The Dirty Life

I just finished reading The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball. This is a non-fiction book about a Manhattan travel writer who gets sent to interview an organic farmer and falls in love. The book details her transition from city girl to farmer. This is a very interesting look at the back-breaking life of a small scale farmer, and what we take for granted when we purchase our food. I was very amused when Ms. Kimball talks about receiving seed catalogs during the cold winter months:

"Mark and I had spent evenings poring over the seed catalogs that had arrived during the darkest week of winter, piling up next to the bed like farmer porn. I decided the glossy Johnny's catalog, with its four-color spreads of air-brushed produce, was aimed at farmers who are visually stimulated, while the scrappy Fedco catalog, just newsprint and line drawings but with gorgeous descriptions, was aimed at people like me, who get off on words."

I read this at the perfect time because I also have just received my stash of seed catalogs and the Fedco catalog definitely rules!