The Dirty Life is Kristin Kimball’s engaging memoir about falling in love with a traditionalist farmer and starting a farm from scratch with him in rural New York. It’s also a story of a personal evolution, as the author transitioned from city dweller to a skilled country farmer.

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I read The Dirty Life as part of the 2024 Thoughtful Reading Challenge. September’s challenge was to read a book that takes place on a farm in honor of the fall harvest. The Dirty Life gave me a renewed respect for the hard work and dedication that characterize small farmers.

Let’s begin with a quick The Dirty Life summary.

Kristin Kimball was a New York City-based writer who received an assignment that brought to a small farm in Pennsylvania. There, she met a young, energetic farmer named Mark, who was so busy with chores that he couldn’t sit still long enough to answer her questions. When she finally got to talk to him, she liked his vibe and decided to visit more often.

Mark is an interesting guy who is firmly committed to sustainable, organic farming and is skilled at cooking what he grows and the livestock he raises. He knows immediately that he wants to marry Kristin. They become engaged and decide to buy a farm in New York.

Farmland was scarce, but they finally found a rundown farm and began to clean the place up. They had a small budget but big ambitions. Their vision was to start a subscription service in which they would provide subscribers with all the food staples – milk, yogurt, eggs, beef, pork, and produce. Further complicating the plan was Mark’s determination to not use modern machinery – all the field work would be done with horses or by hand. (He also didn’t want to use electricity in their house, instead relying on a wood stove to keep them marginally warm during New York winters. That alone would have been a deal breaker for me!)

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I can only imagine how intimidating this must have been the author. Used to the convenience (and cleanliness!) of city life, she now found herself dealing with rat infestations and learning how to milk a very productive dairy cow. But she admirably threw herself into becoming an effective farmer.

Because they planned to provide meat, dairy, and produce to their customers, Kristin found herself doing tasks such as pulling weeds by hand (it’s an organic farm), tending to livestock, driving the horses to plow the fields, harvesting potatoes, and milking cows. Farmers are always on the clock, so she was often tired and dirty.

And she had a wedding to plan. Sheesh!

The surrounding community really helped them out by providing their extra equipment, advice, labor, and moral support. Mark and Kristin had little money to invest in their farm, so their neighbors and friends showing up to help with tasks such as a potato harvest made their start up farm viable in the crucial early years. In turn, Mark and Kristin provided their community with wholesome, organic food.

This sense of community was one of many things I liked about The Dirty Life. People working together and helping each other is a powerful force that makes even far-fetched goals possible. Starting a farm with so little money seems crazy to me, but Mark seems like the kind of guy who knew he and Kristin wouldn’t have to go it alone.

Which brings me to another thing I liked about The Dirty Life – making your dreams, no matter how wild they are, a reality. Mark had a single-minded focus on starting the kind of farm he envisioned despite understanding that there would be significant obstacles. And Kristin bought into his dream and helped make it a reality. It’s really a remarkable accomplishment!

The idea of growing and cooking my own food has always appealed to me. Grocery store vegetables can’t hold a candle to home grown or those produced on small farms. Plus, with vegetables you grow at home, you control the use of chemicals and know exactly what you’re consuming.

But, alas, I never had the discipline to maintain a vegetable garden (let alone a farm). Summer heat and swarms of mosquitoes are enough to make me cry uncle. People sometimes romanticize having a small farm and living off the land, but the reality is that it’s hard work, and some of that work is pretty gross. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone thinking about starting a farm. It tells the unvarnished truth about the good, the bad, and the ugly of farm life.

The Dirty Life isn’t just for would-be farmers. I think anyone who enjoys a good memoir and likes learning new things will enjoy The Dirty Life.

Did you read a book set on a farm? Please share!

**Reminder – October’s challenge is to read a book with a primary or secondary character who is blind.