Nourished with the Land: A Memoir of Homesteading and Healing

In 2023, University of Georgia professor and geographer Dr. Amy Trauger set her sights on growing a food forest, a regenerative perennial polyculture of trees, shrubs, and herbs that would both feed her and her pre-teen daughter and restore a piece of land. A place to ride their beloved horses and create their dream farm.

But after a year of experiencing mysterious symptoms and frustrating medical interventions, the single mother and Type-1 diabetic received a second devastating diagnosis of Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease at age 48—after she’d already made an offer on an eight-acre homestead.

Trauger steels herself to her homesteading vision and faces the intimidating challenge of farming, working, and single parenting with chronic illnesses. As her Parkinson’s symptoms progress in frightening and cruel ways, she seeks strength in planting crops, caring for animals, and discovering how to heal herself and the planet, with her bright daughter at her side. What unfolds is a story of resilience, care, and courage, told in time with the seasons:

• Winter: Dormancy and patience—lessons drawn from tea leaves, overwintering fava beans, and the magic of shiitake mushrooms
• Spring: Creation and renewal—guided by tending chickens, the mighty eastern red cedar, and pear tree blossoms
• Summer: Fruiting and flourishing—the abundance purple yam, onions, and okra
• Autumn: Harvesting and healing—grounded in lowing cattle, swaying sunflowers, and ripening pumpkins

Nourished with the Land is a deeply personal meditation on health, hope, and what it means to live in intentional harmony with the Earth.