The Keep
248 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/4
8 photographs
Paperback
Release Date:01 Oct 2025
ISBN:9781959000525
The Keep
Living with the Tame and the Wild on a Mountain Farm
By Henry T. Ireys and Priscilla M. Ireys
West Virginia University Press
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.
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.
The Keep is honest and compelling storytelling told through the contrasting and complementarity of Priscilla’s and Henry’s individual voices. Priscilla has an intimate view of animal husbandry, while Henry is more prone to philosophizing; yet both are deeply engaged with the land, and both are thoughtful and lively storytellers. Neither shies away from complexities and challenges. In her accounts of raising goats and hogs, Priscilla captures both the necessary brutality and profound tenderness required for successful animal husbandry.’ [78]
—Arwen Donahue is the author of the graphic memoir Landings: A Crooked Creek Farm Year(Hub City, 2022) and the oral history collection This is Home Now: Kentucky’s Holocaust Survivors Speak (University Press of Kentucky, 2022). Arwen lives on a farm in Kentucky.
‘A delightful chronicle of a moment in time on a parcel in Appalachia.’
—Gretchen Legler is the author of Woodsqueer: Crafting a Sustainable Rural Life; On the Ice: An Intimate Portrait of Life at McMurdo Station, Antarctica; and All the Powerful Invisible Things: A Sportswoman’s Notebook.
Henry T. Ireys is a former health policy researcher. 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. Priscilla M. Ireys worked in the fashion industry for thirty years, where she designed and made stage clothes for country music stars such as Loretta Lynn before leaving to focus on farming and the conservation of heritage breeds. Together, they 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.
Preface
Introduction
Part I A Place to Love
Letter to Mom
Mud Between My Toes
Part II Decisions
Tiny Tim
All that the Land Contains
Sid’s Twins
Mindful Meddling
The Dilemma of Loving Hogs
Part III Surprises
Of These Mountains
Early Years
Hercules
Morels on the Mountain
Arnost and the Eagle
Part IV Say What? No Way!”
Hog Gossip
The Duckness
Sex in the Pasture
Hat of Shame
From Power Take Off to Artificial Intelligence
Part V Hard Times
Pedro
Death on the Farm
January 11, The Fire
January 12, The Fire
The Forgiving Land
The Old Oak
Part VI Gifts
Winter’s Wood
Unexpected Outcomes
Lucy
Izzy’s Bridge
Home Before Breakfast
Part VII Quiet Times
The Pond
On a Summer Breeze
A Fisher’s Solitude
Lovely October
Part VIII Epilogues
The Near Final
Letter to My Mother-in-Law
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I A Place to Love
Letter to Mom
Mud Between My Toes
Part II Decisions
Tiny Tim
All that the Land Contains
Sid’s Twins
Mindful Meddling
The Dilemma of Loving Hogs
Part III Surprises
Of These Mountains
Early Years
Hercules
Morels on the Mountain
Arnost and the Eagle
Part IV Say What? No Way!”
Hog Gossip
The Duckness
Sex in the Pasture
Hat of Shame
From Power Take Off to Artificial Intelligence
Part V Hard Times
Pedro
Death on the Farm
January 11, The Fire
January 12, The Fire
The Forgiving Land
The Old Oak
Part VI Gifts
Winter’s Wood
Unexpected Outcomes
Lucy
Izzy’s Bridge
Home Before Breakfast
Part VII Quiet Times
The Pond
On a Summer Breeze
A Fisher’s Solitude
Lovely October
Part VIII Epilogues
The Near Final
Letter to My Mother-in-Law
Acknowledgments
