Having ignored his mother's warnings about what will happen if he doesn't bathe after working on his family's New Mexican farm, Carlos awakens one morning to find a squash growing out of his ear.

When Carlos tries to show off for his friend Gloria by catching a skunk, he gets more than he bargained for.

Manuel's father finally tells him the secret that has kept their family's New Mexico farm prosperous for four hundred years.

Filled with "honest" writing and "wise" observations, "Russell's well-written essays describe her life as an urban immigrant to the rural Southwest" (Library Journal). In 1981, newlywed Sharman Apt Russell moved with her husband to an agricultural valley in southwestern New Mexico, hoping to create a simpler life. From building their adobe house to the home-birth of their firstborn to growing their own food and navigating the seasonal flooding...