Over the past two days I have enjoyed the rainy, dreary weather by cuddling up in bed with a thick blanket and a good book. Of course I did take some time outs to spend time with family, which is probably why I was up well past midnight reading last night. I really didn’t want to leave this book until it was finished, which is kind of a rarity with me. The book is The Dirty Life – On Farming, Food, and Love.
It follows along on the real life adventure of Kristin Kimball who was a writer working in NYC. She took an assignment in PA interviewing a young farmer who was running a CSA, local food operation. The interview was quite hard to get because she was put to work as soon as she walked onto the farm but she ended up being smitten by the gentleman farmer (Mark) and by his vision. Fast forward a little while later and they are engaged and moving to a ramshackle farm in upper New York. Mark’s vision is to create a farm where they provide everything their members need… milk, eggs, cheese, grains, maple syrup, honey, beans, herbs, flours, fruits, veggies, and meat (beef, pork, chicken). It was to be a very ambitious “whole diet” CSA. The price tag per person would $2900. Oh and instead of tractors and machinery they would use draft horses only.
Their journey was so engrossing and my goodness if anyone has romantic ideas about farming this book will put that to rest. It is VERY HARD work and while there were numerous moments of elation and satisfaction there were also numerous mishaps and sad moments. I felt exhausted emotionally just reading all of it!
The book really gave me a lot to think about. I have always wanted to start or be part of an eco village where we raised all of our own food. My husband always looked at me like I was nuts but in the past year he has been bringing up “his” idea of a commune where a small group of folks all live on the same large property, work together, share bio vehicles, grow food, raise livestock, etc. Uh..huh.. passing off my dream as his idea, LOL. He should read this book to get an idea of what is involved.
I really felt as though I was a part of a grand journey while reading and was deeply invested in getting the rat problem under control for instance. I was also devastated when an injury and old age claimed their original two draft horses. I was bawling my eyes out. It also made me face up to my discomfort with the idea of raising animals to eat. I am all over the place with that one. I always said I might eat meat again if I had a hand in caring for it because my aversion to meat is more related to health and my disdain for factory farming. After reading this I am confused again because it was a very graphic and candid look at what that entails. But on the flip side the way author describes the luxurious taste of liver makes it sounds almost orgasmic.
I was also less than thrilled with the hard work their draft horses had to do. It got me thinking that maybe I am a big weanie who just doesn’t understand the life of work animals. While growing up my grandfather had cattle dogs but no cattle and he had cutting horses but again no cattle with which to work these animals unless he was at a horse show. The work animals rarely had to work. I was literally biting my nails off when I read along as the draft horses got spooked and tore off down the road and Kimball was anticipating finding them dead or badly injured. Oh yes, I am a HUGE weanie. This type of stuff makes me ill to think about… animals hurting.
Anyway I LOVED the book and the way I got to take a peek inside the life of another and come to feel as though I knew them. This book has some great writing. The only thing I felt it needed was pictures. LOTS of pictures of their home, their farm, and all the people they spoke of in the book.
Below is a video put out by the publisher and gives us a peek at the author and a day in her life. Enjoy!
