sign in| help
Search advanced search
 
Books
Search:
x dismiss this message

Did you know you can edit this page?

The Dirty Life
  • Rated 0 stars
Read The Dirty Life

The Dirty Life (2010) (edit title/settings)

On Farming, Food, and Love

by Kristin Kimball (Author) (edit contributors)

Share this book on:
see page history

Description edit see section history

From a writer who traded her single life in the big city to marry a farmer, The Dirty Life is a chronicle of a year on their sustainable farm.

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

  • - entertaining of a couple starting up their farm
  • - hilarious journey of a couple starting an organic farm

Summary edit see section history

"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... read 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.

Characters/People edit see section history

Show all 26 characters
Popular Covers

Loading covers…

Choose your book’s cover

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Kristin Kimball (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Add the publisher.
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 288

Classification edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • Barnheart
  • Hit by a Farm: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barn
  • The Dirty Life
  • Farm City
  • Fifty Acres and a Poodle
  • Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools
  • The Feast Nearby

We’re hiding the memorable quotes, organizations, first sentence, table of contents, glossary entries, themes, errata, series & lists, awards, reading level, movie connections, books with additional background information, books that influenced this book, books influenced by this book, books that cite this book and books cited by this book sections. If you would like to add content to them, you must first make them visible.

This book has no spoilers.

© 2006-2012 Shelfari | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy

Close