Shannon Hayes

Shannon Hayes writes and farms with three generations of her family on Sap Bush Hollow Farm in West Fulton, NY, where she grew up. The family raises all-natural grassfed lamb, beef, pork, and poultry. She holds a BA in creative writing from Binghamton University, and a Masters and PhD in Sustainable Agriculture and Community Development from Cornell.

Shannon is the author of three books: The Grassfed Gourmet, Farmer and the Grill, and Radical Homemakers. The latter two are published by Left to Write Press, a company that Shannon and her husband Bob started as a way to enable them to live in Schoaharie County without having to sell-out to corporate media.

Shannon's essays and articles have appeared in myriad regional and national publications, including The New York Times, The Boston Review, and Northeast Public Radio. Hayes' quirky lifestyle, her attempts to live a life of personal accountability and sustainability, and her current research and writings about homemaking as an ecological movement have landed her and her family on the pages of the New York Times, Brain Child Magazine, Lancaster Farming, Small Farm Quarterly, Hobby Farm Home Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, National Public Radio, Grit, Yes! Magazine, Elle Magazine, the national newspapers of Germany, Turkey and Canada, Arab News and the Pakistan Observer.


Shannon currenly blogs for Yes! Magazine, and her books are available through most conventional channels, as well as directly from the author at RadicalHomemakers.com and GrassfedCooking.com.

Shannon's newest book, Long Way on a Little: An Earth Lovers' Companion for Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and Living Deliciously, is due out from Left to Write Press in 2012. Left to Write Press is distributed by Chelsea Green.




Shannon, her husband Bob Hooper and their daughters Saoirse and Ula live in Schoharie County, New York where they work with her parents, Jim and Adele Hayes, on Sap Bush Hollow Farm . The family raises all-natural grassfed lamb, beef, pork, and poultry.

Shannon holds a BA in creative writing from Binghamton University, and a masters and Ph.D. in sustainable agriculture and community development from Cornell University.