Preview
  • Flat Broke with Two Goats

  • A Memoir
  • By: Jennifer McGaha
  • Narrated by: Pam Ward
  • Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (251 ratings)

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Flat Broke with Two Goats

By: Jennifer McGaha
Narrated by: Pam Ward
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Publisher's summary

Jennifer McGaha never expected to own a goat named Merle. Or to be setting Merle up on dates and naming his doeling Merlene. She didn't expect to be buying organic yogurt for her chickens. She never thought she would be pulling camouflage carpet off her ceiling or rescuing opossums from her barn and calling it "date night." Most importantly, Jennifer never thought she would only have $4.57 in her bank account.

When Jennifer discovered that she and her husband owed back taxes - a lot of back taxes - her world changed. Now desperate to save money, they foreclosed on their beloved suburban home and moved their family to a 100-year-old cabin in a North Carolina holler. Soon enough, Jennifer's life began to more closely resemble the lives of her Appalachian ancestors than the life she experienced in her middle class upbringing. But what started as a last-ditch effort to settle debts became a journey that revealed both the joys and challenges of living close to the land.

Told with bold wit, unflinching honesty, and a firm foot in the traditions of Appalachia, Flat Broke with Two Goats blends stories of homesteading with the journey of two people rediscovering the true meaning of home.

©2018 Jennifer McGaha (P)2018 Tantor
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Critic reviews

" Flat Broke with Two Goats is a funny, moving and unflinchingly honest reckoning. This sweet miracle of a memoir tells the story of a struggling couple who have to lose their house, and just about everything else, to find home." (Tommy Hays, author of The Pleasure Was Mine)

What listeners say about Flat Broke with Two Goats

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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Wonderfully Beautiful

I had thought this was an educational book on Goats. I ended up being both a grat story and Educational to boot. Very nice. Narrator did a great job.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

good yet lacking

I was very disappointed in the abrupt ending felt unfinished.
Would've liked more human depth less goat mating details.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A comic tale of the economic bust

I enjoyed learning the life lessons of scaling back, facing your marriage and financial situations head on through the humorous and somewhat awkward way of the narrator. Homesteading wouldn't be for me, but the way its portrayed in the book, makes me think I would try for a weekend.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Loved this story

Great narration and wonderful articulate writing. l live in an old cabin now,after living in a beautiful neighborhood for 18 years and raising 5 kids there. When I needed some clothes to go on a trip to go back home to Phoenix, I walked into a Talbots. I hadn't shopped in a store like that in years. When I wen't to go check out with all the discounts of 50% sale prices, the ladies asked me where I was from. I explained my new life of goats and chickens and livestock guardian dogs. One of the the ladies said you have to read this book. So I downloaded it, and really enjoyed it. Great descriptive writing
and very inspiring in many ways.

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Loved!

This book was excellent. It reminds you that money is not everything and sometimes life changes in a blink of an eye. Also sometimes those changes make your life better :-) The wit the author uses makes the story come to life :-)

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good Second Half

The confessional first half of this book was not really necessary to the second half... If you want to know about her mistake ridden life then go for it. I don't know her - I didn't need it.
The second half - dealing with overwhelming debt and devastating transition was very interesting.
She learned to make not "lemonade" but "soap" and it was good.

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A book about hardship

This is a woman's memoir about a struggling marriage, crippling debt, and being forced into an off grid cabin. The first half of the book is about her early life and what led to living in the cabin. The 2nd half is more about her raising the animals she required.

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An amazing book

It really is true to life and related a lot to my life and I’m sure others as well. It is a great listen and it shares every emotion. Excellent

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Caught Up In Unimportant Details

Overall, interesting enough to finish listening to the story, but too much detail in every aspect of milking, breeding, raising goats....I'm certain I could now be an expert! Also, the story was a bit disjointed in a few of her sad life experiences as a young adult, which could actually have been an entirely different book. Good sense of humor and unique life, though long winded about every detail of money problems.

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I loved this life challenge!

Aside from being a goat lover, and future owner of a small bucket list herd, I really enjoyed the animal part of this story, and the consequences of the author's financial hardship.
I have to hand it to her for sticking it out. For having been so justifiably hurt over it all, and in the midst of it -having to move down a few notches to a rustic (?) cabin. I have a feeling these animals coming into her life were what helped her to manage the financial and marital stresses. They were a better stress, for lack of a better phrase. Unconditional love, and pride in a job done with much love for her animals, is the best way to heal. Pondering and processing while caring for them is such a great way to sort things out.

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1 person found this helpful