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Round of a Country Year: A Farmer's Day Book
David Kline has been called a “twentieth-century Henry David Thoreau” by his friends and contemporaries; an apt comparison given the quiet exuberance with which he records the quotidian goings-on on his organic family farm. Under David’s attentive gaze and in his clear, insightful prose the reader is enveloped in the rhythms of farm life; not only the planting and harvesting of crops throughout the year, but the migration patterns of birds, the health and virility of honeybees left nearly to their own devices, the songs and silences of frogs and toads, the disappearance and resurgence of praying mantises in fields-turned woodlands, the search for monarch butterflies in the milkweed. There’s rhythm in community, too—neighbors gathering to plant potatoes or to maintain an elderly friend’s tomato garden, organic farming conferences and meetings around family dining tables or university panels.
At a time when America’s population is being turned toward the benefits of small, local farming practices on our health and our environment, Kline’s daybook offers a striking example of the ways in which we are connected to our environment, and the pleasure we can take in daily work and stewardship.
At a time when America’s population is being turned toward the benefits of small, local farming practices on our health and our environment, Kline’s daybook offers a striking example of the ways in which we are connected to our environment, and the pleasure we can take in daily work and stewardship.
- GenresNonfictionMemoir
224 pages, Paperback
Published August 22, 2017
8 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
David Kline
36 books1 followerDavid Kline is a business consultant, journalist and author, the founder of Waterside Associates, a major Silicon Valley PR firm, and author of the Rembrandts in the Attic, a seminal work in the field of IP strategy.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 3, 2023
2023 was a good year for me; one of the reasons why is that I spent it in the company of my favorite nature writer, David Kline. Kline, an Amish farmer, shares his journal of observations through the seasons of life on and around his Ohio farm during the year of 2015. In addition to his tales of the outdoors, there are accounts of his attendance at weddings, funerals, and birthday parties throughout the year. It's essentially a diary of a life well spent.
DECEMBER 21---Today winter begins, at 11:48 p.m., the winter solstice. The word solstice comes from the Latin words for "sun" and "to stand still." I like this day when the earth again begins its tilt toward the sun. But for now it is a time of short days and long nights, of wood fires and feeding birds. A time for reading and reflecting and making sure the animals are well fed and comfortable and gathering the eggs several times during the day or before they freeze and crack.
His entries are often tinged by his wry sense of humor:
FEBRUARY 26---Today four crows were in a cantankerous mood and harassed a rough-legged hawk until it left for a nicer neighborhood. Then they found a red-tailed hawk to abuse. The red-tail was an adult and much more feisty. While perched on the ground, the hawk would glare at the crows and even show its talons, as if saying, "Take a look at what these could do to you, numbskulls."
Spring arrives with all its fecundity. Right now there is something new every day---a flower, a bird, trees budding . . . Then follows a busy summer spent planting, socializing, and enjoying the weather.
The book culminates in the fall, with the Kline enjoying the simple pleasure of that first taste of fresh apple cider
OCTOBER 18---Frost! The end of the growing season for 2015---twenty-six degrees at 5:00 a.m. and the ground was white. Time to hang up the hoe. It was a good year.
It was indeed a good year. Thank you, Mr. Kline.
DECEMBER 21---Today winter begins, at 11:48 p.m., the winter solstice. The word solstice comes from the Latin words for "sun" and "to stand still." I like this day when the earth again begins its tilt toward the sun. But for now it is a time of short days and long nights, of wood fires and feeding birds. A time for reading and reflecting and making sure the animals are well fed and comfortable and gathering the eggs several times during the day or before they freeze and crack.
His entries are often tinged by his wry sense of humor:
FEBRUARY 26---Today four crows were in a cantankerous mood and harassed a rough-legged hawk until it left for a nicer neighborhood. Then they found a red-tailed hawk to abuse. The red-tail was an adult and much more feisty. While perched on the ground, the hawk would glare at the crows and even show its talons, as if saying, "Take a look at what these could do to you, numbskulls."
Spring arrives with all its fecundity. Right now there is something new every day---a flower, a bird, trees budding . . . Then follows a busy summer spent planting, socializing, and enjoying the weather.
The book culminates in the fall, with the Kline enjoying the simple pleasure of that first taste of fresh apple cider
OCTOBER 18---Frost! The end of the growing season for 2015---twenty-six degrees at 5:00 a.m. and the ground was white. Time to hang up the hoe. It was a good year.
It was indeed a good year. Thank you, Mr. Kline.
August 23, 2019
A lovely chronicle of a different saner way of life, one tuned to the land and the seasons.
January 29, 2019
Tough to categorize this book as a case could be made to put it with natural history, sustainable agriculture, community building even ornithology. David Kline is that rare individual who probably thinks his life is pretty ordinary, pretty much like everyone else around him but looking at his life from the outside his life is extraordinary.
To begin with I have not made the acquaintance of the work of many Amish farmers who are also well rounded naturalists and authors. His journals do cover, as Wendell Berry says in his opening, the quotidian. Yet this daily and ordinary is elevated by his immersion in both the natural world and his very close knit community of family and friends.
He is after all a farmer and does a lot of planting, fixing, mowing, weeding, harvesting and other farmerly duties yet he manages to do so while observing the changing bird life, the night sky, the seasonal changes in weather and so on, all while going on seemingly endless rounds of gatherings of one sort or another. There are ongoing visits from out of town friends and family, religious services, celebrations, wakes and trips to out of town conferences on various agricultural topics.
It is a life well lived and a reminder that we would do well to keep our priorities regularly scrutinized lest we stray too far away from a grounded and deeply attached life.
To begin with I have not made the acquaintance of the work of many Amish farmers who are also well rounded naturalists and authors. His journals do cover, as Wendell Berry says in his opening, the quotidian. Yet this daily and ordinary is elevated by his immersion in both the natural world and his very close knit community of family and friends.
He is after all a farmer and does a lot of planting, fixing, mowing, weeding, harvesting and other farmerly duties yet he manages to do so while observing the changing bird life, the night sky, the seasonal changes in weather and so on, all while going on seemingly endless rounds of gatherings of one sort or another. There are ongoing visits from out of town friends and family, religious services, celebrations, wakes and trips to out of town conferences on various agricultural topics.
It is a life well lived and a reminder that we would do well to keep our priorities regularly scrutinized lest we stray too far away from a grounded and deeply attached life.
March 6, 2019
David Kline is an Amish farmer in NE Ohio who wrote this charming book about a recent year on his Larksong Farm. It is a chatty journal covering the activities of many days in that year with notes and comments about his farm, his family, his draft horses and the state of Big Ag as well as small organic farms such as Larksong Farm. He is clearly a sweetheart of a man. He milks 35-40 Jerseys and does the farm work on 120 acres with primarily draft animals, all named of course. Like most Amish there is no picture of him except from the back plowing his field behind his horses.There is a nice forward from Wendell Berry. He is off grid as are many Amish but seems a fan of Honda engines and generators which power some of his equipment. He edits Farming, a local organic magazine along with his wife Elsie.
September 18, 2023
A lovely book that captures the everyday rhythms of an Amish farmer in NE Ohio. I grew up visiting this part of Amish country and also went to camp every summer only a few miles away from the author’s land. I love this countryside very much, and I felt a deep affinity for the text. I thought it would be a quick read, but the author’s journal entries force the reader to slow down her pace and enjoy the descriptions of a less busy lifestyle. I’m grateful that Mr. Kline preserved a picture of his day to day life and that he still works alongside his family, who carries on his legacy today. A great read for fans of Wendell Berry and Barbara Kingsolver and Aldo Leopold.
December 14, 2018
I liked this a bit more than Letters from Larksong, but again the shorter entries of a journal are not as interesting as the longer form essays of Great Possessions. However, following a full year in daily entries was a nice touch. Getting a feel for the schedule of a year on the farm, not just in the animals, was a nice addition.
September 11, 2021
Enjoyable exploration of the rhythms of the year on an Amish farm! I didn't realize the author was Amish when I picked up the book, and that added additional interest. I love all his observations of nature--the birds, mammals and insects that frequent the farm.
4 stars
4 stars
February 24, 2021
In anxious days, this quiet book of daily reflections soothes the soul. Life on the Amish farm is busy and Kline’s appealing descriptions of the life and patterns are beautiful.
June 12, 2023
Um dos melhores livros que li em 2023.
March 3, 2025
David Kline’s writings are all essential, but I especially appreciate the form of this collection: by presenting a farmer’s daybook, Kline brings the reader into his home place in a way that none of his other books quite does.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews