A Fool and Forty Acres: Conjuring a Vineyard Three Thousand Miles from Burgandy by Geoff Heinricks. McClelland & Stewart, 2004.
Rooms for Rent in the Outer Planets: Selected Poems 1962-1996 by Al Purdy. Harbour Publishing, 1996.
In August of 1994, Geoff Heinricks and his wife Lauren bought forty acres of farmland in Prince Edward County, Ontario. As the property lacked a house, they moved with their two young daughters to a rented house in tiny Consecon. Forty Acres is the story of their new lives, far from the High Park area of Toronto, as their family grows and Geoff begins work on his dreamed-of vineyard. Heinricks artfully weaves the strands of their personal lives together with the story of the vineyard, complete with talk of rootstock and grafting, phylloxera and terroir, to introduce the reader to the basics of viticulture. The history of The County is also featured in the tale. Each chapter is headed by a passage from a work by Al Purdy, who lived, and at one time produced wine, in a modest house on Roblin’s Lake, Ameliasburgh, a dozen miles away from Heinricks’ farm. After contacting Purdy in an effort to acquire a copy of one of his books, Heinricks had the opportunity to meet the poet when Purdy returned from his B.C. residence to Ameliasburgh.
The poems in Rooms for Rent were selected by Purdy and offer a good introduction to his work. They cover a broad range of topics, from birdwatching to hockey players to beer making. The settings are also diverse, with regions as different as Cuba and Prince Edward County represented. This book was a selection for Canada Reads 2006, when it was defended by Susan Musgrave. Purdy died in 2000. He is buried in a small graveyard at the foot of Purdy Lane, Ameliasburg. Efforts have been made to preserve his house and the League of Canadian Poets has named April 21, 2009 as National Al Purdy Day.
Rating: If you have an interest in winemaking and/ or Prince Edward County, Forty Acres is a good introduction to both, so 4 stars out of 5. Rooms for Rent is a classic.
Willow House Chronicles 
Er…thanks! However did I fail to grab the fifth star? 🙂
Stumbled on this…and thanks.
I would have forever regretted it if I hadn’t met Al and Eurith, so I’m glad to have shared the experience with others.
Cheers,
Geoff H
Wow, an author visit! Thanks for dropping by!
I thought I’d try out the star rating thing, but really, I wouldn’t finish reading a book I thought didn’t rate 3 stars, and I’m too stingy to hand out 5, so probably not worthwhile.
At one time we were looking for property in the Stirling area, so I was particularly interested in Prince Edward County. We ended up farther east.
I did enjoy your book and I hadn’t read Al Purdy’s work before. Thanks for writing Forty Acres.
Speaking of the old Purdy place on Roblin Lake, I am part of a group campiagning to preserve it as a retreat for writers. One of the fundraising ideas we have is to produce an anthology of writings and reminiscences by Al and his friends. I would very much like to contact Mr. Heinricks to see if he has anything to contribute. I would appreciate it if the host of this blog could place us in touch.
Thank you
Howard White (Al’s publisher)
That sounds like a worthy project, Mr. White. I forwarded your comments on to Geoff Heinricks so that he can reply
to you directly.
[…] April 21st was National Al Purdy Day. For more on Purdy, see the March 2nd entry. […]
Have yet to read this work by Purdy but am now, as a new county resident, looking forward to it.
http://princeedwardcountywinetours.com/
Thanks for dropping by, Sandbanks. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.