Good Husbandry

A Memoir

By: Kristin Kimball

Narrated by: Kristin Kimball

From the celebrated author of the beloved best seller 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 best-selling author of Ask Again, Yes).

©2019 Kristin Kimball (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

Beautiful

Kristin has a beautiful style; raw, heartbreaking, real and encouraging all at the same time

she's done it again! another awesome listen

loved it so much. she really found her legs & confidence in this book.

Honest and Inspiring

I live very close to Essex Farm and so this book touches the local part of my heart. It is also such an honest story. Kristin goes into detail about the self doubts of raising a family and being a good partner, all while running a labor of love business. The book covers so much... it's wonderful for the farmer and nature enthusiast and her descriptions are so on point. She puts everything out in the open and the vulnerability is really refreshing. This is a fantastic read.

Couldn't stop listening!

I loved every bit of it. listened to the whole thing in a day! Made me want to start my own farm, despite the hardships that were reflected upon. It touched the deeper part or my soul.

A beautiful story that will take your breath away.

Loved this book, couldn't put it down. I laughed, I cried and I thought deeply.

Raw, real and inspiring

This book took me the rest of the way after The Dirty Life. I am not a farmer, but I garden in a somewhat inhospitable place, my rocky thick forests. But the love of land and growing veg and meat are the things that make me sublimely happy and real struggles handled with grace and honesty encourage me. I thank the author for her transparency in sharing her beautiful, real life.

Therapeutic, Lovely, Met me right where I am

I needed to hear these words. As a Mom of 2 with greater losses trailing behind my heart, this realistic perspective of physical labor, sacrifice, deep passion for purpose & description of the grandeur of life on a farm was soothing to my soul. It left me feeling like I have company in my hard days of parenting, marriage and grief. Thank you, Kristin. Thanks for taking the time to narrate as well. Your voice is as soothing as your words.

LOVE LOVE LOVED IT !!

Having grown up in that area, the places Kristen talks so eloquently about are like home for me. Read her first book 2-3 times, then audio version, then listened to Good Husbandry. Wonderful narration, wonderful story so beautifully told.
PLEASE WRITE MORE KRISTEN !!

farming is so hard and rewarding, I feel great admiration for all farms

the word chapter at the beginning of every chapter sounded angry, everything else was wonderful

Gripping stories beautifully crafted.

Anyone who has ever farmed or homesteaded will be able to physically FEEL these stories. The writing is so vivid and Kristin’s narration is plainly honest and engaging, you almost don’t notice how you are being carried along on such finely crafted prose. I devoured both her books and recommend them...not enough stars to rate this book highly enough!!