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).
