Book Review: Farming, Friends, and Fried Bologna Sandwiches

A sequel to "In the Garden with Billy"

By Catherine Groves

Billy Albertson has lived locally pretty much his entire life and knows the area and its history, perhaps more than anyone around. He is 82 years old, yet he still works a garden large enough to feed himself and then plenty left over to sell to the community. Many, many goats living in Milton came from Billys! He still chops and sells his own wood and heats his own house with a wood burning stove. It is around the stove that many love to pull up a chair and sit a spell. Billy never fails to give what each visitor desires, a good story.

One day, Renea Winchester and her daughter were driving by Billys house after a tough day. Upon seeing the sign with Goats for sale, Reneas daughter asked if they could stop. This proved to change her life, and Billys, in a way that, at the time, neither of them could fathom.

In 2010, Renea published In the Garden with Billy, Life, Love, and Tomatoes. This year, Renea, along with Mercer University Press, released Farming, Friends, and Fried Bologna Sandwiches, a sequel (yet a stand-alone book) to In the Garden with Billy.

Janis Owens, author of American Ghost: A Novel and the Cracker Kitchen says it best: In the winning voice of a friendly farm neighbor, Renea Winchester shares her down-home wisdom on all aspects of the Southern garden and table, from seeds to fried bologna. Her tips are as warm and practical as Georgia sunshine, her applications to life, friendship, and love, universal. A great gift book for a budding gardener, newlywed cook, or to read on the porch with a glass of sweet tea.

Renea Winchester is the award-winning author whose work has appeared in A Cup of Comfort for families touched by Alzheimers, Appalachian Heritage, Georgia Backroads, Blue Ridge Country, and Longleaf Style.

ReneaWinchester.com