The book “The Dirty Life” arrived at my door as an anonymous gift. Whoever sent it knows me well because once I started reading I couldn’t stop. It’s the story of a couple’s first year attempting to provide a full diet, year round CSA in upstate NY. Yes you heard me right; in their first year farming, this couple set out to produce meat, eggs, milk, cheese, maple syrup, grains and veggies ALL year! Not to mention they were doing this on an abandoned farm with limited infrastructure and using draft horses instead of tractors. Are you in a state of disbelief too? I was convinced that they would fail, and if not, I wanted to know how they managed to pull it off.

It turns out they succeed by working themselves like “maniacs” as the author (Kristen Kimball) puts it. They woke up at 3:45 every morning to milk the cows and finish farm chores before the sun rose. The end of the day didn’t come until 9pm when it was dark enough for the hens to be closed in their cage to roost. That’s a 17 hour work day, 7 days a week! What makes the book particularly fascinating is the author’s background; she was a NY city travel writer who had never farmed before. Not surprisingly, she questions her new life (and new partner) through out the book. Fears of endless work and poverty haunt her. In fact, after a year of farming (and immediately after her wedding) she leaves the farm to take a travel writing gig on Hawaii possibly never to return.

What resonates with me the most is the moment she accepted her exhausting “dirty life” and decided to return to the farm. On Hawaii she meets a CSA farmer whose idea of farming is more of a relaxing stroll through the garden than actual work. In watching him contemplate each harvested leaf, she realizes that the hard work at her farm provided meaning to her life.

I relate to this realization immensely.  Everyone who has ever spent time farming with me might also describe me as a maniac. I believe that working quickly and efficiently is the only way to succeed when farming dozens of different species without the use of tractors or chemicals. I have yet to find someone who equals my “enthusiasm” for the infinite tasks and if I ever do, they’re hired! There are just too many chores to take the time to stop and smell the roses. I do have daily moments of bliss; it’s inevitable when you farm in this location. It may be watching a raptor fly overhead or realizing a crop is growing to its fullest potential. But the majority of the time I rush through each chore and quickly move on to the next.

There does seem to be a light at the end of the frantic farmer tunnel. In future years, the author of “The Dirty Life” finds the time to have children and the money to hire workers (and pay them health insurance). Maybe this frenzy is just part of the initiation process, a farm’s way of hazing the farmer to see if he or she is worthy. I do think one thing is certain: to be successful farming you must not only be capable of the hard work, you must also love it.