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Brudna robota. Zapiski o życiu na wsi, jedzeniu i miłości
Kristin Kimball, trzydziestoparoletnia singielka, prowadziła beztroskie i barwne życie w Nowym Jorku, do czasu aż los postawił na jej drodze Marka, ambitnego farmera z marzeniami o ekologicznym gospodarstwie. Nie mając pojęcia o trudnej pracy na roli, Kristin, pod wpływem rodzącego się uczucia, porzuca wielkomiejski świat i przeprowadza się na zapuszczoną farmę na amerykańsko-kanadyjskiej granicy. Plan młodych był prosty: samowystarczalne gospodarstwo prowadzone tradycyjnymi metodami. Kristin i Mark zamierzali sprzedawać warzywa, owoce, mięso, przetwory mleczne i mąkę, ale także opał, materiały budowlane, nawóz, a nawet zapewniać rozrywkę i wypoczynek. Był to pomysł ambitny, ryzykowny i nieco romantyczny… ale naprawdę się udał. Brudna robota to książka o spełnianiu marzeń i o tym, że warto iść pod prąd. A zabawne i niezwykle plastyczne opisy ciężkiej pracy, wspaniałego jedzenia i rodzącej się miłości oczarują każdego.
272 pages, Paperback
First published October 12, 2010
587 people are currently reading
17587 people want to read
About the author
Kristin Kimball
9 books280 followersKristin Kimball is a farmer and writer living in Northern New York. Prior to farmer, Kristin worked as a freelance writer, a writing teacher, and an assistant to a literary agent. A graduate of Harvard University, she has run Essex Farm with her husband since 2003.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,338 reviews
February 16, 2018
Periodically, while reading "The Dirty Life", a book which I loved, I found myself thinking about "Eat, Pray, Love", a book I hated for its solipsism. The protagonists in each book are both writers, living the Yuppy life. Their paths diverged with Elizabeth Gilbert ending up as a famous author while Kristin Kimball, in an unbelievable life shift, becomes a farmer now helping to produce food for more than 200 families from a 600 acre farm in Essex, New York.
I'll return in a minute as to why I think "The Dirty Life" is way more interesting and inspiring than "Eat, Pray, Love". First, here's Kristin Kimball's story in brief:
A Harvard grad and NYC free lance writer, living the cafe life, dating a variety of NYC characters, feels a tingling to have a "home." She visits a farmer named Mark, a tall, good-looking fellow with a Swarthmore degree, to interview him for an article on young farmers. Mark is busy and puts her to work. At the same time Mark, an impetuous fellow, decides that Kristin is the woman he must marry. From here the book spins out the details of their unlikely romance, Mark's ability as a farmer/salesman, Kristin's unexpected decision to give up NYC and join Mark in his quest for a farm, their stormy partnership and the struggles of their first farm year told season by season culminating in their chaotic wedding. Along the way we learn much about driving teams, animal husbandry, sugaring, pigs, milking, plowing, butchering and other subjects that make up a dirty life.
Mark had an unbelievably ambitious vision. He wanted to provide a full service CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). That is, he wanted to provide his members with all of their food: meat, fowl, dairy products, vegetables, sweeteners (maple syrup) and even firewood. More than that, he didn't want to limit his members but to let them have as much as they wanted, to encourage them to put food by. In addition, he wanted to farm using old methods, primarily with teams of horses.
Fast forward and check out their website http://www.kristinkimball.com/ which reports that they now have 222 members who pay approximately $3000 per year each for the privilege of sharing in the bounty. Essex Farm has nine draft horses, a few tractors and ten employees.
I've read a lot of back to the land memoirs in the last few years and this is the best one. The lesson is clear. The work is hard. The work is unrelenting. The work is satisfying. Clearly, the world needs more Mark Kimballs (who took his wife's last name when they got married as she didn't want to change hers). He comes across as idealistic, super energetic, charismatic, dogmatic, relentless, likable, visionary and invincible. We need to clone this guy.
In "Eat, Pray, Love", Elizabeth Gilbert gives up home to find herself. I don't know if she did or not because I couldn't finish the book. The fact that "Eat, Pray, Love" resonated with so many people disturbs me. My inspiration these days comes from people like Kristin and Mark who actually do things rather than just think about them and write about them. By way of comparison with Ms. Gilbert, in "The Dirty Life" Kristin Kimball gives up finding herself for a home and, in the end, offers a simple paragraph of explanation:
"And this is the place where I'm supposed to tell you what I've learned. Here's the best I can do: a bowl of beans, rest for tired bones. These things are reasonable roots for a life, not just its window dressing. They have comforted our species for all time, and for happiness sake, they should not slip beneath our notice. Cook things, eat them with other people. If you can tire your bones while growing the beans, so much the better."
Mark and Kristin have recreated an early twentieth century subsistence farm. Though it might seem unusual, the fact is that this type of farm operation was ubiquitous only two generations ago. Just over fifty years ago I was able to spend time on my own grandparents farm where they produced virtually everything they needed and traded for what the couldn't grow or raise. Two generations later many skills have been lost or gone dormant.
It's comforting to know that here and there young people are working it out, getting down with the dirty life.
I'll return in a minute as to why I think "The Dirty Life" is way more interesting and inspiring than "Eat, Pray, Love". First, here's Kristin Kimball's story in brief:
A Harvard grad and NYC free lance writer, living the cafe life, dating a variety of NYC characters, feels a tingling to have a "home." She visits a farmer named Mark, a tall, good-looking fellow with a Swarthmore degree, to interview him for an article on young farmers. Mark is busy and puts her to work. At the same time Mark, an impetuous fellow, decides that Kristin is the woman he must marry. From here the book spins out the details of their unlikely romance, Mark's ability as a farmer/salesman, Kristin's unexpected decision to give up NYC and join Mark in his quest for a farm, their stormy partnership and the struggles of their first farm year told season by season culminating in their chaotic wedding. Along the way we learn much about driving teams, animal husbandry, sugaring, pigs, milking, plowing, butchering and other subjects that make up a dirty life.
Mark had an unbelievably ambitious vision. He wanted to provide a full service CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). That is, he wanted to provide his members with all of their food: meat, fowl, dairy products, vegetables, sweeteners (maple syrup) and even firewood. More than that, he didn't want to limit his members but to let them have as much as they wanted, to encourage them to put food by. In addition, he wanted to farm using old methods, primarily with teams of horses.
Fast forward and check out their website http://www.kristinkimball.com/ which reports that they now have 222 members who pay approximately $3000 per year each for the privilege of sharing in the bounty. Essex Farm has nine draft horses, a few tractors and ten employees.
I've read a lot of back to the land memoirs in the last few years and this is the best one. The lesson is clear. The work is hard. The work is unrelenting. The work is satisfying. Clearly, the world needs more Mark Kimballs (who took his wife's last name when they got married as she didn't want to change hers). He comes across as idealistic, super energetic, charismatic, dogmatic, relentless, likable, visionary and invincible. We need to clone this guy.
In "Eat, Pray, Love", Elizabeth Gilbert gives up home to find herself. I don't know if she did or not because I couldn't finish the book. The fact that "Eat, Pray, Love" resonated with so many people disturbs me. My inspiration these days comes from people like Kristin and Mark who actually do things rather than just think about them and write about them. By way of comparison with Ms. Gilbert, in "The Dirty Life" Kristin Kimball gives up finding herself for a home and, in the end, offers a simple paragraph of explanation:
"And this is the place where I'm supposed to tell you what I've learned. Here's the best I can do: a bowl of beans, rest for tired bones. These things are reasonable roots for a life, not just its window dressing. They have comforted our species for all time, and for happiness sake, they should not slip beneath our notice. Cook things, eat them with other people. If you can tire your bones while growing the beans, so much the better."
Mark and Kristin have recreated an early twentieth century subsistence farm. Though it might seem unusual, the fact is that this type of farm operation was ubiquitous only two generations ago. Just over fifty years ago I was able to spend time on my own grandparents farm where they produced virtually everything they needed and traded for what the couldn't grow or raise. Two generations later many skills have been lost or gone dormant.
It's comforting to know that here and there young people are working it out, getting down with the dirty life.
March 14, 2011
As I was reading what I knew would be the last few sentences of this book and then forced to, reluctantly, put it down I took solace in the idea and fact that as I was reading here today Kristin and husband Mark and their team on the farm were actually out working, doing many of the things I read about in her book. So, maybe there will be a sequel, the next 7 or so years.
Somehow in a very deep way this effort from Kristin Kimball touched me, connected the dots in me and for me in ways I heretofore couldn't do for myself. Maybe it was the struggle, the subterranean emotional ones or the literal variety, like, hard work, that were easy for me to relate to. Or, maybe it was her fearless trek inward AND hard work outwardly AND her willingness to plunge into both, always mindful of her fears, her doubts. I don't know, I just know something in me clicked. Based solely on the worth and substance of her personal struggles, overcoming her fears and trepidations, her development and character growth, this book could stand on it's own and Kristin would be hailed as the new Dr. Phil or Dr. Jane or Dr. Laura. She has however chosen to use whatever gain, whatever experience teaches a person to continue to use it to build her dreams with her family, friends and community, on, of all places, a farm.
From a writerly standpoint this book exhibits a very high standard of skill, while literally keeping the reader grounded to the earth, in many ways. Passages regarding horses, seasons passing, description of the sights and sounds and smells and tastes of life, all, translated beautifully enough to bring the most knowing editor to tears. I read and re-read numerous pages again to try to absorb the flow, the translation the type of which only the heart can understand, but the technical mind marvels at.
Yes, like I said earlier this week in an update and I'm completely serious, this book could stand with any authors work on any level technically, and as a non-fiction entry to the book hall of fame I believe it will take it's place in a category all it's own.
Building bridges is easier when you know how, it becomes remarkable when someone builds a bridge across the great divide within themselves, using, as Kristin put it, "The great gift of an Ivy League education."(Harvard) NOT knowing how and documenting the struggle using writing skills learned while creating a life that requires immeasurable sacrifice and effort, which she now lives, was a bridge building experience all it's own too. THIS is why this book is SO worth anyone's time. I myself know that a farm or ranch can test you, it can teach you, it can wreck you and it can save you and just like life, and it IS life, the cycle of seasons, plants growing, critters spending their lives doing what they do, well, it's where we've all come from at one time or another in our family histories.
Kristin Kimball wrote this book about her life, "The Dirty Life". It's about her hopes, her dreams, her fears and weaknesses, a farm, a man, more hopes and dreams and struggles and finally - we get it. We get what it all means. And what it all means, part of it anyway is that with you or without you the land stays, and time rolls on. At that moment you'll look down at this book in your hands and say, "What just happened?" You'll realize how amazing it is to have just read a book where a woman built bridges within herself, between herself and the 21st Century, and our ancient agrarian past and did it with such style that it might just defy the imagination, if it weren't true.
Buy this book and for a little while you too can live - The Dirty Life.
Next time your in the bookstore or in an online bookstore, peruse a few pages, you'll see what I mean.
Follow Kristin on Twitter http://twitter.com/k_kimball , from there follow links out to her site.
Someday I just might hook up the camper to the pickup and head north to volunteer at this farm.
Seems like the thing to do. Yep.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Really, I can't say enough about this book and Kristin. Her candor is so refreshing, since, as you might guess the farm life is not an easy one. Her and Mark, started out like a lot of young couples with hope, on a wing and a prayer. If you are an "outdoorsy" type or not, what you'll find here is pure inspiration. This is a woman's journey, with no symbolisms or cliches, just a hard fought - joy filled struggle. One, at times, with despairing and fearful moments but she always remains clear about her vision and willingness to step up and deliver, whatever it takes to see her and her husbands dreams and lives become one. I do not know this author but even after 200 or so pages in, I feel like I do. You will not be stumbling over an amateur's writing here, Kristin is very much a pro, having a background in freelancing and the NY publishing scene. Really, a good book!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
I read the review for this book in The New Yorker magazine a few weeks ago and though I don't really read a whole lot of non-fiction, having been a ranch owner and in the near future, Please God Please, to be one again soon, I love this real life story and the very idea of living it myself. I plan to study how they created and maintain a self sustaining farm. It's modern in that she was a NYC resident and her husband, a real cowboy/farmer, studied what they needed to do and did it. But it's a throwback to a simpler time too in many ways because they use old tried and true farming methods from many generations ago and actually use draft horses for most of the heavy work. WOW! That sounds real good to me.
Kristin left her life, partially, in the NYC publishing circle to become a working farmer, while still holding onto her dream to be a writer.
So, now that I'm into the prologue, the first thing that struck me was how well she writes! Not that I expected anything less but still, her skill level is top notch. You'll notice this right away too. I'll keep you posted on my thoughts and my progress as I happily devour this book!
Somehow in a very deep way this effort from Kristin Kimball touched me, connected the dots in me and for me in ways I heretofore couldn't do for myself. Maybe it was the struggle, the subterranean emotional ones or the literal variety, like, hard work, that were easy for me to relate to. Or, maybe it was her fearless trek inward AND hard work outwardly AND her willingness to plunge into both, always mindful of her fears, her doubts. I don't know, I just know something in me clicked. Based solely on the worth and substance of her personal struggles, overcoming her fears and trepidations, her development and character growth, this book could stand on it's own and Kristin would be hailed as the new Dr. Phil or Dr. Jane or Dr. Laura. She has however chosen to use whatever gain, whatever experience teaches a person to continue to use it to build her dreams with her family, friends and community, on, of all places, a farm.
From a writerly standpoint this book exhibits a very high standard of skill, while literally keeping the reader grounded to the earth, in many ways. Passages regarding horses, seasons passing, description of the sights and sounds and smells and tastes of life, all, translated beautifully enough to bring the most knowing editor to tears. I read and re-read numerous pages again to try to absorb the flow, the translation the type of which only the heart can understand, but the technical mind marvels at.
Yes, like I said earlier this week in an update and I'm completely serious, this book could stand with any authors work on any level technically, and as a non-fiction entry to the book hall of fame I believe it will take it's place in a category all it's own.
Building bridges is easier when you know how, it becomes remarkable when someone builds a bridge across the great divide within themselves, using, as Kristin put it, "The great gift of an Ivy League education."(Harvard) NOT knowing how and documenting the struggle using writing skills learned while creating a life that requires immeasurable sacrifice and effort, which she now lives, was a bridge building experience all it's own too. THIS is why this book is SO worth anyone's time. I myself know that a farm or ranch can test you, it can teach you, it can wreck you and it can save you and just like life, and it IS life, the cycle of seasons, plants growing, critters spending their lives doing what they do, well, it's where we've all come from at one time or another in our family histories.
Kristin Kimball wrote this book about her life, "The Dirty Life". It's about her hopes, her dreams, her fears and weaknesses, a farm, a man, more hopes and dreams and struggles and finally - we get it. We get what it all means. And what it all means, part of it anyway is that with you or without you the land stays, and time rolls on. At that moment you'll look down at this book in your hands and say, "What just happened?" You'll realize how amazing it is to have just read a book where a woman built bridges within herself, between herself and the 21st Century, and our ancient agrarian past and did it with such style that it might just defy the imagination, if it weren't true.
Buy this book and for a little while you too can live - The Dirty Life.
Next time your in the bookstore or in an online bookstore, peruse a few pages, you'll see what I mean.
Follow Kristin on Twitter http://twitter.com/k_kimball , from there follow links out to her site.
Someday I just might hook up the camper to the pickup and head north to volunteer at this farm.
Seems like the thing to do. Yep.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Really, I can't say enough about this book and Kristin. Her candor is so refreshing, since, as you might guess the farm life is not an easy one. Her and Mark, started out like a lot of young couples with hope, on a wing and a prayer. If you are an "outdoorsy" type or not, what you'll find here is pure inspiration. This is a woman's journey, with no symbolisms or cliches, just a hard fought - joy filled struggle. One, at times, with despairing and fearful moments but she always remains clear about her vision and willingness to step up and deliver, whatever it takes to see her and her husbands dreams and lives become one. I do not know this author but even after 200 or so pages in, I feel like I do. You will not be stumbling over an amateur's writing here, Kristin is very much a pro, having a background in freelancing and the NY publishing scene. Really, a good book!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
I read the review for this book in The New Yorker magazine a few weeks ago and though I don't really read a whole lot of non-fiction, having been a ranch owner and in the near future, Please God Please, to be one again soon, I love this real life story and the very idea of living it myself. I plan to study how they created and maintain a self sustaining farm. It's modern in that she was a NYC resident and her husband, a real cowboy/farmer, studied what they needed to do and did it. But it's a throwback to a simpler time too in many ways because they use old tried and true farming methods from many generations ago and actually use draft horses for most of the heavy work. WOW! That sounds real good to me.
Kristin left her life, partially, in the NYC publishing circle to become a working farmer, while still holding onto her dream to be a writer.
So, now that I'm into the prologue, the first thing that struck me was how well she writes! Not that I expected anything less but still, her skill level is top notch. You'll notice this right away too. I'll keep you posted on my thoughts and my progress as I happily devour this book!
December 14, 2022
This non-fiction book begins as a young journalist from the city interviews a hot, young, single farmer and falls in love with him. They move to the country, decide to get married and start up their own CSA.
Question number one- I'm an agricultural journalist. WHY HASN'T THIS HAPPENED TO ME????
(Perhaps it is because I interview farmers all the time, but generally they aren't young, single or hot. Admittedly, some of the older farmers who like me often make a point of mentioning their single sons or grandsons.)
On the other hand, I can be poor and sit in my own apartment writing and enjoy the pleasures of the city, or I could be poor out in the country, get up at absurd hours and be covered with manure.
Anyway, this book made me smile a few times and it was a pretty interesting story. I really like how the author didn't glamourize farming and talks about how hard it is and how much of a financial crapshoot it is. She also talks about the difference between book smarts and farm smarts, and how being educated might not actually help you out on the farm.
I also liked how she was honest about her marriage. She admitted that at times she balked about her engagement, that it was difficult to run a business with someone you love (lots of farm couples get divorced in tough times), and that when you get married, you have to accept a certain lifestyle and say goodbye to some other options. I thought this was extremely refreshing, and honest and something that people don't talk about that much.
I also liked some of the farming details- particularily the details about her dairy cows. The Kimballs farm using draft horses and I have to admit that that didn't interest me as much as it should have.
These people also eat amazing food.
Updating in 2022- I've been with a lovely graphic designer for almost 10 years. Things work out.
Question number one- I'm an agricultural journalist. WHY HASN'T THIS HAPPENED TO ME????
(Perhaps it is because I interview farmers all the time, but generally they aren't young, single or hot. Admittedly, some of the older farmers who like me often make a point of mentioning their single sons or grandsons.)
On the other hand, I can be poor and sit in my own apartment writing and enjoy the pleasures of the city, or I could be poor out in the country, get up at absurd hours and be covered with manure.
Anyway, this book made me smile a few times and it was a pretty interesting story. I really like how the author didn't glamourize farming and talks about how hard it is and how much of a financial crapshoot it is. She also talks about the difference between book smarts and farm smarts, and how being educated might not actually help you out on the farm.
I also liked how she was honest about her marriage. She admitted that at times she balked about her engagement, that it was difficult to run a business with someone you love (lots of farm couples get divorced in tough times), and that when you get married, you have to accept a certain lifestyle and say goodbye to some other options. I thought this was extremely refreshing, and honest and something that people don't talk about that much.
I also liked some of the farming details- particularily the details about her dairy cows. The Kimballs farm using draft horses and I have to admit that that didn't interest me as much as it should have.
These people also eat amazing food.
Updating in 2022- I've been with a lovely graphic designer for almost 10 years. Things work out.
May 4, 2012
Kimball does a good job in using this book to remove any romantic notion of leaving city life for that of the farm life. Or maybe she enriches that notion for the person who truly wants to seek that farm life. Either way, she gives what I assume is a realistic view of the commitment that a farm is--the cow always has to be milked. I appreciated her straight-forwardness in that. If Kimball is anything, she seems honest, both about the farm and her relationship.
There are a lot of characters that are constantly coming and going, which is indicative of the helpful nature of those involved with Kimball's farm, but it made the story hard to follow at times. Kimball wrote well enough of the animals, though, that they were easy to keep up with. And, when they were gone, I couldn't help but mourn the losses with her. I do think there was about 75 pages in the middle somewhere that I can't recall for the most part, and which should be considerably slimmed down.
There are a lot of characters that are constantly coming and going, which is indicative of the helpful nature of those involved with Kimball's farm, but it made the story hard to follow at times. Kimball wrote well enough of the animals, though, that they were easy to keep up with. And, when they were gone, I couldn't help but mourn the losses with her. I do think there was about 75 pages in the middle somewhere that I can't recall for the most part, and which should be considerably slimmed down.
February 1, 2016
Question: Why is farming like a relationship?
Answer: Because you do not reap what you sow. That's a lie. You reap what you sow, hill, cultivate, fertilize, harvest, and store.
― Kristin Kimball, The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love
I can count on my fingers the number of memoirs I've read. And the ones I did were either just plain not interesting or the writer came across as self-absorbed and narcissistic to the point of being off-putting. So, I started this book with a great deal of reservation considering its genre and the subject matter (farming) and…. imagine my surprise when I plowed through The Dirty Life in less than two days. I couldn't stop reading it. And when I finished, I wanted to know more about the author's farm,...so I went on reading her blog, watching You Tube interviews. I was totally fascinated!
From "About Kristin Kimball":
I was born in 1971, and grew up in central New York. I graduated from Harvard in 1994, then moved to New York City, where I worked at a literary agency, taught creative writing, and freelanced for magazines and travel guides. In 2002, I interviewed a wingnut farmer named Mark, and took more than a professional interest in both him and his vocation. We founded Essex Farm together in 2004 – the world’s first full-diet Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), as far as we know – and I’ve been professionally dirty ever since.
The book starts with this first interview and continues with a captivating chronicle of the couple's first year on Essex Farm in Upstate New York.
Kristin Kimball does not romanticize her new found adventure; rather with a sprinkling of humor she exposes a life of exhausting days, grueling work and dirty fingernails. There are passages in the story that are not for a fainted heart, specially, for city people like me who associate meat with neatly packaged variety in the local supermarket.
She is such a talented writer. I never thought I would find milking of cows or pulling weeds so captivating. And her descriptions of the gourmet meals made from their fresh farm products...Oh, they were so vivid and drool-inducing..
The book is much more than depiction of farm life. It's a quiet love story. It's a story of courage, conviction, and dedication to ones goal. It's a truly inspirational story!
My favorite quote:
“A farm is a manipulative creature. There is no such thing as finished. Work comes in a stream and has no end. There are only the things that must be done now and things that can be done later. The threat the farm has got on you, the one that keeps you running from can until can't, is this: do it now, or some living thing will wilt or suffer or die. Its blackmail, really.”
August 17, 2011
The first two chapters about a NYC city girl falling in love and moving to a farm are endearing and funny. Kristin is a very good writer and she had really captured my attention at this point. But the book slowed down for me once the author got to her new life. Kristin was a travel writer prior to this farm gig and uses those skills to describe, in great detail, every experience, every piece of machinery and how it is used and every animal that is bought and slaughtered, etc.. All of this is interesting to a point, but I expected more depth and reflection in relation to her new life, her upcoming marriage and the birth of her first child. Without that the book became a string of events seen from a distance. Her attempt at a reflective look back in the epilogue just didn't work or even make sense to me. At the end of a memoir I should feel that I know the person and I'm disappointed that I don't know Kristin, but I know all about her farm machinery and her animals.
April 27, 2011
I really wanted to like - love this book. The ideas of running away from the big city to the country, to spend my days with real hard work instead of work that drives me crazy, and to enjoy the organic chaos of a farm instead of the mania that is modern suburbia all sound like the dreamy foundation of a book I'd love to lose myself in. I really wanted this book to be that escape for me - but the jumpiness of the writing was so prohibitive from achieving this escape and the focus of the book was more on day to day life on her farm than the experience of leaving it all behind as a working world escapee. It seemed like the author really wanted to document the activity of the farm instead of revealing an insider's view of what it feels like to escape. If I were to rename this book, I would have called it "A Series of Short Stories About a Farm" instead of the romantic, lucrative title it was given. So disappointed...
December 6, 2021
All I can say about this book is Ho-Hum--a dissatisfied educated New Yorker finds love with a farmer. Lucky her. I'm glad to have read the descriptions about the farm, the CSA they built together, and the animals they keep. I would have just liked more about the cows and chickens than about their anti-climactic wedding. Call me crazy, but the details about the farming were way better than the introspective details about her major life changes.
I want to read the opposite of this book where a New Yorker metro dude falls for a cowgirl and he has to give up chest waxing in order to afford a new horse. Now that would be a good memoir.
I want to read the opposite of this book where a New Yorker metro dude falls for a cowgirl and he has to give up chest waxing in order to afford a new horse. Now that would be a good memoir.
April 13, 2017
THE DIRTY LIFE was an engaging, often funny, true-to-life tale of two young people who meet, fall in love and marry. Their quirky life with all its ups and downs was refreshingly interesting. Kristin was raised in an upper middle class family with parents who mimicked Ward and June Cleaver. She graduated from Harvard University and traveled the globe writing various articles. Mark, on the other hand, grew up with folks from the hippy generation. He was down-to-earth: a farmer, gardener, chef and homesteader. He valued what was earned from the land.
Kristin had an amazing way with words; she made me feel like I was near her watching things pan out. This is a non-fiction story for those of you that like memoirs.
Or homesteading.
Or good food.
Thank you, Gita, for bringing this story to my attention and, Lyuda, for your wonderful review!
Kristin had an amazing way with words; she made me feel like I was near her watching things pan out. This is a non-fiction story for those of you that like memoirs.
Or homesteading.
Or good food.
Thank you, Gita, for bringing this story to my attention and, Lyuda, for your wonderful review!
January 2, 2011
This book fits into the whole foods, local grown, thinking ecologically about how we eat genre that is popular these days. Coming from Nebraska, it was nice to read a book that talks about farming as a nontrivial, nonmenial career. I suppose some might argue that Kimball glorifies it all a bit more than she should, but I'm not convinced. She talks about sleeping in a rat infested house and goes into pretty explicit detail about animal slaughter and birth. I tend to enjoy the whole local grown whole foods style books so it isn't surprising that I enjoyed this one. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find more than just these ideas in this book. This book also talks about controlling your own life and making decisions that might seem crazy to everyone around you. The idea of leaving everything for a life where you understand your impact and the outcome of your decisions really resonates with me after a long number of years in higher education. (No worries, I'm not planning on abandoning everything for the farm just yet.) I think many people who are feeling lost in our "new digital age" might enjoy this book for that perspective, even if they aren't into the organic farming movement.
June 6, 2012
I did not think this would be a page turner, but it was for me! This is a story about the authors transformation from city girl to farmer. I loved her ability to describe her journey without making the reader feel like it should be theirs, or that it shouldn't. An excellent read!!!
June 16, 2016
Educational about animals and work on a farm. It kept my interest.
This is not the kind of book I usually read, but someone gave it to me. I was surprised that it kept my interest. Only a couple times did I skim a paragraph or two.
College educated city girl Kristin leaves that life to be with Mark a farmer. The two of them work every day to exhaustion. Emergencies and work never end. Kristin initially went with Mark because she desired family and children and maybe felt like something was missing in her life. Later when she left the farm temporarily, the two things she missed most were the land and the work. She was surprised it wasn’t the animals.
Their life was one of financial poverty - but rich in other ways. Kristin’s advice/thoughts about comfort and happiness in life “Cook things, eat them with other people. If you can tire your own bones while growing the beans, so much the better for you.”
Their farm had members who paid a yearly fee. Members would get all the meat, milk, eggs, vegetables, etc. that they wanted from the farm during the year. Mark wanted to do everything possible with horses rather than tractors. Their operation was similar to the Amish although Mark and Kristin were not Amish.
This book is mostly about Kristin’s first year farming. The end of the book briefly summarizes some subsequent years.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 1st person. Story length: 273 pages. Swearing language: the f-word once (I think). Sexual content: none. Setting: current day mostly upper New York state. Copyright: 2010. Genre: nonfiction, farming.
This is not the kind of book I usually read, but someone gave it to me. I was surprised that it kept my interest. Only a couple times did I skim a paragraph or two.
College educated city girl Kristin leaves that life to be with Mark a farmer. The two of them work every day to exhaustion. Emergencies and work never end. Kristin initially went with Mark because she desired family and children and maybe felt like something was missing in her life. Later when she left the farm temporarily, the two things she missed most were the land and the work. She was surprised it wasn’t the animals.
Their life was one of financial poverty - but rich in other ways. Kristin’s advice/thoughts about comfort and happiness in life “Cook things, eat them with other people. If you can tire your own bones while growing the beans, so much the better for you.”
Their farm had members who paid a yearly fee. Members would get all the meat, milk, eggs, vegetables, etc. that they wanted from the farm during the year. Mark wanted to do everything possible with horses rather than tractors. Their operation was similar to the Amish although Mark and Kristin were not Amish.
This book is mostly about Kristin’s first year farming. The end of the book briefly summarizes some subsequent years.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 1st person. Story length: 273 pages. Swearing language: the f-word once (I think). Sexual content: none. Setting: current day mostly upper New York state. Copyright: 2010. Genre: nonfiction, farming.
August 1, 2012
I picked this book up at the library primarily because I had, had a fruit/vegetable for lunch that looked like a tomato, smelled a little bit like a tomato, but tasted nothing like the fresh from the garden tomato's that I remember eating as a child.
Kimball gives us an amazingly good look at her move from New York writer to Old Wave farmer. We also learn a little about local sourcing and Ms. Kimball's interior life as she makes the transition. Having grown up on something resembling a farm I understand the never ending chores of chopping ice on the pond so the cows could get water. Always being on a tether because something needed to be fed or harvested. But most of all that farming is HARD, let me repeat that, HARD work.
Ms. Kimball helped me remember all the work involved when I get nostalgic and think I want a cow because I can't get butter that's smooth and creamy to melt on a homemade drop biscuit, and some chickens so I can have eggs where the yolks are so orange they're almost red, and maybe a few sheep oh and those tomatos...then my chosen reality sets in. ...but "damn" if the food didn't taste so much better.
Kimball gives us an amazingly good look at her move from New York writer to Old Wave farmer. We also learn a little about local sourcing and Ms. Kimball's interior life as she makes the transition. Having grown up on something resembling a farm I understand the never ending chores of chopping ice on the pond so the cows could get water. Always being on a tether because something needed to be fed or harvested. But most of all that farming is HARD, let me repeat that, HARD work.
Ms. Kimball helped me remember all the work involved when I get nostalgic and think I want a cow because I can't get butter that's smooth and creamy to melt on a homemade drop biscuit, and some chickens so I can have eggs where the yolks are so orange they're almost red, and maybe a few sheep oh and those tomatos...then my chosen reality sets in. ...but "damn" if the food didn't taste so much better.
January 20, 2025
In her 2010 memoir The Dirty Life, writer Kristin Kimball writes about leaving behind her urban life in New York City to become a first generation farmer after meeting a fellow first generation farmer named Mark while pursuing a writing assignment. After severing ties with her old life, Kimball finds herself overworked, exhausted and horrified at the brutal realities of setting up a farm from scratch, with sparse bits of charm and pleasure sprinkled in. As I read, I Googled the author to see if she's still living the farm life or if she escaped back to the city -- as of 2025, it appears that Kimball and her husband Mark still run Essex Farm as a community-supported agriculture business in New York state.
I didn't particularly enjoy this read as the gore and violence surrounding animals (both farm animals and pets) was repugnant to me (I've been a vegetarian for almost 30 years for this reason). I had to do a lot of fast-forwarding in my audiobook listen. Still, I do think it's important to consider realities of food production, and it was interesting to read this outsider-turned-insider's take. I was surprised at how ambivalent Kimball seemed by her relationship with Mark, even before they were married, and that she went through with the marriage given how she wrote about things.
Further reading:
Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future by Bartow Elmore
Never Out of Season: How Having the Food We Want When We Want It Threatens Our Food Supply and Our Future by Rob Dunn
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
Food Rules: An Eater's Manual by Michael Pollan
Flat Broke with Two Goats by Jennifer McGaha
My statistics:
Book 22 for 2025
Book 1948 cumulatively
I didn't particularly enjoy this read as the gore and violence surrounding animals (both farm animals and pets) was repugnant to me (I've been a vegetarian for almost 30 years for this reason). I had to do a lot of fast-forwarding in my audiobook listen. Still, I do think it's important to consider realities of food production, and it was interesting to read this outsider-turned-insider's take. I was surprised at how ambivalent Kimball seemed by her relationship with Mark, even before they were married, and that she went through with the marriage given how she wrote about things.
Further reading:
Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future by Bartow Elmore
Never Out of Season: How Having the Food We Want When We Want It Threatens Our Food Supply and Our Future by Rob Dunn
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
Food Rules: An Eater's Manual by Michael Pollan
Flat Broke with Two Goats by Jennifer McGaha
My statistics:
Book 22 for 2025
Book 1948 cumulatively
May 7, 2016
This is an old trope: city girl meets country boy, falls in love, loses her bearings. I was going to write loses her mind, but I don't want to be an ass. This book reminded me of a similar title "The Feminist and the Cowboy" in which an NPR intellectual city slicker falls hard for a Republican redneck who gives her orgasms while debasing her and trying to "tame" her.
Let's just say that any man who makes your parents use a composting toilet and won't let them turn on the lights is a self-centered jerk.
Let's just say that any man who makes your parents use a composting toilet and won't let them turn on the lights is a self-centered jerk.
June 14, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed The Dirty Life and read it in two days. I had a hard time understanding the inner transformation Kristin Kimball experienced, from city girl to farmer - or honestly, what she ever saw in her husband in the first place, since she paints him as an unsympathetic, crazy New Agish daydreamer - and that lack of depth would be enough to knock this book down another star, if she didn't do such a great job making me feel vividly both the difficulty and beauty of life on a farm (at least as much as paper and ink allow, which I am sure is really a pale shadow of reality) and the ability to make even an uncertain dream come true through sheer perseverance, in spite of almost complete ignorance and inexperience. The first half of the book is interesting, but she hits her stride about halfway through and there are some genuinely funny passages in the second half. Having just finished "Folks, This Ain't Normal," by Joel Salatin, I found myself wondering about the legality of the haphazard way Kimball and her husband started their CSA program, as well as wondering how they handled all the paperwork and red tape from the start of their farm, but that information wouldn't really fit in this book, as it's not a how-to manual, but more a contemplative memoir. If you've considered farming, just moving to the country, or making a radical life change of any sort, I highly recommend this book.
November 12, 2011
I'd like to give it 3.5 stars, but since it won't let me, I'll have to go with 3. She gives a full and amazing description of the work involved in starting their farm. Any romantic notions of the life of organic farming, or working with teams of horses rather than tractors are absolutely put into perspective. You can feel the sheer exhaustion, but at the same time, feel the love and dedication they had (and still have) to making it work.
What I would love to have seen much more of in the book was the author's personal feelings. Did she agonize with the decision to leave her city life? How did she and her husband hold it together in those early trying times? I found myself forgetting that she loved him throughout the book because so little was said about her feelings toward him through their challenges. Maybe she was too tired to think about it, or write about it, or maybe it was too personal to put those difficult feelings out there. In the end, it's clear that they love each other a great deal, I just felt like it got a little lost along the way through all the work of puttin together the farm.
What I would love to have seen much more of in the book was the author's personal feelings. Did she agonize with the decision to leave her city life? How did she and her husband hold it together in those early trying times? I found myself forgetting that she loved him throughout the book because so little was said about her feelings toward him through their challenges. Maybe she was too tired to think about it, or write about it, or maybe it was too personal to put those difficult feelings out there. In the end, it's clear that they love each other a great deal, I just felt like it got a little lost along the way through all the work of puttin together the farm.
September 26, 2015
Good audiobook. I liked it ... It fueled my secret desire to be a farmer (or at least have chickens or a goat)
May 17, 2022
4.5/5
Kristin was a journalist on assignment for a story about farming when she fell in love with the farmer and the farm way of life. This book is told in four parts--the four seasons of her first farming year--and there is a lot of talk about food and animals. The author narrates the audiobook herself with a quiet, almost somber tone, which really worked for me in this instance. I loved it. I listened to the book over a week while on my work commutes and it was a good time. Books that center on food, animals, and/or gardening are among my favorites.
Audiobook Notes: I'm so glad I bought this audiobook. I can see myself re-listening in the future. This author has another book that continues with the next five years of her life on the farm, and I will most likely listen to that one too.
Title: The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball
Narrator: Kristin Kimball
Length: 8 hours, 1 minute, Unabridged
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Kristin was a journalist on assignment for a story about farming when she fell in love with the farmer and the farm way of life. This book is told in four parts--the four seasons of her first farming year--and there is a lot of talk about food and animals. The author narrates the audiobook herself with a quiet, almost somber tone, which really worked for me in this instance. I loved it. I listened to the book over a week while on my work commutes and it was a good time. Books that center on food, animals, and/or gardening are among my favorites.
Audiobook Notes: I'm so glad I bought this audiobook. I can see myself re-listening in the future. This author has another book that continues with the next five years of her life on the farm, and I will most likely listen to that one too.
Title: The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball
Narrator: Kristin Kimball
Length: 8 hours, 1 minute, Unabridged
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
November 25, 2025
My jaw was either on the floor or clenched during much of this memoir. Talk about a leap of faith! If you’re interested in farming this is a great primer…just don’t let it scare you away. Hard to rate this less than a 5 because the writing is excellent and her story is compelling, though for me it read more as a what-not-to-do rather than a how-to! I’m glad it’s working for her.
Short summary: after covering farmer Mark for a work story, Kristin follows him into the field for good and what ensues are huge plans that often go awry but against all the odds turn out okay.
Short summary: after covering farmer Mark for a work story, Kristin follows him into the field for good and what ensues are huge plans that often go awry but against all the odds turn out okay.
December 17, 2024
4.5 rounded down
Starting with things I did not like: did not love the writing style, the author seems kind of annoying and I think it’s fine to judge a memoir based on that. But also I would want to be in community w her so idk
Things I love: farming, love, the lessons that can be learned from both (loved the way she talked about generosity), ok also fine I love falling in love through farming 🙄🙋🏼♀️
I think this book is awesome and I loved seeing all of these thoughts put into words. Does a good job of not over-romanticizing being a farmer.
Starting with things I did not like: did not love the writing style, the author seems kind of annoying and I think it’s fine to judge a memoir based on that. But also I would want to be in community w her so idk
Things I love: farming, love, the lessons that can be learned from both (loved the way she talked about generosity), ok also fine I love falling in love through farming 🙄🙋🏼♀️
I think this book is awesome and I loved seeing all of these thoughts put into words. Does a good job of not over-romanticizing being a farmer.
March 8, 2014
I first read this book almost two years ago and decided to pick it up again in anticipation of the Friends of Schenectady County Public Library's planned trip to Essex Farm in May, 2014. I thoroughly enjoyed the book the second time around - in fact more so!
The book is the author's account of how she left her glamorous freelance writer's life to marry a diehard, back to the earth man , who has a dream of starting a CSA farm that will provide all the food needs for shareholders, as much as a person could want, and then some. Kristin Kimball and her husband-to-be move to the North Country of New York and against all odds, make their dream come true, proving that hard work can be transformative. Kristan's account of the life-changing path she took is riveting; her skill at describing what it is like to work the earth is masterly. Wonderful imagery abounds, such as this description of a compost pile: "Who knew? That heat comes from the action of hordes of organisms, some so tiny billions can live in a tablespoon of soil. They are in there, eating and multiplying and dying, feeding on and releasing the energy that the larger organisms - the plants and the animals - stored up in their time, energy that came, originally, from the sun. I think it's worth it, for wonder's sake, to stick your hand in a compost pile in winter and be burned by a series of suns that last set the summer before."
Farmers rarely work alone, and the sections of the book that recount the numerous times the community members, friends and family pull together to aid the new, young farmers,are beautifully presented, emotionally filled passages. "It was an expression of a larger loving-kindness, and, when I remember it, I have the feeling of being held in the hands of our friends, family, community, and whatever mysterious force made the fields yield abundant food. It is the feeling of falling, and of being gently caught."
Kimball's writing is rich with description and filled with much humor. It is clear she doesn't take her new found life on the farm for granted, instead she is filled with gratitude for the wondrous adventure she has been given. This is a delightful book and I can't wait to see the farm in action!
The book is the author's account of how she left her glamorous freelance writer's life to marry a diehard, back to the earth man , who has a dream of starting a CSA farm that will provide all the food needs for shareholders, as much as a person could want, and then some. Kristin Kimball and her husband-to-be move to the North Country of New York and against all odds, make their dream come true, proving that hard work can be transformative. Kristan's account of the life-changing path she took is riveting; her skill at describing what it is like to work the earth is masterly. Wonderful imagery abounds, such as this description of a compost pile: "Who knew? That heat comes from the action of hordes of organisms, some so tiny billions can live in a tablespoon of soil. They are in there, eating and multiplying and dying, feeding on and releasing the energy that the larger organisms - the plants and the animals - stored up in their time, energy that came, originally, from the sun. I think it's worth it, for wonder's sake, to stick your hand in a compost pile in winter and be burned by a series of suns that last set the summer before."
Farmers rarely work alone, and the sections of the book that recount the numerous times the community members, friends and family pull together to aid the new, young farmers,are beautifully presented, emotionally filled passages. "It was an expression of a larger loving-kindness, and, when I remember it, I have the feeling of being held in the hands of our friends, family, community, and whatever mysterious force made the fields yield abundant food. It is the feeling of falling, and of being gently caught."
Kimball's writing is rich with description and filled with much humor. It is clear she doesn't take her new found life on the farm for granted, instead she is filled with gratitude for the wondrous adventure she has been given. This is a delightful book and I can't wait to see the farm in action!
October 23, 2012
Every once in a while I'll need a break from my usual heady, absurdly stylish reading fare, and books like this are my version of a beach read. Last year, I picked up a little gem called Goat Song (by Brad Kessler), which explored in a tight, journal-style format the trials and rewards of escaping the harried metropolitan life for a pastoral fantasy on a dairy goat farm. That book had such a lyrical flow, with gut-wrenching moments of life and death and lovely prose, fascinating anecdotes on history and mythology and the natural sciences. I read it three times in a matter of months. With The Dirty Life, I was hoping for something similar, albeit with expectations lowered. Not nearly as fulfilling, but still a fun, fast read. After the first few chapters the book felt rushed, and I would've appreciated more honesty and deep-digging into the issues Kimball only hinted at. A city girl more at home in a nightclub than even the nature lite of Central Park, Kimball falls for a tall, callused farmer, a 'real man', and finds herself suddenly thrown into a world of cattle husbandry, seed sowing and dirt hoeing, challenging her new relationship, her puzzled family, and well-manicured nails. But instead of bringing us along into these challenges, as Kessler did in Goat Song, Kimball merely lays these plot opportunities out matter-of-factly, like, 'it was hard having no money and starting a completely new lifestyle I have no experience with and that's that.' While the few hours it took me to plow (hehe) through the book, others interested in a great read about farming, food, and the poignant, difficult country life would be better off reading, or rereading Goat Song or Blood, Bones, and Butter. Any suggestions for similarly surprising memoirs would be greatly appreciated; I do love falling into the realms of nature while sitting on my porch in the big city.
May 19, 2011
After the first few pages of this book, I was sure it was going to be a detailed description of various meals the author had eaten. I wouldn't have minded as she is a kickass writer. But the book is more than that. It's how a Harvard-educated New York city writer falls in love with a Swarthmore-educated no-nonsense farmer, and how they build a life together, creating an over-the-top organic farm in upstate New York. And, as the title suggests, it's a dirty life--full of pigs, pig entrails, cows eating their own placentas, magnificent draft horses, clearing fields, harvesting, maple sugaring--just about everything you can think of that would happen on a small-scale organic farm. Conclusion? Farming the old fashioned way is nonstop hard work. But it is extremely rewarding in the end.
Woven into the story of the farm is the story of her relationship with her man. I won't give it away, but it is very, very satisfying. Did I say this woman is an epic writer? She's an incredible writer. The kind of writer that would bring tears of joy to the cheeks of any English professor. I really, really liked this book. Definitely worth a read.
Woven into the story of the farm is the story of her relationship with her man. I won't give it away, but it is very, very satisfying. Did I say this woman is an epic writer? She's an incredible writer. The kind of writer that would bring tears of joy to the cheeks of any English professor. I really, really liked this book. Definitely worth a read.
January 17, 2013
Try as I might to dislike The Dirty Life, it’s difficult to fault such an eloquent, honest, and authentic narrative.
An impetuous young female writer, financially and emotionally destitute, longing for love, home and motherhood would have accepted almost anything making her life different. She did, surrendering to a willful man and his work.
In a depiction of her man as the wizened one, she ever the apprentice, The Dirty Life is Kristin Kimball’s account of her introduction to horse powered community supported agriculture (CSA), and her courtship and marriage to Mark, a man of simple rural character who loves farming and remains true to his stated intentions and mate.
Farming, love, and a battle of wills ignite a hectic and grueling life as Mark and Kristin continually fail in estimating their measure of physical, emotional, and psychological stamina against the size of their ambition and undertakings. They are assisted warmly by the kindness of their community.
Anyone could find this book entertaining, but if you know the nature of erysipelas, a hame, and wet hay season – you might enjoy it more.
An impetuous young female writer, financially and emotionally destitute, longing for love, home and motherhood would have accepted almost anything making her life different. She did, surrendering to a willful man and his work.
In a depiction of her man as the wizened one, she ever the apprentice, The Dirty Life is Kristin Kimball’s account of her introduction to horse powered community supported agriculture (CSA), and her courtship and marriage to Mark, a man of simple rural character who loves farming and remains true to his stated intentions and mate.
Farming, love, and a battle of wills ignite a hectic and grueling life as Mark and Kristin continually fail in estimating their measure of physical, emotional, and psychological stamina against the size of their ambition and undertakings. They are assisted warmly by the kindness of their community.
Anyone could find this book entertaining, but if you know the nature of erysipelas, a hame, and wet hay season – you might enjoy it more.
May 23, 2012
Really enjoyed this book! It made me want to garden and farm and live an organic life. It made me think of my grandparents who were farmers and appreciate them more. The writing was beautiful! This quote really touched me: "Some people wish for world peace or an end to homelessness. I wish every woman could have as a lover at some point in her life a man who never smoked or drank too much or became jaded from kissing too many girls or looking at porn, someone with gracious muscles that come from honest work and not from the gym, someone unashamed of the animal side of human nature." Amen!
And this one is my favorite:
"In his view, we were already a success, because we were doing something hard and it was something that mattered to us. You don't measure things like that with words like success or failure, he said. Satisfaction comes from trying hard things and then going on to the next hard thing, regardless of the outcome. What mattered was whether or not you were moving in a direction you thought was right." Great advice!
And this one is my favorite:
"In his view, we were already a success, because we were doing something hard and it was something that mattered to us. You don't measure things like that with words like success or failure, he said. Satisfaction comes from trying hard things and then going on to the next hard thing, regardless of the outcome. What mattered was whether or not you were moving in a direction you thought was right." Great advice!
March 19, 2011
I value this book's stories about the trials of starting up a farm, of moving to a small town as an outsider, and of all the hard lessons that can only be learned through experience. I was annoyed by Mark's reckless "Aw shucks, everything always works out" attitude (taking huge gambles with no safety nets, ever), and by Kristin's persistent refusal to either embrace his approach or stand up to it - she always seemed resentful and ready to run. I kept wishing that their story could've been cozier throughout, with more laughs and teamwork (as they seemed to find at the end of this story) instead of the constant turmoil and escalating gambles. In the end, I'd call it interesting more than enjoyable.
April 26, 2015
Not for the squeamish.
No, seriously--farming isn't all about bovine contentment and clucking chickens and ripe red tomatoes eaten straight off the vine. Food isn't all about a well-stocked grocery store with forty-one varieties of imported Balsalmic Vinegar. And love isn't easy.
All the same you can hear the love singing through every page. Farming is hard and rewarding and gets under your skin. Ms. Kimball pulls no punches, spares us no gory detail...nor beautiful one, either. Her farming live grows on her, and with it, she grows too.
To sum up: great book; I kind of want to give it five stars and I definitely want to read it again.
(As soon as I forget the scary parts.)
No, seriously--farming isn't all about bovine contentment and clucking chickens and ripe red tomatoes eaten straight off the vine. Food isn't all about a well-stocked grocery store with forty-one varieties of imported Balsalmic Vinegar. And love isn't easy.
All the same you can hear the love singing through every page. Farming is hard and rewarding and gets under your skin. Ms. Kimball pulls no punches, spares us no gory detail...nor beautiful one, either. Her farming live grows on her, and with it, she grows too.
To sum up: great book; I kind of want to give it five stars and I definitely want to read it again.
(As soon as I forget the scary parts.)
August 18, 2012
I thought I would like The Dirty Life, but it lacks the charm of All Creatures Great and Small or the color of A Year in Provence or even the silly humor of Green Acres. The author leaves her fabulous life in Manhattan to marry an organic farmer, but she is deeply ambivalent about him and the farming life even after they get married, so there's an emotional shallowness there that is off-putting and makes it hard to care much about the human characters. This is a shame because there are many important themes touched on.
July 7, 2017
This is an honest look at farming - the dirt, the heartbreak, the wonder, everything. While the author romanticizes farming to an extent, she is very direct about the difficulty of it as well. This book is not for the vegan or the weak stomached, as Kimball tells her readers about such things as animal butchering in a frank, detailed way. Her love for their farm and animals really shows through - the animals feel like secondary characters who are just moments away from speaking to her. I enjoyed the book quite a bit.
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