Mardi Jo Link's marriage had fallen apart. She was determined to keep the rest of her life together for her three sons. This meant paying the bills, scrimping and economizing, and trying to obtain another mortgage on their acreage in northern Michigan. It wasn't going to be easy.
Link tells her story in her memoir "Bootstrapper - from Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm." Link was making a living as a freelancer writing in the genre known as "true crime." Her income was unpredictable. How could she find ways to conserve?
She and her sons embark on some amazing adventures as they raise their own vegetables, chop firewood, shop at thrift stores, scour markets for discounted food, and snuggle beneath mounds of blankets to keep warm on wintry nights. Then there were the chickens, lots of chickens.
Listen to this interview to find out how this memoir began to take shape at the Antioch Writer's Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
