The Salt Stones

Seasons of a Shepherd's Life

By: Helen Whybrow

Narrated by: Cassidy Brown

In the heart of Vermont's Green Mountains, Helen Whybrow and her partner are presented with the opportunity to steward a two-hundred-acre conserved farm. Whybrow knows that "belonging more than anything requires participation" and radically intertwines her life with the land. Six months after purchasing Knoll Farm, they unload a flock of Icelandic sheep onto the field and Whybrow becomes a shepherd entering into "nature's constant cycle of life into death into life" and all its unexpected lessons.

The challenging and profoundly rewarding work unfolds for Whybrow in the everyday rituals of farmsteading and caring for her family—birthing lambs in the late winter, harvesting blueberries in summer, fending off coyotes and foxes, seasonal shearing—while instilling the lessons of the land in her daughter and caring for her mother. As life at Knoll Farm endures years both abundant and lean, she learns that true stewardship is about accepting change and adapting. She embraces a transcendent rhythm of blood and bone, milk and muck.

At once inspiring and brave, deeply felt and gorgeously written, The Salt Stones is a loving look at the world through a shepherd's interconnected ethos.

©2025 Helen Whybrow (P)2025 Tantor Media

Told from a farmer’s perspective.

This story seems so close to the stories that my cousin told me about her goat farm.

Beautiful

Beautifully written and narrated. Balm for the soul. That is all we need to say in spite of the 15 word minimum review.

Absolutely gorgeous!

Absolutely gorgeous! Feels so raw and real. Like you can smell the earth, sheep and hay. I love the quotes before each chapter woven throughout the story. Also she is really so very genuine that the book feels like a poem.

Wanted to love this book

I loved the writing in this memoir, the reader was so mismatched, it nearly spoiled the entire book for me. I absolutely recommend reading this book, but this audio edition is subpar. Get the physical book.

Great book for yarn store owners!

Learn about tending sheep and life in the poetic book! We all have a connection to Earth - nurture it.