Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm

by Mardi Jo Link

Poignant, irreverent, and hilarious: the memoir of a woman who, after ending her nineteen-year marriage, staves off a perpetually empty bank account, saves her century-old farmhouse from foreclosure with the help of her three young sons, and reclaims her life.

It's the summer of 2005, and Mardi Jo Link's dream of living the simple life has unraveled into debt, heartbreak, and perpetually ragged cuticles. Still, when she and her husband call it quits, leaving her more broke than ever, Link makes a seemingly impossible resolution: to hang on to her northern Michigan farm and continue to raise her boys on well water and wood chopping and dirt. Armed with an unfailing sense of humor and her three resolute accomplices, Link confronts blizzards and coyotes, learns about Zen divorce and the best way to butcher a hog, dominates a zucchini-growing contest and wins a year's supply of local bread, masters the art of bargain cooking, deals with rampaging poultry, and finds her way to a truly rich existence. Told with endless heart and candor, Bootstrapper is a story of motherhood and survival and self-discovery, of an indomitable woman who, against all the odds, holds on to what matters most. 

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Biography Memoir, Biography, Book Club, Parenting

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Mardi Link is the author of the memoirs The Drummond Girls: A Story of Fierce Friendship Beyond Time and Chance and Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass On a Northern Michigan Farm . She studied agriculture and journalism at Michigan State University and creative writing at Queens University of Charlotte. She has worked as a newspaper reporter, a street tree planter, a seamstress, and a tournament pool player. Her books about Michigan murders, When Evil Came to Good Hart, Isadore’s Secret and Wicked Takes the Witness Stand spent several weeks on the Heartland Bestseller List and won awards. Mardi's essays have been published in Creative Nonfiction, Bellingham Review, Bear River Review, Publishers Weekly, Traverse Magazine, and the Detroit Free Press . She lives in Traverse City, Michigan, on The Big Valley.

Reviews

[maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was wildly disappointed with this book. It had been recommended to me because I was raised on a farm, partly by a single mother, partly with both parents, and fully immersed in all that farming (small or large)has to offer. I was not impressed by either the writing, or the events that she portrayed. If you have been truly broke and truly ever lived on a farm you know that many of the events described were not even close to what actually happens. Her choices were perplexing,they seemed to be driven by aimless pride rather than a true grittiness. I would have enjoyed this more if there were not a persistant badgering to acknowledge that she was "broke", perhaps this was intended in strictly metaphorical sense. I admire that she pursues writing and completed a book, and I think her publishers probably pumped this up as a transformational "broke to bad ass" story, but still. I ultimately could not be bothered and with only a few pages left, tossed into a heap of book donations. While it is not truly vile and I rated "ok" rather than "did not like", I would like to see a "don't bother" rating.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent the first couple of chapters being annoyed because this was pitched at a publisher's preview as "the next WILD" and it just isn't. Yeah, they both have strong single women protagonists, and they're both memoirs, but the books are quite different overall and I think I would have warmed to this faster if I hadn't kept thinking "look, lady, you're no Cheryl Strayed". She wasn't/isn't trying to be; that does the book and author a disservice.

The writing is great; there were several times where I felt like I couldn't have been more moved, where I felt like I was completely, briefly, knowing what it was like to be in the author's shoes. (I guess if I were writing this in review-speak, I would say "in the author's manure-destroyed workboots.) There are times when she's a kindred spirit and other times when she isn't; there's a time when I got very irritated with her for being reluctant to get help she needs for her sons, while suspecting I might have acted the same way. I realized after I'd read half the book that she and her sons had moved from being shadowy stock figures into people I felt like I knew well.

I've flipped through a few farming blogs, and blogs of people who do things like only bake, never buy cookies and insist on kids playing outside instead of playing video games, and most of them are smug. This is never smug. And that's a high compliment.

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing itself was average to good. However, I felt that Mardi's refusal to ask her family for help or apply to the Government programs available for just this type of problem showed a level of pride I had a hard time relating to. She spent a lot of time talking about how she didn't want the divorce to effect her son's lives but given her choices how could it not. The title is misleading, she never in my opinion became a badass and while she did have a garden there was no actual farming going on. Mardi she managed to keep chickens, but her pig was raised at a friends, the horse dies fairly soon in the story and the ground is not being cultivated, it takes more than acreage to make a farm.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many reasons to love this memoir, for me: It's gritty and realistic and Mardi Link bares her mother + woman soul. It's set in the place where I live and feels intimately familiar. The reader knows, going in--from the title, even--that Link survives and eventually thrives, so the knocks and bumps she writes about (the nadir of which is having a freezer full of grown-and-raised food go bad) come with a happier ending, guaranteed.

And, of course, the writing. I've read Link's "Isadora's Secret" and liked it very much, but she cuts loose here. The writing is, by turns, hilarious, introspective, sassy and even a little metaphysical. She's a woman in a bad spot, but her observations are never depressing or whiny. They're often cynical and non-linear, but you shouldn't be looking for a tightly constructed plot in a memoir.

Before I wrote this review I read some of the other reviews and have to say that #1) second-guessing a memoirist's decisions is a sure recipe for not enjoying a peek into someone's head as they spill their story-- saying that you don't like a memoir because the author "should have done" XYZ would spoil any memoir; and #2) I also read and loved "Wild" but the person who originally said "Bootstrapper" was another "Wild" is vastly off the mark. Possibly this is because there is a dearth of books out there written by women about their real-life adventures and struggles. We need more books like this, and stack-ranking them isn't a good strategy to get them.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book free at ALA Midwinter.

I'm from Ohio (thisclose to Michigan) and Link's voice sounded so familiar to me that I was immediately drawn in to her memoir of divorce and reinvention. I could identify deeply with much of it. Being a single mom is hard. Being a poor single mom with no steady income is harder still. Link makes her story sing. One roots for her and the boys the whole way through. There are hilarious bits, and others that like to tore out my heart. Over the course of this short book (I read it in one sitting) I grew to know and care deeply about her whole family. Recommended.

[Anne Simonot · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little bit of a disappointment for me. While I empathized (been there myself, and, like the author, with 3 kids after 19 years of marriage) with Ms Link's story of divorce and single-parenting, the book felt somewhat flat to me. Her six acres hardly qualifies as a "farm", for one thing. Her boys are so co-operative and helpful, I kept wondering if they could possibly be as wonderful as they were portrayed. They sure didn't resemble most teenagers I know. As other reviewers have commented, her refusal to ask for any help or apply for any of the assistance she qualified for, was really irritating... Surely when your kids are reduced to cereal for supper, and wearing winter coats in the house, it's time to put some of your pride aside? And for someone who wants to be a "farmer", she's surprisingly ill-informed. The chicken episode was the biggest example - how can it be a shock when they require special feed, fencing, heat lamp, and a place to live? I'm no farmer and even I know that. Then, after all that, she gives them away rather than butcher them? I thought the title & subtitle of the book reflect Link's conception of herself rather than the true reality of her story.

[Luanne Ollivier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bootstrapper: to promote or develop by initiative and effort with little or no assistance --- Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Mardi Jo Link is living the life she always dreamed of - three amazing young sons and the opportunity to raise them in the countryside in a beautiful old farmhouse sitting on six acres. And yes, there was a husband too - but with divorce now a certainty, Mardi Jo is determined to hang onto her sons, her house and her land - by herself.

"I'm claiming my sons, the farm, the debt, the other debt, the horses, the dogs, and the land. I'm claiming our century-old farmhouse, the garden, the woods, the pasture, the barn, and the Quonset-hut garage. They're all mine now, and this is how I will raise my boys: on cheerful summer days and well water and BB guns and horseback riding and dirt. Because I'm claiming our whole country life, the one I've been dreaming of and planning out and working for since I was a little girl."

And this is where the bootstrapping comes into play -for Link is working with next to nothing in the way of finances. And wants to do it on her own - "I made this bed and I'll either lie in it or die in it, but I won't ask anyone for help."

Mardi Jo details the physical ups and downs - the day to day business of providing, but Bootstrapper also reads like a personal diary with Link's hopes, dreams, triumphs, losses and more laid bare. But what shone through the brightest was the love for her sons. These are the passages that stayed with me the longest. There are struggles, but the love and support they feel for each other is tangible. And quite humorous at times.

""Boys," I announced, "we're going to raise some chickens."
"Another pet to play with!" said Will, the idealist.
"Another kind of poop to clean up, said Luke, the worker.
"Another animal in bondage," said Owen, the activist."

I couldn't put Bootstrapper down - I was cheering Mardi Jo on with every chapter. And I empathized - we too bought an old farmhouse and there were some mighty lean years in the beginning - and there were two of us. I loved the descriptions of her garden - I too have grown our own vegetables for many, many years. Seed catalogues are exciting.

And at the end of the year is there a happy ever after ending? I'll let you discover that for yourself.

Bootstrapper is a one sitting read, one I enjoyed for its honesty. These are the memoirs I like to read - real people, real life. And she sounds like the kind of person I'd like to visit with on the porch.

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

A self-engrandizing and stereotypical divorcee story. I could go into myriads of reasons why this story is worrisome for women and literature aimed to women. The same thread of "I am bored with my life and husband has not lived up to his potential, so I will just get divorced and apparently be celebrated for it" as Eat, Pray, Love. And, similarly, she must meet a man at the end to complete her life again, only on a farm this time and not traveling. Please save yourself the pain of reading this book.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just awesome. She is bad ass and local. What more can a girl ask for??

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

An account of a woman surviving divorce and economic hardship on a farm near Grand Traverse Bay. I admire several things about this woman. She didn't savage her husband, as is typical in situations like this, but gave enough information to explain her actions in asking for a divorce. (Of course, as is also typical, we never get the other person's point of view!) Her determination to raise her sons to be hard workers and lovers of the outdoors was also an attractive trait. Too bad she didn't pursue her attempts to find a church to connect with, choosing instead to celebrate a vague spirituality of blessings wherever she saw them. And the subtitle really irks me: "From Broke to Badass..." I can only hope the publisher or editor suggested such an in-your-face phrase. It is interesting that a strong woman's prowess can apparently only be lauded in words that seem more suited to male biker gangs than thoughtful, insightful human beings. (No offense to my male biker readers!:) HA!)

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must say I am suprised by a lot of the somewhat mean and judgy comments on here..I enjoyed the book and its honesty. I believe a farm or homestead is what you make it is there someone out there who determines whether you have a "farm" or not? I too have a rather large pride issue in the last few years that has needed work. No one is perfect. Everyone learns in their own way and time. But as I suspect most people on here are just amatuer readers looking to critisize someone they don't know and will never meet. I say way to go Mardi I loved it..I related to a lot of it..I teared up a few times knowing exactly how hard it is to ask someone for help and keeping it all in so as not to worry your loved ones with problems you are responsible for. Thank you for sharing your imperfect life Mardi and helping me to remember life is what you make it..I'd say you made yours a tall glass of lemonade even if it took a minute!! :)

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost nothing about the book’s title or subtitle is accurate. This should have been named A year of being newly divorced, very broke, and prideful to my family’s detriment, with a lot of talk about a farm but very little farming actually occurring. But this doesn’t mean I don’t like it. I actually found the author quite relatable and funny. There are many ways that I could see myself in her shoes, especially in her desire to raise her kids in back to nature kind of way. I didn’t always like her but I usually understood her and I think that is a mark of a good memoir.

[Katy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Growing up on a "farm"* in Michigan, I hoped to enjoy this book more than I did. As much as I wanted to sympathize with the author I just couldn't. I mean, come on-- [SPOILER ALERT] who orders chickens through the mail and expects them to arrive as fully grown hens? I found her anecdotes to be mildly entertaining at best, boring at worst.

*Not a working farm--the house and outbuildings (barns, no silo) were 100+ years old when I lived there and the only animals we had were laying hens. No horses, cows or pigs. Chickens are really gross, by the way.

[KJ Grow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mardi Jo Link joins the club of women including Cheryl Strayed and Kelly Corrigan who I want to put in my pocket and carry wherever I go and make my best friends.

Lucky for me, I already have those kind of friends, but it sure makes my heart glad to see women like us - women of strength, resolve, resilience, character, and compassion - getting lots of book deals.

GO TEAM.

[Jennifer Shermer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never quite understood why this family was so poor as a result of her separation from her husband. It seems they were poor even when they were married, but she's educated and capable of working full time. I listened to the book via audiobook and found the reader's voice a bit distracting, too. The book had a few humorous lines, but for the most part, it was a boring read/listen.

[Dacia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Found the author obtuse and selfish. Only stuck with it because I was trapped on a plane with no other books.

[Elinor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love stories about single mothers, farming, and living off the land, so this memoir ticked a lot of boxes for me. Mardi Jo Link is a gifted writer who made her living from writing non-fiction before turning to her own life as a rich source of inspiration. Her powers of description are excellent, and she has a witty way of describing herself and her three young sons, all of whom were fully engaged participants in the family business of trying to stay alive on this hardscrabble farm. I did question her financial acumen at times -- how the heck did she think she could pay the mortgage after her husband left? And why was she so reluctant to ask her loving parents for help, even when the kids were almost starving? However, it all came right in the end and hopefully this book is making enough money to keep her in chickens and eggs.

[miteypen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am perplexed by the reviewers who criticized the book because they don't agree with some of the lifestyle choices the author made. The question is, how is the writing? I wouldn't have conducted my life exactly the way Mardi Jo Link did, but that doesn't mean that I can't benefit from her experiences. This is more than a mere account of one year in the author's life; it also contains a lot of insight born of honest reflection about what she did do that first year after her 19-year marriage ended. I thought it was an excellent illustration of the kinds of things an-about-to-be-divorced single mom goes through: the hateful feelings about her ex, her concerns about her sons, her self-pity, her questionable decisions, the doubts about her own ability to go it alone, and her determination to make it come hell or high water.

Rather than criticizing her, I was cheering for her all the way through.

[Skyqueen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book from Bookpage.com.
Okay, I'll say from the start I was not sure what this book was about . . . an axe murderer maybe?? But the title didn't seem to fit the picture either so I didn't know what was coming.
Facing difficulties as a divorced mom with three sons is offset with humor and innovativeness. Her work ethic imposed on the boys for their successful future is admirable and all too rare it seems these days. It may seem harsh, but in the long run it will serve them well.
The one thing I never understand about these people though, the ones who say they are broke, eating beans and rice, etc. etc. is that they always seem to find money for their cigarettes and booze. Just sayin'. Maybe mine would be chocolate.

[Andrea Honeycutt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this book because we recently purchased a hobby farm and I hope to get more information about life on the farm and what that looks like from a homesteading point of view, instead I was disappointed by the average writing, the emotional breakdowns, the Pollyanna portrayal of her mothering and a complete refusal to accept help when she really needed it. Her children suffered and she suffered and she never seemed to learn any lesson around the self imposed suffering. She never seemed badass, she seemed lucky at times but mostly just a train wreck. I was just really hoping for badass, I guess. Good premise for a book. Hope to find a better one on the topic one day.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

On paper I couldn’t possibly be more different from Mardi Jo Link. I am childless, in a happy marriage, financially secure, and living on a farm would be my worst nightmare. Despite that, I loved her and found myself completely identifying with her need to make it on her own.

[Steve Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this on audio - during commute and finished on an airplane. It is funny - and inspiring. And it's local to Michigan, specifically to the Traverse City area. A good read about a strong, independent woman. We can't have enough of those in the world!

[Cadillac Library Book Club Program]

Loved it! Easy to read, funny, poignant, thoughtful and heart breaking. Mardi Jo Link is inspirational in a human (not too perfect) way.

[Alison Rice · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very unsatisfying read. The author never really got the tone right—she doesn’t have enough edge to make the black humor work consistently, and her financial situation is too dire to be funny.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

True story of a recently divorced woman, with three sons, on a small farm in Northern Michigan. The woman is holding herself together for her sons, even though she is pretty much broke. Some of her revelations on love, marriage, and separation found in Buddhist teachings and various religions are interesting and sometimes used in a humorous context. She grows a lot from the woman that had a bonfire of belongings in the front yard and gave her wedding dress to the Goodwill the same day. BUT she was that broke and did not ask for help? I know stiff upper lip, we’ll plow through, etc., but no food in the house and barely enough heat? The boys spent time with their father, did they not discuss the conditions at their Mother’s? The events and things the family did survive were interesting reading, but I kept thinking: call your parents and get some help.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute, humorous look at a year in the life of a single mom , raising 3 boys on a Northern Michigan farm. Although this is billed as bio/memoir it's really not that at all. As I said, it just covers the one year, which is the year she left her husband. Said husband moved across the road. She refers to the husband as Mr. Wonderful (sarcastically) through-out.

The writing was not great, most of the stories were humorous, but a few times she irked me with the "poor me" attitude. All things considered, it deserves the 3 stars for the times it made me laugh or smile.

[Rachael Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Turns out, raising a pig for meat is pretty easy as long as you design its living quarters to rival the maximum security at Leavenworth...until he topped 140 pounds or so, Rocky’s MO was to tunnel under the fence, roll sideways like a greased watermelon, air paddle his girth up out of the dirt until he was free of the wire, and then it was full speed ahead toward the deep cover dreamed of by fugitives everywhere: the forest.”

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook and it’s pretty good. It kept my attention, was interesting and at times intriguing while also sad.

Then at times it was humorous and raucously funny and I laughed so hard a few times I nearly cried.

I recommend this book.

[D Traver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Down to earth fun that reminds us all to be humble & kind.

[Jaclyn Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of those books I randomly decided to read because it sounded vaguely entertaining and I’m a sucker for fun cover art. Memoirs of rural living/adventure set alongside some sort of personal or professional hardship OR displayed as a brave and courageous departure from the monotony of a 9-5 life are littered on bookshelves. Maybe Wild started it, maybe Animal, Vegetable, Miracle did it first, but whatever the case, they are now A Thing. And I’m okay with that. I enjoy them a lot. You wrote an entire book about raising chickens? Sign me up. How about that one where you bought a farm and you have no idea what you’re doing? Yes, please. These books are usually a predictable combination of heart-warming anecdotes and humorous stories and sometimes that sounds just about right. (The Dirty Life by Kim Kimball is still one of my favorites of the genre.) Anyway, Bootstrapper is most definitely one of these types of books, but it’s also better. Better because Link IS badass and I was rooting for her the whole goddamn book. She and her husband divorce and suddenly she’s raising 3 boys at an income level that registers at or below the poverty line. She is resourceful, though, and has the kind of mental and emotional fortitude that makes her seem bigger than life. She’s inspirational but it doesn’t come off like she’s actually trying to be. She’s just telling about her life—like when she and her sons entered a zucchini-growing contest at their local bakery to win free bread so she could make her sons enough sandwiches that they wouldn’t go hungry for lunch. It was a quick, good book, but a few things confused or annoyed me. First, it seems like she ran out of stories once things began improving and at that point she realized she’d better wrap it up quick. Nothing else to write about, folks! I’m good now! Second, there are several details that she glosses over or pretends we won’t notice. Details of the divorce, for example, are no where to be found, though it’s a pivotal and reoccurring theme in her book. Third: A good memoir often makes you feel like you know someone intimately and it takes a lot of honest dumping all over the page to get that sense of familiarity well-established. Wild is a good example of this. Cheryl Strayed is really fearless talking about the not-so-book-ready parts of her story and that made me feel invested. Link, on the other hand, seems to have written this very much with impressions in mind (I don’t blame her, she has older kids after all), but I always got the sense she was writing the story she WISHED to tell rather than the one that actually happened. This probably directly relates to my first issue with the book (the rushed conclusion). I think she framed the story, told what she liked and when she couldn’t novelize it anymore? THE END. Anyway—this review has gotten much too long—I still really liked it and would recommend it to you if you need a quick read.