing if people would take interest in what she had to say.
"The whole time I was writing, I kept thinking 'Who's going to want to read this book about a kid who wants to get grand champion show lamb?'" Sara recalled, chuckling to herself. "But people are just drawn to it and they love Everett as a character. He's
so big hearted and caring but makes some really stupid decisions that you just find yourself rooting from him along the way."
When asked what she thinks people from Ubly and Huron County in general will take away from her novel, Sara guessed the fair scenes and Everett's perspective will stick out most. But more than that, she hopes people walk away knowing that agriculture stories have a place in modern media.
"I hope they take away the idea that their lives are important and worth being the focus of a book," Sara said. "That farming is worthy of art and literature. I hope they take the same encouragement from the good reviews the book has gotten and feel as validated by them as I do."
"The Good Animal" is published by St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of Macmillan, and available now through the publisher’s website, any major online retailers, as well as independent bookstores like the Sault’s own Island Books & Crafts.
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