DOWN ON THE FARM by Cathi Gerhard & Gregory Susa
“The Olive Farm” by Carol Drinkwater I came across this book because I was a big fan of the BBC one television series All Creatures Great and Small. The character of Helen Herriot was originally portrayed by Carol Drinkwater, an Anglo-Irish actress turned olive farmer and author. She began writing award-winning chil-dren’s books, starting with The Haunted School, which was purchased by Disney. Her commercial fiction works include a series of memoirs about her experiences as an olive farmer in Provence, France. Two travel books from the series (The Olive Route and The Olive Tree) have inspired a multipart documentary films about her 17month Mediterranean sojourn in search of mythical trade secrets, completed in February 2013 and already broadcast on several international networks. According to the GardenConservancy.org, Drinkwater
has also been invited to work with UNESCO to help found an Olive Heritage Trail around the Mediterranean Basin, with the dual goals of creating peace in the region and honoring the ancient heritage of the olive tree – a symbol of life and peace there for thousands of years. The Olive Farm begins as a quest for peace, for respite from the crazy, fast-paced world of an international celebrity. She and her fiance, French TV producer, Michel Noll, find a rundown and overgrown olive farm in the south of France. The abandoned tenacre property was the stuff of Drinkwater’s early dreams: “All my life, I have dreamed of acquiring a crumbling, shabby-chic house overlooking the sea . . . a corner of paradise where friends can gather to swim, relax, debate, eat fresh fruits picked directly from the garden and
Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission Seeking Historical Marker Nominations The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is seeking nominations of historic properties or locations with statewide or national significance for its State Historical Marker Program. Applicants are responsible for the costs of marker fabrication and installation. The approximate cost, including shipping, for the larger roadside marker is $1,875; the smaller city-type is approximately $1,400. Nominators or sponsoring organizations are asked to carefully consider these expenses before submitting an application. For more information on the marker program or to download a nomination form, please visit www. pahistoricalmarkers.com. The deadline for nominations is December 1. The State Historical Marker Program helps communities throughout Pennsylvania recognize, preserve and promote their history. Since 1914, PHMC has been marking Pennsylvania historical sites, first with bronze plaques and later with blue and gold markers that dot streets and highways. The more than 2,000 markers tell the stories of Native Americans and early settlers, government and politics, athletes, entertainers, artists, struggles for freedom and equality, factories, businesses and a multitude of other topics.
20 - November 2013
great steaming plates of food served from an al fresco kitchen and dished up on to a candlelit table.” That has been my own personal dream, one that Greg and I are now realizing together – but without the seaside and the international circle of friends. I am hooked from the start with this book, especially when the supposed wealth of the rich and famous doesn’t stretch as far as we think. Drinkwater and Noll are living paycheck to paycheck as they make necessary and unexpected repairs to their growing money pit in a language not yet fluent to our heroine. As with Under the Tuscan Sun, a memoir by Frances Mayes, this story is filled with colorful and quirky local characters we all wish could live in our own neighborhood. ***** Best friends, but never quite college sweethearts, Greg and Cathi finally married 20 years later. Together they own and operate Fairview Farm in Derry Township, now an estate winery and community garden in the making, managed by two black cats, two devoted dogs, and a ridiculously bossy young kitten. “Down on the Farm” is a column originally started by Cathi’s father, Shelly Gerhard, about a day in the life of a family farm in western Pennsylvania.
LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST