Product Description

Jeanne Marie Laskas had a dream of fleeing her otherwise happy urban life for fresh air and open space — a dream she would discover was about something more than that. But she never expected her fantasy to come true — until a summer afternoon’s drive in the country.

That’s when she and her boyfriend, Alex — owner of Marley the poodle — stumble upon the place she thought existed only in her dreams. This pretty-as-a-picture-postcard farm with an Amish barn, a chestnut grove, and breathtaking vistas is real ... and for sale. And it’s where she knows her future begins.

But buying a postcard — fifty acres of scenery — and living on it are two entirely different matters. With wit and wisdom, Laskas chronicles the heartwarming and heartbreaking stories of the colorful two- and four-legged creatures she encounters on Sweetwater Farm.

Against a backdrop of brambles, a satellite dish, and sheep, she tells a tender, touching, and hilarious tale about life, love, and the unexpected complications of having your dream come true.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #294762 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-02
• Released on: 2002-01-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.com Review
Jeanne Marie Laskas is 37, with a house, garden, dog, cat, flourishing writing career--all of the perfect ingredients, in fact, of a happy city-person's life--when a childhood dream resurfaces. It is a farm dream, this "song I couldn't get out of my head," and it would make more sense, she ruefully admits, if she were "at least the farm dream type. A person with some deep personal longing to churn butter." But not Laskas. She likes malls. She eats Lean Cuisine. She believes "very deeply in the power of air conditioning, microwave ovens, and very many things you plug in." Nonetheless, she spends weekends on make-believe "farm shopping" excursions with her boyfriend, Alex, who is another city person, a shrink and the owner of an honest-to-goodness poodle--a farm dream disqualifier, if ever there were one. Then, one summer afternoon, the perfect place appears, and it's very real: fifty acres, a pond, an Amish barn, and a magnificent view out over the rolling hills of Pennsylvania's Washington County. They fall in love. They buy the farm. Goodbye, city-person life.

But the scenery with which they fell in love is not quite like the scenery in postcards. Things need to be done to it, and all of these things involve buying and learning how to use different kinds of tractor attachments. And then there are the neighbors: the sheep farmer who shoots dogs, the curious proliferation of Joe Crowleys, everywhere the hunters. ("Congratulations on your ... dead deer," is all Alex can think to say to them.) Over the year that follows, the two city slickers find out a great deal about livestock, tractor attachments, and themselves; all of which is related in Laskas's funny, warm, conversational style. As she leaves behind her ordered, interior world for one that's gorgeously, chaotically exterior, Fifty Acres and a Poodle becomes much more than just a book about learning to live in the country; it is, in fact, a book about learning to live--dead groundhogs, emotional messes, and all. You don't need your own farm dream to fall in love with this witty and winning memoir, but it wouldn't hurt to look through the real estate pages, just in case. --Mary Park

From Publishers Weekly
In this spunky memoir of a dream come true, Laskas (columnist for the Washington Post Magazine, author of The Balloon Lady and Other People I Know, etc.) recounts her first year of living the country life after buying a farm. Before the move, Laskas lived comfortably with her beloved cat, Bob, and her mutt, Betty, in a small house set on a quarter-acre plot only 15 minutes by bike from downtown Pittsburgh. Her boyfriend, Alex, a devoted urban dweller, was a shrink and owner of a pet poodle who lived separately from her in the city. Her childhood dream of living on a farm unexpectedly became a reality after she found the embodiment of her dreamAcomplete with a barn, a chestnut grove and breathtaking vistasAwhile looking at farms for sale as an excuse for a Sunday outing with Alex. Their first year together on the farm makes for an amusing and emotional tale, told in loving detail as Laskas recalls her own and Alex's adjustment from single, urban life to a committed relationship in wide-open spaces. She describes clearing the farm, meeting the neighbors, Alex's illness and the death of one of their animals with heartfelt honesty, offering many fresh pleasures for any city dweller who has ever dreamed of buying a farm. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
A contributing editor to Esquire realizes her dream: she buys a farm. The poodle came with her boyfriend.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Heaven On Earth In Fifty Acres
Jeanne Marie Laskas has written a jewel with heart in Fifty Acres. A revealing look into the author's life and her pursuance of a childhood dream evolves into a charming and beautifully written narrative that has universal appeal. Everyone imagines doing great things with their lives, few have the tenacity to see them through. Fifty Acres is a testament to living your dream. Laskas has it all: humor, insight and wisdom as she guides you through her journey toward the place she now calls home. This is a must read for anyone who desires country living, even if only in the form of an armchair fantasy. I took this book everywhere with me until I was done, and bought copies for friends and relatives. Let's hope that Laskas has more literary gems to offer her fans in the future.

Heart Warming Story
This was such a wonderful book, I am so glad that I found it. I am greatful to Ms. Laskas for sharing this story through her eloquent, humorous, highly relatable and at times heart pulling writing.

For anyone who ever had a dream, this is the book that will make you realize that anything is possible. Ms. Laskas' outlook on life is so refreshing. She writes about her life, her relationship with her boyfriend turn fiance and then husband Alex, and their animals with such passion and truth that it is impossible not to keep turning the pages like you would with a captivating work of fiction.

Her animals practically jump of the pages, and having grown up with poodles I could picture everything Marley did. The farm and all the people she and Alex befriend come to life as if they are your own neighbors, and the idea of owning a farm doesn't seem as foreign as it might have before.

I hope Ms. Laskas chooses to write more anecdotes and memoirs. Perhaps a part II of this story. Her words were all chosen perfectly, and the story was charming, fun, and vibrant. I highly recommend it for a refreshing look at life, love, family, and animals.

What a terric book!
Having read an excerpt in a magazine earlier this year, I was anxious to read the entire book. Since it was not yet released by the publisher, it was a long two month wait, but well worth it. This book is about far more than a "30 Something" woman who makes a life style change; moving from the city to a farm creates a domino effect that cascades into every corner of her life. And, delightfully, Mrs. Laskas takes us with her on this journey of discovery and change.

The story pulls you in, slowly, but surely, and you find yourself really caring about the outcome of all characters, animal as well as human. I found myself in tremendous sympathy with the author, her bravery, fortitude, insecurities, and all the loves of her life. And, finally, lest things become too serious, the entire story is told with a charming combination of dry humor, sense of wonder, and discovery of self that make it a book hard to put down.

This was a Five Star Read, and I sincerely hope Mrs. Laskas is at home right now on Sweetwater Farm writing the squel.