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Good Husbandry

A Memoir

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Good Husbandry

Written by: Kristin Kimball
Narrated by: Kristin Kimball
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About this listen

 From the author of the beloved bestseller The Dirty Life, this “superb memoir chronicles the evolution of a farm, marriage, family, and her own personal identity with humor, insight, and candor” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) detailing life on Essex Farm—a 500-acre farm that produces food for a community of 250 people.

The Dirty Life chronicled Kimball’s move from New York City to 500 acres near Lake Champlain where she started a new farm with her partner, Mark. In Good Husbandry, she reveals what happened over the next five years at Essex Farm.

Farming has many ups and downs, and the middle years were hard for the Kimballs. Mark got injured, the weather turned against them, and the farm faced financial pressures. Meanwhile, they had two small children to care for. How does one traverse the terrain of a maturing marriage and the transition from being a couple to being a family? How will the farm survive? What does a family need in order to be happy?

Kristin chose Mark and farm life after having a good look around the world, with a fair understanding of what her choices meant. She knew she had traded the possibility of a steady paycheck, of wide open weekends and spontaneous vacations, for a life and work that was challenging but beautiful and fulfilling. So with grit and grace and a good sense of humor, she chose to dig in deeper.

Featuring some of the same local characters and cherished animals first introduced in The Dirty Life, (Jet the farm dog, Delia the dairy cow, and those hardworking draft horses), plus a colorful cast of aspiring first-generation farmers who work at Essex Farm to acquire the skills they need to start sustainable farms of their own, Good Husbandry “considers what it means to build a good, happy life, and how we are tested in that endeavor” (Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes). Environment Professionals & Academics Science Happiness Memoir Witty

What the critics say

"Toward the end of this eloquent audiobook, author and narrator Kimball describes the birth of a calf. Her rendering of this scene collapses time, and the event rings so true that the listener feels an intimate connection with the rural life that Kimball so sure-handedly details. Kimball has a pleasing voice and an expressive style that bring the listener into close contact with her farm in Essex, New York. She runs the farm with her larger-than-life husband, Mark. They plow with enormous horses, feed hundreds through their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), and act as mentors for young farmers who often go on to start their own horse-centered operations. Farm life is hard—and unpredictable. This back-to-the-land memoir enhances Kimball's reputation as a spokeswoman for the revival of rural life."
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I don’t have a huge farm like Kristin, but I have a homestead and two kids and felt like I could relate so much to this book, it almost felt like Kristin was in my head. Honest, so honest, about the challenges and beauty of the life she lives that it brings sanity to my life. Thank you

In my head

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I just love the overall story. The experience real life, nothing altered or changed the growth. And especially my favorite part is as even though people worked on their farm, they still allowed them such great friendship as they built their own farms.

great book

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