Surviving the Sand
eBook - ePub

Surviving the Sand

My Family's Struggle to Farm the Pasco Desert

  1. 270 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Surviving the Sand

My Family's Struggle to Farm the Pasco Desert

About this book

"Dad's eyes danced. His grin held happiness…hope. 'We're home!' he announced. Mom stared out the pickup window. Silent. Lifeless…Tufts of skinny grass and small grayish green bushes surrounded us. The land lay flat in every direction as far as I could see."

Helen Lingscheit Heavirland spent her early years in western Oregon's beautiful woods, where her father Wayne Lingscheit's work as a logger provided a comfortable home. But Wayne dreamed of farming, and Columbia Basin Project irrigation opened a new opportunity. In 1954 he and his wife Gladys moved their family--seven-year-old Helen, baby Hazel, twelve-year-old Frank, and fifteen-year-old Emma--to raw land in Pasco, Washington, that was mostly bunchgrass and sagebrush. The only structures were a roofless outhouse, an eight-foot by sixteen-foot wooden shack, and a pen for sheep and goats.

In Surviving the Sand, Helen shares her family's hardscrabble yet heartwarming story, chronicling common hardships many faced in the Columbia Basin Project's early settlement days. She describes breaking sod, plants destroyed by wind-whipped sand, and a harrowing first winter sleeping outside after a storm shredded their tent, but also simple joys like fresh apricots, Crokinole games, and letters from loved ones. Most of all, she relates how--despite the heartache, arduous work, and tough times--her family loves, laughs, and works together as they chase her father's seemingly impossible dream.

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Yes, you can access Surviving the Sand by Helen Lingscheit Heavirland,Caryn Lawton in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Scienze sociali & Biografie nell'ambito delle scienze sociali. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover 
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents 
  5. Introduction
  6. 1954
  7. 1. Home?
  8. 2. Into the Unknown
  9. 3. Little House
  10. 4. New Normal
  11. 5. Again
  12. 6. Let the Farming Begin
  13. 7. Wind
  14. 8. Aftermath
  15. 9. Burst of Beauty
  16. 10. Cooling
  17. 11. Thanksgiving
  18. 12. Rich
  19. 1954–1955
  20. 13. Winter
  21. 1955
  22. 14. Seeds
  23. 15. Bad News, Good News
  24. 16. The Move
  25. 17. For Me?
  26. 18. Brr-rr-rr
  27. 19. Merry Christmas
  28. 1956
  29. 20. Back to the Shack?
  30. 21. Where’s Home?
  31. 22. Mom Didn’t Look Back
  32. 23. Moving
  33. 24. Starting Over
  34. 25. If Only …
  35. 26. Progress
  36. 27. Weeds
  37. 28. Tractor Training
  38. 29. Uninvited Guests
  39. 30. Christmas Commotion
  40. 1957
  41. 31. Deep Freeze
  42. 32. A Lot of Chicken Little
  43. 33. Eggs and Space
  44. 1957–1958
  45. 34. The Race is On
  46. 1958
  47. 35. Crew Shrinks, Work Doesn’t
  48. 36. Why Did I Ever Want to Drive?
  49. 37. What If …?
  50. 1959
  51. 38. Goals
  52. 39. Dreams and Dread
  53. 40. Big House
  54. 1959 and Beyond
  55. 41. Home
  56. Epilogue: And Now?
  57. Historical Setting
  58. Special Thanks