My Gentle Barn

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review also posted on Great Minds Read Alike.

I'm not even sure what I was expecting when I started reading this book - I guess I thought it would be something that only farm animal lovers would identify with... just a Yay Animals!! happy story about saving the world.

But in these pages is one of the most inspiring and beautiful stories that I have ever read. There is story after story of individual animals - their situation and their healing - and of individual children that the animals in turn come to heal. This is a vivid story of how Ellie Lake's life came full circle - she had a lonely childhood, she had a dream to save the animals who had saved her as a child, she chased her dream, and she found herself along the way. I found myself in tears many many times.

But the most remarkable change took place inside of me... I was not alone after all; I was just a tiny current in the large, gorgeous flow of life.

It's memoirs like these that keep me coming back for more and usually get me on a memoir train for a few months. There is so much emotion and so much honesty in this story of The Gentle Barn.. it's overwhelming at times... but in such a good way - my soul feels cleansed. And I believe there is hope for humanity after all.

When I finished reading, I immediately found The Gentle Barn's website and read more about Jay and Ellie and what they are doing now... I guess you could say I'm an instafan. I'm definitely going to visit one day.

My husband and I have a dream to build a successful farm and produce meat in harmony... to be a small part of taking back the food industry from factory farms and to take care of the animals who in turn take care of us... so I think I could be possibly biased about this book. However, I don't think you have to be an animal activist/hippy farmer to enjoy this story about a life that comes full circle and enriches other lives in return.