The Dirty Life
On Farming, Food, and Love
by Kristin Kimball
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. -From book jacket.
Why I picked it up: I have been on a kick of reading about urban homesteading, small scale farming, and simplifying by moving toward a less electronically connected way of life. And of course the picture of the barn on the cover.
Why I finished it: I checked this book out from our library, by page 42 I had fallen in love. By page 48 I ordered my own copy. I enjoyed reading about the love that develops between Kristin and her husband, and between Kristin and the farm. She wasn't afraid to share gritty, real details and tensions of learning new things.
I'd give it to: Anyone interested in "growing their own" & anyone looking for a love story.
