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

In "The Dirty Life", author and farmer Kristin Kimball tells a powerful story. Her story of the joys and labors of building a farm with her husband is fascinating and uplifting. It's an endearing story that could have been set in many corners of the world. It's timeless. Kimball glosses over none of the details of building a life and livelihood with soil, rain, sunshine and work. You'll be exhausted just reading about the dawn-to-night labor of two farmers trying to build a life and career together. And, you'll be either queasy or intrigued - or both- by some of the particulars of life and death with farm animals. She shares it all. The author pulls off an amazing bit of writer's magic. In "The Dirty Life", she manages to both romanticize and de-romanticize farming at the same time. I came away from the book moved and envious of the passion, mission and gratification that the farming life has given her and her husband. At the same time I was left absolutely terrified at the thought of ever having to put in the backbreaking and often-unfair work of a farming life. For city-dwellers like me, reading about city slickers turned farmers is part fantasy and part jealousy. She describes a life that any of us could have, but few of us would likely succeed at. Kimball manages to make the farming life seem both accessible and all-but-impossible. Which I suppose it is.

I was absolutely fascinated by Ms. Kimball's book. It is a life I dream about and brought to light how difficult farm life truly is. I loved her style of writing and her descriptions had me feeling like I was really there with her getting up at god-awful hours in the freezing cold to take care of the animals. The reason I gave it 4 stars is that while the majority of the book was wonderful, I felt the end was rushed with way too little information. It was like she stuffed four years of living into the last two pages. I just hope she does a follow up book so that I know how it's going now!

I was not (am not, really) wild about the title of this book. I heard the author on NPR and that was just okay. But I really wanted to read about first generation farmers, and that desire overrode any misgivings. Well, this book exceeded any expectation I had. Within the first few pages, it becomes clear that this is not an ordinary memoir, that this is a memoir by a professional writer who just happened to stumble into some interesting subject matter. Her ability to sketch people, so clearly that suddenly you KNOW them, and to do it in just a few sentences is amazing- in this capacity, Kimball is on par with great fiction writers (Faulkner, Austen, Twain). This is not a flowery book, but it is beautiful. In this way, it reminds me of the Little House books- unsentimental prose that is nonetheless compelling, breathtaking. There is a lot in this book, not just the complete upending of the author's life, not just the work, luck, and skill that went into Essex Farm, not just the stories of how farms fail and how farming must be remade. At the heart of this book, there is the story of a marriage. It was told in a quiet way, as if to take a backseat to everything else crammed into the story, but it is deeply intimate. Her love for her husband, both in spite of and because of his eccentricities, is visible in every line, but when she tells of her misgivings and fears of committing to him, it makes this story so full that it isn't just a memoir anymore, it becomes literature. The last line of this book is the best ending note that I have ever read in nonfiction. After the joy of "The Dirty Life", I am certain to a second book by Kristin Kimball, if the public is lucky enough to get another one. I read this book aloud to my husband, and at the end of it, he said he wanted to reread it every year of his life, so I know it's not just me. It's just that good.

This nonfiction book is a rare gem that you won’t want to put down. Kristin Kimball’s Dirty Life felt like a reunion with an old friend. You cannot believe you’ve spent so much time apart once you are together again. A prologue of only five pages drew me in, leaving me impatient to dig into the body of the book. It did not disappoint at any point. I could identify similarities between the man who tugged Kristin into farming life and a former boyfriend. I cheered for his eccentricities while sympathizing with Kristin at her evident exasperation. My breath became ragged inhales as I finished the last pages of the epilogue. Farming’s beauty and agony reminded me of my unfulfilled desire to farm. This book will inspire self-discovery and value-based living, regardless of lifestyle.

Wow!! I took so much from this novel. I have a new appreciation for the animals that provide us food, the farmers that work endlessly to supply our goods, the goodness within people, and the importance of striving to attain your purpose in life. I only wish I had something I was so passionate about. You can feel the author's passion for farming and connecting with nature throughout the book. I saved several quotes from the book in my kindle and I have been sharing them with everyone. I found her book informative, enlightening, and raw. I was worried I may lose interest because I did not know much about farming lingo or farm life in general, but I found her vivid descriptions of farm life very interesting and I felt as though I were right beside her experiencing those same events. I am the furthest thing from a farmer, but I do live in NYC and I related to Kristen's feelings about NYC and often desire a different life for myself. Kristin had the courage to embark on a journey that involved many risks and could have ended badly, but when you have the will and passion, you can achieve your dreams and come out a shining star! It helps to have a husband that strives for the same outcomes like Mark did. Now, I can not wait to visit this farm and these lovely people if they will have me!!

Ms.Kimball is an intelliegent woman and a wonderful writer. I finished the book in 2 sittings. She writes of a chance meeting with her future husband, while researching the organic food movement for a magazine article. Mark is the perfect ying to her yang. He is smart, interesting and driven to make his dream of a CSA farm a reality. Ms Kimball is forced to look at life from his perspective and to her credit adds her own dimension to it. She shares their tale of the hardships and joys and basic everyday life in creating a farm, so you can truly imagine each animal to join them, their love for them and the reality that they are meant to feed us. The hardship of farming on a small level, with hroses, vs machine. The kindness of a small town to help them and the struggle she goes thru to know she truly loves Mark and their life together. I can only hope she cares a small tape recorder with her while milking the cows, feeding the pigs, creating a new wonderful dish to eat, or raising teir daughter, for a follow up book on life.

I grew up in an agricultural community. My family owned a cotton farm they rented out to farmers each season, but I never lived on the farm. As a young girl I did raise ducks and chickens, but in a pen in town. I’ve always held a romantic vision of someday actually living on a farm, having a garden, maybe some horses and chickens. So it was with this idyllic vision of farming that I eagerly read Kristin Kimball’s The Dirty Life, a memoir about establishing a “whole foods” farm with her husband. I learned so much from this book: about farming and about life. There is so much WORK involved in farming and so much RESPONSIBILITY for living things. As Kristin shows us, there are just some things that can’t be put off until tomorrow…like milking the cow despite a heavy snowstorm or planting potatoes during the night in anticipation of a coming rain. Kristin and Mark developed strong working relationships with the animals on their farm and dealt with most every possible situation. Their first milk cow was attacked by dogs, they lost baby turkeys to a weasel, and they had to put their trusted draft horse, Silver, down when he broke his leg. Kristin realized she was truly becoming a farmer when she became less emotional about loss…of an animal or a crop… to death of all kinds. She learned that death is just the other side of life. I was impressed with the determination and work it took to keep weeds out of the vegetable gardens without using pesticides of any kind. I will never choose an organic vegetable over a conventionally raised one without thinking of all the work it takes to make that healthy difference in what we choose to eat. My husband did grow up on a cotton farm, and I have heard him say that farming, simply put, was optimism, turned to despair, turned to prayer. This seems to complement Kristin’s view of agriculture: Farmers toil. Nature laughs. Farmers weep. I realize that my romantic vision of a farm was far from the real thing. I’ve learned what I yearned for was basically a house in the country, with a garden and some pets. Mark and Kristin have truly earned the title of Farmer. I have such admiration and respect for them and for how they have gone about achieving their dream of providing whole food for their family and their community. I loved this memoir.

I have longed for, and not found, many modern biographical books out there about women who farm. I was excited to find this memoir, and enjoyed it, but despite the talented writing, I felt a lack of connection to the author and the people she includes in her story. I wanted to love this book, but found myself disappointed by the lack of deeper characterizations and motives revealed. Many of the author's actions, large and small, are described, but go unexamined and unexplained. I wanted a 'new best friend' in this book, but I found the author oddly emotionally unavailable, offering what felt to me like detached, generic platitudes for unique descriptions (however beautifully phrased), instead of deeply personal truths. On the other hand, I enjoyed the 'shop talk' of farming that the book offered. Much of what she describes, and describes well, will be very familiar to people who have worked on a small scale organic farming operation. I found myself laughing and sighing at what was very recognizable. Occasionally a detail is thrown into the story that to me didn't quite resonate with the rest of the character of the book - a few of her musings and memories felt gratuitous, undeveloped, or incongruous with what I found relatable about the author. Perhaps this was in part because of the 'one year' format of the book, edited for space. I would have appreciated fewer lovely vignettes in exchange for deeper reflection on the inevitable, sometimes heartbreaking compromises and conflicts that farming can push one up against. There certainly are enough how-to books out there. At times the author's voice veers from humility to a sort of eco-pious braggadocio -- that inconsistency makes me think she hadn't quite found her comfort zone within the diverse roles that small scale family farming places one in. But it is her story, and she does tell it for the most part in a self-deprecating tone that I enjoyed. It's a fun look at her transition from city to country. I certainly respect all of the skills she managed to gain in one short year, and the time it took her to write the book while trying to raise a small child and continue to run her farm. Never having tried to put my own experience down in a book - it's easy to be a critic. And when you run a farm -- it can be like living in a fishbowl, so perhaps the emotional omissions are deliberate. Definitely worth reading!

Well written, informative and entertaining. Lots of intriguing details.

Learnt a lot about farming!! Very good read!

I enjoyed reading this book and its realistic, openness and honesty into the reality of living a "simplier" life and how you dream it is. It had me laughing, crying, inspired, motivated, cheering on and wishing for a happy ending. A lovely book to inspire and motivate following your heart's push to live a life that sings and opens your soul with a realistic glimpse of keeping going and having a good partnership in life and love to keep going through the ups and downs, with lots of ups to keep you going during the downs.

Wow! She came from a relatively life as a journalist in NewYork to fall in love with a madman and finds herself suddenly submerged in dirty farm work without any , and I mean any, comfort except the strong (and smelly) arms of her lover. Geeeeze, even after they succeed in the end, work, work, work. I got to love my small garden with my homegrown vegetables and shall never ever again complain about weeding. Was a fun read, that makes you appreciate your own life :-)

The book is page turner for the first section. But the farming details have less to do with (organic) farming and more with how to butcher an animal or kill a bird. Maybe that's how life is on farms and ranches but I could not read those details and had to skip many pages...