A young South Asian American woman’s story of reconnecting with her identity, family, and heritage through sustainable farming
In 2012, 25-year-old Jackie Moyer—the daughter of a forbidden marriage between a white American father and a Punjabi American mother—leased 10 acres of land in Gold Hill, California, and embarked on a career in organic farming. With a fractured relationship to her heritage, Moyer saw an opportunity for repair when she learned of a nearly lost heirloom wheat variety called Sonora.
Sonora wasn’t just an heirloom wheat strain; it was her own cultural heirloom. Its history can be traced back to Punjab, the Indian state where Moyer’s own roots are planted. In growing the grain on her farm, she began to uncover the multigenerational story of her family’s resilience.
From California to Punjab, the past to the present, Jackie maps her personal story atop the entangled histories of wheat cultivation and the rise of the organic farming movement. With a passion for dismantling the exploitative big-agriculture industry, she examines how the development of high-yielding varieties and chemical fertilizers has harmed our relationship with food, the planet, and each other.
Braiding memoir with historical inquiry, On Gold Hill explores the complexities of the immigrant experience, illuminates the ways colonialism and capitalism constrain our food system, and investigates what it means to lose—and to reclaim—one’s heritage.
“Legacies of land and family reach across generations and continents in Jaclyn Moyer’s compelling more-than-memoir On Gold Hill. You will never bite into a piece of bread or visit your local farmers’ market in quite the same way again.”
—Meera Subramanian, author of A River Runs Again: India’s Natural World in Crisis, from the Barren Cliffs of Rajasthan to the Farmlands of Karnataka
“I will urge everyone I know to read On Gold Hill, a riveting and necessary book. Jaclyn Moyer deftly balances the global dilemma around farming and food production with a narrative of family discovery and reconciliation. Her book is intricate, meticulously researched, and sweetly tender. It brims with grace.”
—Debra Gwartney, author of I Am a Stranger Here Myself
“On Gold Hill is clear-eyed and beautifully written, capturing the sincerity of the local and organic food movement even as it refuses, with good reason, to romanticize it. Moyer explores a series of connected histories—the evolution of wheat, the rise of the organic farming movement, and the displacement and migration of her own family—with insight and intelligence. This is, without question, the best memoir of farm and family I have ever encountered.”
—Claire Boyles, author of Site Fidelity
Author’s Note
PART 1:
Origin Stories
PART 2:
Gold Hill
PART 3:
Windows
PART 4:
Geese
PART 5:
Gift
Acknowledgments
Works Cited
About the Author
- “Our Summer 2024 Food and Farming Book Guide,” Civil Eats, included in Summer 2024 book guide
- “You Must Give Her Freedom,” Mutha Magazine, excerpt
- “On Gold Hill Author Jaclyn Moyer,” KATU-TV (ABC): AM Northwest, live interview ahead of Powell’s event
- “On Gold Hill: A Personal History of Wheat, Farming, & Family, From Punjab to California,” KATU-TV (ABC): Afternoon Live, live interview ahead of Powell’s event
- “Unearthing Organic Farming History While Reconnecting with My Punjabi/Cali Roots,” Beacon Broadside, Q&A
- “Jaclyn Moyer, On Gold Hill (2024),” Surabh.Reading, review on Instagram