The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love

by Kristin Kimball

Book Overview

From a "graceful, luminous writer with an eye for detail" (Minneapolis Star Tribune), this riveting memoir explores a year on a sustainable farm.When Kristin Kimball left New York City to interview a dynamic young farmer named Mark, her world changed. On an impulse, she shed her city self and started a new farm with him on five hundred acres near Lake Champlain. The Dirty Life is the captivating chronicle of the couple's first year on Essex Farm,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416551611
• ISBN13: 9781416551614
• Release Date: April 2011
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

This memoir is very interesting about a way of life that few of us know about.

The book is about farming that is very unique in that the author and husband provide a full range of food for their members who pay a one time yearly fee. In the book, every Friday evening for several hours, the members can go to the farm and pick up all the food they want, from meat to milk to veggies. Other items were mentioned like containers of lard and maple syrup that were produced on the farm and could be picked up also. Then at others times, members could go and get extra food to preserve for their pantry. Throw in personal stories about themselves, family, friends, their farm animals, and you have a very entertaining book to read.

So fun to read

I loved how real the author was about love and farming. The mind pictures she painted of events and her feelings were amazing and hilarious, almost unbelievable.

The Dirty Life induces fanciful beliefs that I could actually become a farmer while also explaining

I loved this book! The way that Kristin Kimball describes life on the farm will motivate you to buy some chicks and pick up a shovel while also explaining the very real struggles that occur day-to-day on the farm. I’ve wanted to have a farm and produce most of my family’s food and after reading this book I am encouraged and also have a realistic view of the work that would be expected of me. Granted, I want something small just for my family, but Kristin eliminates and illusions you might have that farming is simple or relaxing. It’s work and it takes dedication. I appreciated the blunt way she explained things in plain terms that anyone could understand. If you’re interested in farming or just interested in reading about it then this book is for you.