On Saturday, February 15 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at PMM’s Main Street Gallery, Maine author Trudy Chambers Price will talk about The Cows Are Out! and My Journey, two memoirs of life in rural Maine. Trudy grew up in Aroostook County where her family lived for five generations. She moved in 1966 when she and her husband Ron purchased a 150-acre dairy farm in Knox, Maine. They raised their children and worked on the farm together for twenty-three years. The Cows Are Out! is Trudy’s funny and moving account of life on a family farm, chronicling a way of life that is disappearing across America.
My Journey, was compiled by Trudy but written by her dear friend Arthena Taylor Keller. Arthena was born in 1927 in Montville, Maine, lost her mother at age two, her father at eight, and was raised by her grandparents on their farm in Freedom. This is the true story of a life lived with joy and pluck, in circumstances which today we would consider very difficult. It is also the story of how life in Maine has changed. Arthena Keller passed away this year and is deeply missed by her friends and family; her daughter Kathy Keller Cunningham will join Trudy Price at Penobscot Marine Museum on Saturday for the book signing. All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the Keep Waldo Warm Fund, which provides fuel to Waldo County families in need. My Journey is only available through Penobscot Marine Museum.
With the growth of the local food movement, young people are once again going into farming, especially in Maine. They are looking for inspiration at past farming practices and ways of living which are preserved in books such as The Cows Are Out! and My Journey.
In 1991 Trudy Chambers Price and her husband divorced. They lost touch for many years, but with the publication of The Cows Are Out!, they reconnected and re-married in 2010.
The talk and book signing with Maine author Trudy Chamber Price is Saturday, February 15, 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at Penobscot Marine Museum’s Main Street Gallery, 40 East Main Street, Searsport. Events free with $5 Gallery admission. Gallery admission is free for museum members and Searsport residents.