Gwen Roland Modern Homesteading & Sustainable Farming Expert

By Staff
Updated on March 5, 2013
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Occupation:

Even though she has written on topics as far flung as scuba diving and Chitimacha Indian basketry, Gwen’s favorite beat is rural living. For almost two decades she was the communications specialist for the Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, translating sustainable agriculture research results into stories farmers can actually use. Upon retiring in 2010, she began writing about her experiences as a community organizer on behalf of homeless pets in her county.

Location:

Pike County, Georgia, a rolling rural landscape in the foothills of the Pine Mountain range. Small farms and homesteads grace the hillsides. Grazing cattle, hay fields, pecan groves, and peach orchards line the country roads. However, the pastoral beauty is marred by the number of homeless pets abandoned on roadsides to starve or fall victim to traffic, predators and disease. The pet overpopulation is due to a culture that doesn’t value sterilization of companion animals or regulations about pet ownership. Even though an elderly woman was killed by roaming dogs in 2007, the county still has no animal control regulations or even a county shelter.

Farming and Rural Living Background:

Gwen grew up in rural Louisiana where self-sufficiency was a given, so the back-to-earth movement of the early 70s was just a short jaunt for her. She and then-partner Calvin Voisin built a houseboat and returned to the Atchafalaya Swamp of their ancestors. There was so little information about the things they were doing that she began writing as a way to help others who were also pursuing a self-sufficient lifestyle.

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