I stumbled upon Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm by Mardi Jo Link while looking for business development and personal finance books at my local library. I was drawn to the book by the word "bootstrapper" in the title and didn't read the cover blurb at all until I had the book at home and started sorting that day's library haul. I was actually expecting it to be a book for entrepreneurs who are just starting out.
Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm is not at all a book for entrepreneurs as I expected. Instead, it is a memoir that spoke to me on so many levels! I loved every word and every page of it! I even loved the acknowledgements at the end and hope you will read them.
I was delightfully surprised to find that the book is actually Link's memoir of how she went from an about to be divorced mother of three on a farm she couldn't afford to a divorced (with a big event later in the book!) mother of three on a farm she managed to figure out how to afford, at times in unconventional ways. As a single mom of a teenager, and frequently financially struggling, I was drawn in immediately!
Link writes about the ups and downs of being a single mom, the joys and worries of parenting boys, the pleasure in living close to the land, and the unpredictable nature of life. Her style is straightforward and to the point. When she worries about how to feed her children after a power outage results in pounds and pounds of spoiled food, you feel the despair, but you also feel the disgust as she describes pork juices oozing out of a freezer onto her cellar floor. I almost felt like I was standing there next to her (I'm so glad this book didn't include scratch-and-sniff! Ew!). When her youngest names a noxious rooster that attacks anyone that comes near, you likely will laugh out loud or knowingly smile and nod at a precious parenting-child-family moment that likely inspired many jokes among the older family members.
If you are a struggling single mom, I hope you will read this book. It isn't a parenting manual, a personal finance book, or anything else of the sort. But, it is an uplifting memoir that can help you feel less alone in your single, struggling parenthood. It may help you to see that there is a light at the end of your tunnel. Link has been-there-done-that. And, if you have ever thought about homesteading but aren't sure if it's right for you, Link's memoir includes horses, a pig, chickens, a big-ass garden, and more. She writes about bonds with animals, tragedies, ups and downs, and the realities of running what is essentially a homestead.
I HIGHLY recommend this one! 5 stars!
Pick it up at your local library or find it HERE on Amazon.
