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    Flat Broke with Two Goats: A Memoir
    Flat Broke with Two Goats: A Memoir
    Flat Broke with Two Goats: A Memoir
    Audiobook9 hours

    Flat Broke with Two Goats: A Memoir

    Written by Jennifer McGaha

    Narrated by Pam Ward

    3/5

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    About this audiobook

    Jennifer McGaha never expected to own a goat named Merle. Or to be setting Merle up on dates and naming his doeling Merlene. She didn't expect to be buying organic yogurt for her chickens. She never thought she would be pulling camouflage carpet off her ceiling or rescuing opossums from her barn and calling it "date night." Most importantly, Jennifer never thought she would only have $4.57 in her bank account.

    When Jennifer discovered that she and her husband owed back taxes-a lot of back taxes-her world changed. Now desperate to save money, they foreclosed on their beloved suburban home and moved their family to a one-hundred-year-old cabin in a North Carolina holler. Soon enough, Jennifer's life began to more closely resemble the lives of her Appalachian ancestors than the life she experienced in her middle class upbringing. But what started as a last-ditch effort to settle debts became a journey that revealed both the joys and challenges of living close to the land.

    Told with bold wit, unflinching honesty, and a firm foot in the traditions of Appalachia, Flat Broke with Two Goats blends stories of homesteading with the journey of two people rediscovering the true meaning of home.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJan 23, 2018
    ISBN9781541475915
    Author

    Jennifer McGaha

    A Pushcart Prize nominee and student at Vermont College of Fine Arts, Jennifer McGaha teaches in The Great Smokies Writing Program at UNC-Asheville. She is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, where her work has gained significant national attention. Visit her at www.jennifermcgaha.com

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    Reviews for Flat Broke with Two Goats

    3/5

    143 ratings20 reviews

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    • 1/5
      Misleading title & description. Sounded like a memoir about how someone started over from a major life setback by moving to a farm. VERY little had anything to do with actual farm life. Instead, it was a story that "stated" there were setbacks & how the author "felt" about them, but no explanation of how she overcame setbacks except to re-marry or create new relationships at least 4 times, which pointed more towards her making poor decisions in relationships than her ability to survive a bad one. Anyone can "start over" if they marry or otherwise connect to someone that creates stability for them. I got the sense that other than possibly writing a book about it, the author wouldn't know how to start over on her own (and never explained how she started over, even with the help of many relationships). Again, maybe a decent story, but not at ALL what it was described to be, which soon became slow and repetitive; I finally stopped listening in the final chapter when I saw there WASN'T anything else to it. I also found the narrator's voice (was not the author)) distracting since she sounded like a very elderly person (and I'm a grandfather, so not picking on someone older, far from it). though the story didn't seem to be about someone THAT much older; the voice just didn't fit the story in my opinion. Sorry, just being honest, even if wrong for others. Some may love it but wasn't for me...

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Heartwarming and relatable! Nicely written with all the ups and downs described with an undertone of optimism and loyalty to her own heart and sense of what is right. I LOVE the main character! I LOVE her story!
    • 5/5
      The writing was wonderful. Engaging. Could not stop listening. The reader gave even more life to the book. Loved the whole experience.
    • 5/5
      Good book to listen to when trying to find out what farm life is really like.
    • 3/5
      Too much angst
    • 4/5
      This book arrived and I showed it to MT and said "look! our retirement plan arrived!" (referring to the goat part, not the broke part. I hope.) When I first saw this title I was immediately drawn to it because I wanted to hear from people who'd done what we sometimes talk about doing: leaving urbanity behind for a quieter, more sustainable and slower paced life. Preferably surrounded by a mix of domesticated animals and nonvenomous wildlife. But this book ended up being more complicated than that and my review is going to sound a tad ungenerous because of it. Ungenerous because the complicated bits are well written, and at times riveting, but not what I was looking for. Look at that title and cover; that cover and title imply a certain level of quirky adventure and maybe a humorous mishap or two while journeying the learning curve of homesteading. Instead, this is primarily the story of the author and her husband's experience with the Global Financial Crisis and the consequences of living on credit, written by a woman who sounds like she's still very much on the road to emotional recovery. McGaha's husband - an accountant - didn't pay their personal state or federal income taxes for four years. By the time she finds out, the IRS and the state have put liens on everything, seized their bank accounts and garnished their wages. With no choices left, they walked away from their home, and took up residence in an ancient cabin in the North Carolina woods that distant relatives of her husband offered them for a peppercorn rent. So less quirky and fun than the marketing department would lead you to believe. The first third of the book covers this downward spiral and it is a cautionary tale and almost the cliche for a great many living in the 1990's. McGaha doesn't pull any punches about her anger at herself and her husband, nor how bad things got between them. There's also a horrific but ultimately irrelevant chapter about her brief but terrifying first marriage, told as a flashback. It's gripping stuff but it honestly has no relevance at all to the rest of the book, especially as we never find out what happened to him, or his relationship with their daughter, if any. The remainder of the book focuses on their experiences at the cabin; cleaning it up, trying to cope with the transition from city water and sewer to spring fed water tanks and wood burning boilers. Their encounters with local wildlife of both the venomous and rodent variety, and their first forays into keeping chickens and goats. Interspersed throughout are flashbacks to her grandparents and ... I don't know what to call them ... daydreams? about her great-grandparents and their connection to the land in Appalachia. Again, these 'memoirs' are really well written, but this reader bought a book about being broke and raising goats, not about dreams of the author's Appalachian ancestors. And while I DID get the stuff about the goats and chickens, I'd have liked more detail; I wanted to know more about the cabin, the chickens, the structures they built; I got a lot about the goats, but the cheese making was brief, as was the soap making. I can't help but think if there'd been fewer memories, maybe I'd have gotten more of the pertinent details. Even though I think there are really two books here - the story of their recovery and altered lifestyle, and a collection of stories/memories/dreams about her ancestors - it is still an incredibly eye-opening, informative read. So much so that I handed it to MT when I finished and told him to read it, but that he should feel free to skip the disjointed bits.
    • 4/5
      The audiobook made zero mention of any recipes, which was a bit of disappointment. I'll have to get my hands on a print copy!
    • 4/5
      It wasn't that the couple wanted to raise goats or that they wanted to live in the woods of North Carolina...it was the six figure tax debt on their suburban home that they were buying from a friend that that lead then to the cabin in the North Carolina woods. Her upbeat and sometimes funny memoir follows the couple and their two dogs into a situation that was less than ideal. The house wasn't ever going to be featured in Better Homes & Gardens. It was filled with the pungent odor of mold..., had green camouflage carpet “on the ceiling,”...a barely functioning bathroom...which she thanked the Housing Gods was at least indoors...countless mice... and a constant influx of snakes attracted by those countless mice. To make matter worse...if that was even possible...her husband had outright lied to her about their financial situation...so she achieved some happiness with the purchase of a few goats and chickens. She learned how to make goat cheese...breed the goats, with only a few misadventures along the way. The narrative often rambles...and there is a long section about her life with her abusive first husband. She glosses over some of the deeper problems that she and her husband created for themselves. There are recipes in the book if anyone is longing for a bowl of Crock-Pot goat milk soap, which involves “9.56 ounces 100 percent pure lye” and some unspecified “protective gear.” It's sad...it thought provoking...its sometimes funny. It diffidently made this reader glad to only be reading about it and not in any way experiencing it.
    • 4/5
      I read this for the "An Ebook" part of my 2018 reading challenge. I really enjoyed it, much more than I expected to. It was serious, and funny, and I liked their farm animal trials. The recipes included in each chapter look worth trying as well.
    • 4/5
      Much of this memoir was interesting - the author's ability to take a hard look at her own faults and missteps is refreshing. But narrative feels like it ends in midstride. There is a conflict - the financial cliff they are hanging off - and there is no resolution ... just a series of things they do while hanging out under the mythical sword of justice. A stronger narrative arc would have made this more than just a bunch of interesting episodes.
    • 3/5
      Not the most exciting memoir I've ever read, but I did learn one hell of a lot about raising goats.
    • 3/5
      This book has great narrative on how the author and her family got into financial ruin and pick themselves up again. The description of the various events is quite funny.
    • 4/5
      A well written memoir about losing it all, and in the process connecting to what is really important.


      full review at thelastpageturnedbookblog.blogspot.ca/2018/04/review-flat-broke-with-two-goats-memoir.html
    • 4/5
      #biglibraryread
    • 4/5
      That saying “When given lemons, make lemonade” is so appropriate. When foreclosure and the nonpayment of federal and state taxes force the McGaha’s to move to a remote rundown cabin often filled with mice and snakes, they make yogurt and soap from goat milk. How they left suburbia and came to love the hillbilly life is beyond me but I learned so much about how to sex goats and chickens and along with that how caring for animals changed the human perspective on what is important. Thank to KCLS in making this a community read, I read a book I would not have picked up and I’m glad I did read it. I’ve recommended it to four people, a day after I finished reading it.
    • 2/5
      This is not the book for readers looking for something like “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” or “The Bucolic Plague.” It is more “flat broke” than “two goats.” In fact the goats do not show up until halfway through the book.Early in the book the author tries to claim that her family’s financial crisis is a result of being “ordinary, middle-class Americans who somehow got swept up in the current of the bad economy.” In my experience, middle-class Americans do not send their children to private schools or have the myriad expensive spending habits that are detailed throughout the book, that she writes about as if they are normal. It is hard to feel sympathetic towards her situation.
    • 4/5
      Jennifer Stone recommended this book. Overall, I enjoyed this book, because I really enjoy memoirs. Her writing style kept me engaged. However, that is where my appreciation ends. Her lack of interest in and awareness of their personal finances was shocking. When their home went into foreclosure and they moved to a hovel and then tried to turn it into a hobby farm instead of paying their back-taxes.Page 185 "our modus operandi: Proceed at breakneck pace until a problem occurs, then furiously backpedal.
    • 3/5
      I think I may hate the author. She's been very passive her entire life, letting everyone else handle everything for her and really seems to continue that trend even at the end of the book (she ALMOST broke free and started taking responsibility, but then hubby talked her back). And those poor animals. I shudder to think how many animals suffered and died needlessly because she had no idea what she was doing. She did plenty of googling on the buying part, but once it came to caring for them, she didn't have a damn clue - and as soon as something goes wrong, her response it "I should have googled that...oh well. Too late." What an irresponsible fuckwad.
    • 2/5
      This is a memoir written by Jennifer McGaha. I decided to read it because when checking into overdrive it was The Big Read. I've never participated in a Big Read but decided I would go for it because it was available as an audio. I did not hate this book. That said, I am not a person who likes to read memoirs. My picture of this book and many memoir's is, "hey, I can write, I'll just write about my life" and that is what this is. I think that is what this is. McGaha is an English educator. The story is about her and her Appalachian roots. McGaha is twice married woman who is rather impulsive and doesn't look before she leaps. The first man is physically abusive, the second is an auditor who doesn't manage money. She is a person who avoids. And, it is true, if you are a spouse of someone who misfiles or fails to file taxes and totally unaware, IRS will not care. You are still in trouble so be aware. Know what is happening with your finances. They end up in financial ruin. If you don't pay taxes and get into trouble with the IRS, this is the way your life will go and yes, there are many people who this does happen too. I have known people who have been ruined and even sent to prison for not paying their taxes. This is a story about surviving after financial mismanagement. At the end of the book, they are still owing money to IRS. Perhaps this book is an effort to get that paid off. IRS will take all the money she does earn from this book. So unfortunately, it is not a very popular book. I think the book was a bit disorganized or all over the place. There are bits about her past relatives and bits about the goats and chickens, the children. As a memoir, the author did make progress in her development. She became more aware of her tendency to avoid and did take more self directed action in her life. She eventually became more settled to the change and loss and made some progress towards accepting her situation. Legacy: 2 (nothing special)Plot: 3 (a bit all over the place, but linear)Characterization: 2Readability: 3Achievement: 2Style: way to much unnecessary swearing that did not add anything to the book 2Rating 2.33
    • 1/5
      I gave this book a chance, but it failed to keep me interested enough to keep listening to it. I debated switching to the e-book, but I don't think it would matter. I honestly don't care how an adjunct professor and her CPA husband found themselves owing over $100,000 to the IRS and ended up in a cabin in the woods, living off the grid. I ended up abandoning it. It's a great title, but it's not a book for me.