The Magic of the Farm combines the rural flavor of James Rebanks' Pastoral Song: A Farmer's Journey, (Custom House 2021, UK: English Pastoral) and the farm world of James Herriot, with the dry humor of northern Vermonters. The Magic of the Farm gives presence and face to this region like Jim Sterba's Frankie's Place (Grove Press 2003) does for Maine's Acadia. Seven related stories contain several extended conversations and cover three generations of people who grew up on small dairy farms.