Merrily Farm

By Mark Linkiewicz

Tucked into the wooded hills of New Hampshire's north country, Sugar Bush Knolls is the kind of town you drive through without noticing — unless you're lost, very hungry, or in need of a good story. At its heart sits Merrily Farm and Rescue, five hundred wild acres tended by Dr. Merilee Grace Anderson: veterinarian, sanctuary keeper, and the most quietly formidable woman in the county. Her barnyard is home to an unlikely fellowship — a philosophically inclined hog named Curtis, an adventurous Nubian goat named Dolly, a self-important turkey named Tomas, two wisecracking Bronx crows, a clan of surprisingly civic-minded rats, and a rotating cast of rescued souls — all of whom, it turns out, have rather a lot to say.Into this peaceable kingdom strides Percy Flanders, the town's one genuine rotten egg: a bitter, petty man nursing old wounds and nursing newer ones by making himself the Knolls' most reliable source of aggravation. When Percy's resentment of Merilee and her animals crosses a dangerous line, the barnyard must rally — and what follows is a rescue mission of surprising heart, cunning, and even a pair of catamounts with a debt to repay.Merrily Farm is a fable in the classic tradition, layered with humor, loyalty, and the quietly radical idea that a community — human or otherwise — is only as strong as its willingness to show up for one another. It is also, unmistakably, a love story: between a woman and her land, between neighbors who choose each other, and between two people who keep meeting over a runaway goat until they finally admit what everyone else already knows.Rich with the textures of New England rural life, alive with memorable characters both two-legged and four, and suffused with an earned warmth that never tips into sentimentality, Merrily Farm is a story about belonging, redemption, and the stubborn, joyful persistence of community — told with a wink, a tear, and more than one well-timed bleat.