Jessica Gigot and Ann Stinson

It is always a joy to welcome authors from Oregon State University Press to the store, and tonight we have two of them! Please join us to hear Ann Stinson and Jessica Gigot discussing their most recent books, The Ground at My Feet and A Little Bit of Land, respectively.

Ann Stinson grew up on her family’s tree farm in southwestern Washington state, on a ridge above the Cowlitz River. After building a life in New York and Portland, she returned home at the age of fifty, when her brother’s death from cancer left her manager and co-owner of three hundred acres planted in Douglas fir, western red cedar, and ponderosa pine. The Ground at My Feet is a memoir about loss and grief as well as a portrait of a family, a region, and an industry. Combining personal story and research, Stinson weaves essays, poems, history, and science into a rich and layered account of life in a family forest in the Pacific Northwest.

In A Little Bit of Land, Jessica Gigot invites readers into rural life, from harvesting herbs to midwifing new lambs, and explores the uncommon road that led her there. She explores the intricacies of small-scale agriculture in the Pacific Northwest, the changing role of women in this male-dominated industry, and questions of sustainability, economics, and health in our food system. Gigot alternates between describing the joys and challenges of small farm life and reflecting on her formative experiences outdoors and in classrooms throughout the region—from Ashland in southern Oregon to the Skagit Valley in Washington State. Throughout, she discovers what it means to find roots, start a family, and cultivate contentment in this unique corner of the world.

Ann Stinson grew up near Toledo, Washington. After high school, her interests took her to Japan, New York City, and Portland.  She earned a BA in English from Western Washington University and an MA in East Asian Languages and Culture from Columbia University. A former school teacher, she is president of the Family Forest Foundation and is on the board of the Washington Farm Forestry Association.

Jessica Gigot is a poet, farmer, and writing coach. She lives on a little sheep farm in the Skagit Valley in Washington State. Fascinated by farming and the burgeoning local food movement, she spent her twenties wandering the Pacific Northwest as a farm intern and eventually a graduate student in horticulture, always with an eye towards learning as much as she could about how and why people farm. Her second book of poems, Feeding Hour, won a Nautilus Award and was a finalist for the 2021 Washington State Book Award. Her writing and reviews appear in publications such as the New York Times, Seattle Times, Orion, Terrain.org, and Poetry Northwest. She is currently a poetry editor for The Hopper and a 2022 Jack Straw Writer.