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The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love - Kristin Kimball
The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love
by: (author)
4.00 20
"This book is the story of the two love affairs that interrupted the trajectory of my life: one with farming—that dirty, concupiscent art—and the other with a complicated and exasperating farmer."Single, thirtysomething, working as a writer in New York City, Kristin Kimball was living life as an... show more
"This book is the story of the two love affairs that interrupted the trajectory of my life: one with farming—that dirty, concupiscent art—and the other with a complicated and exasperating farmer."Single, thirtysomething, working as a writer in New York City, Kristin Kimball was living life as an adventure. But she was beginning to feel a sense of longing for a family and for home. When she interviewed a dynamic young farmer, her world changed. Kristin knew nothing about growing vegetables, let alone raising pigs and cattle and driving horses. But on an impulse, smitten, if not yet in love, she shed her city self and moved to five hundred acres near Lake Champlain to start a new farm with him. The Dirty Life is the captivating chronicle of their first year on Essex Farm, from the cold North Country winter through the following harvest season—complete with their wedding in the loft of the barn. Kimball and her husband had a plan: to grow everything needed to feed a community. It was an ambitious idea, a bit romantic, and it worked. Every Friday evening, all year round, a hundred people travel to Essex Farm to pick up their weekly share of the "whole diet"—beef, pork, chicken, milk, eggs, maple syrup, grains, flours, dried beans, herbs, fruits, and forty different vegetables—produced by the farm. The work is done by draft horses instead of tractors, and the fertility comes from compost. Kimball’s vivid descriptions of landscape, food, cooking—and marriage—are irresistible. "As much as you transform the land by farming," she writes, "farming transforms you." In her old life, Kimball would stay out until four a.m., wear heels, and carry a handbag. Now she wakes up at four, wears Carhartts, and carries a pocket knife. At Essex Farm, she discovers the wrenching pleasures of physical work, learns that good food is at the center of a good life, falls deeply in love, and finally finds the engagement and commitment she craved in the form of a man, a small town, and a beautiful piece of land  
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Format: paperback
ISBN: 9781416551614 (1416551611)
ASIN: 1416551611
Publisher: Scribner
Pages no: 304
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
Wrenegade
Wrenegade rated it
5.0 The Dirty Life
...is dirty indeed. This book was absolutely fascinating to me. I grew up on a tree farm, so am used to the plants aspect (constantly fighting back the invasives, planting baby trees in the dead of winter, etc.) but the animal parts were awesome to read about. This is far and away the best of the...
it's all small stuff
it's all small stuff rated it
5.0 The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love
I love the fact that Mark never questions whether or not organic farming, providing food for his neighbors on a local scale, is the thing to do. I love how Kristin starts out not knowing if he's crazy or just foolishly ignorant, but plunges in alongside him anyway. And how this book is a perfect ill...
FefferBooks
FefferBooks rated it
4.0 The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love
I've had this bizarre romantic fantasy for a while, now, that at some future time, I might like to own a (SMALL) farm, and so I keep picking up books on the subject, hoping they'll shed some light on the idea. Kimball's is the first I've come across that I actually found helpful and, simultaneously,...
Evocative Romance. Unexpected Evil.
Evocative Romance. Unexpected Evil. rated it
5.0 The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love
LOVED this! Having spent a good part of my life relatively close to the land, I appreciated the honesty, humor, and warmth of Kristin's stories. This is a woman who has walked the walk and isn't afraid to talk about it. If you've ever wondered what life on a small working farm is REALLY like, you ne...
SilverPen
SilverPen rated it
5.0 The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love
I love books about food. Cookbooks and memories alike. But often times I get bored with them halfway through because the author expounds on topics that I can't really get into. Not so with this one. The author knew just how to keep me riveted to the page. She makes farming real and not at all second...
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