The Beginner's Cow: Memories of a Volga German from Kansas

At the age of seven, Loren Schmidtberger was assigned to a beginner's cow—the gentlest cow in the herd and the easiest for a child just beginning to milk. As he learned to milk with the help of the cow, he also learned the art of living from the unforgiving reality of the Dust Bowl years tempered by the steadfast resilience of his Volga German community. Now he offers us those memories in stories told with wry humor and gentle grace.