Jude G. (blissmountain) reviewed The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love on + 17 more book reviews
ever dream of living your life in the city to take up farming in the middle of nowhere? finding that all of your sleek hip black clothes no longer work while milking a cow or mucking in mud. and worse. that's what kristin did. and as a born and bred new yorker, i can relate. kristin takes us through the four seasons of the year and shows us the nuts and bolts of building a working farm from scratch. it takes all the romanticism out of it, that's for sure. what it leaves is the beauty of nature and community and our relationship with the land and the animals. kristin also writes of the growth of her new relationship with mark, her farm partner, and soon to be husband. they have a "fiery" relationship. does that resonate for any of you readers out there? this is a lovely read.
Loved it loved it loved it. It was exactly what I was looking for: someone's accounting of the down and dirty of farming. While some of the negative aspects of farming (specifically, I have a soft heart and it was hard to read about the realities of harvesting animals, or losing animals to illness or injury), it was still a fantastic book. I will read it again and again.
I really enjoyed this book. It opened up my mind to the reality of farming. I thought it was a beautiful story of the author's life. There were a few swear words and some sexual content. But it was done in a tasteful manner and did not take away from the book's overall meaning.
Claire B. (clairebelle) reviewed The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love on + 61 more book reviews
This is a wonderful memoir of a young couple who begin their first year of farming in upstate New York. Their idea is to get people in the community to buy into their farm (pay a fee). For this fee they will provide most all the food a family could need - vegetables, meats, herbs, eggs, dairy (and all that comes from that). They use no fertilizers or bug spray. It is the story of all the hard work of farming and the rewards. The fee the members give pays for equipment, seeds, etc. A wonderful idea - I loved the book.
