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Henry T. Ireys and Priscilla M. Ireys will visit City Lights on Saturday, November 1st at 3:00pm to share their new book, The Keep: Living with the Tame and the Wild on a Mountain Farm. When a mid-life couple finds an old farm that promises refuge from hectic lives and encroaching illness, their world opens up to unexpected adventures: breeding heritage goats, hogs, and cattle; managing a half-dozen large guardian dogs; dealing with barn fires, rapacious logging, and the death of treasured animals. The farm and the surrounding forest also lead to surprising moments of beauty—from sublime sunsets and powerful connections with animals to an outpouring of help from neighbors.
Written separately by wife and husband with distinctly separate voices, the book’s essays illustrate different perspectives of life on a farm dedicated to the compassionate treatment of livestock and a deep appreciation of nature’s complexities. Priscilla embraces the intensity of loving animals; Henry explores the mysteries of living in a beautiful place. And, in telling their tales, the authors provide a glimpse into their own marriage—as complicated, improbable, and enduring as life itself. The Keep—the term for “the strongest or central tower of a castle, acting as a final refuge”—is a love letter to an unexpected place and adopted lifestyle.
Henry T. Ireys has a forty-year career as a health policy researcher working for Vanderbilt University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He later became a senior researcher for Mathematica Policy Research in Washington, DC. He published numerous papers in health policy journals and, since his retirement, has been writing for The Hampshire Review about farming and the natural world. He holds a PhD from Case Western Reserve University. Priscilla M. Ireys attended the Pittsburg Institute of Art and FIT in New York. She designed and made stage clothes for country music stars such as Loretta Lynn. Under her own label, she sold expensive handmade scarves to Norstrom’s, Henri Bendel, and many high-end boutiques. She left the fashion industry after thirty years to focus on farming and the conservation of heritage breeds. She has written numerous stories for Small Farmer’s Journal. Together, Henry and Priscilla have lived on a farm in Hampshire County since 2001, tending a core herd of fifty Spanish and Savanna goats. The Keep is their first book together.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
3 East Jackson Street, Sylva, NC, United States, North Carolina 28779
