Good Husbandry: Growing Food, Love, and Family on Essex Farm by Kristin Kimball

Years ago, when The Dirty Life came out, I was curious & as a result, read a good amount of the reviews available at the time. I was already farming organically at this point having gone from dreaming about it, reading books that glamorized it, then having a hobby farm while working full time, to finally full time farm ownership. Some of the reviews of The Dirty Life made me decide against the book. They made it seem like another fantasy farming book rather than the real deal. A spoiled princess, with loads of money decides to "rough it". I gave it a firm pass & never thought of it again until I came across this book, 'Good Husbandry'.

What really caught my attention was the books description. This was the after. This was the hardships. This was what happened after the rose colored glasses came off, or so I thought based on my limited to 0 knowledge about the first book. I immediately ordered this book & called my local library so I could read The Dirty Life first.

I don't want to turn this book review into one about The Dirty Life So all I'm going to do is stress to you just how much I fell instantly in love with The Dirty Life. It was nothing like I'd expected. It has touched me in a way that no other book on farming has ever done. Finally, something real. No rose colored glasses. No Mary Jane's Farm. Just the real dirt on what it is to farm naturally. It touched me deeply & has stayed with me ever since.

Now onto Good Husbandry. This book didn't touch me like the first book, but it is still a great book in it's own right. Good enough in fact that I also purchased the audio version & have read this book more than once.

As the title states, it is mostly about caring for the various animals on the farm. As Kristin discusses this, she gently discusses how hard farming is on a marriage. There are so many passages in this book that I'd love to quote, but really, there are too many, much too many for me to pick any one quote. One I remember is when she mentions a farming relationship, I believe she said something along the lines of how farming can end in divorce. Towards the end of the book a farmer friends barn burned down. Kristen says how she burst into tears. Not for the building but for the loss of all of the work that went into it. That sums up farming as a whole. You put in endless amounts of backbreaking labor & it can all be wiped out in an instant. A total loss. It can destroy your hope, your faith in what you do, or you pick yourself up, learn from it, & try again.

I don't know many people who can relate to my way of life as an organic farmer. I don't use tractors, I don't till, I don't use the endless amounts of "stuff" that is applied to the land. On top of that, hardly anyone seems to farm anymore. It is shocking & disheartening to see how year after year, people are become more removed from their food rather than closer. I would have expected closer with the local farm movement in full swing, but somehow, it's just not the case. In too many situations farmers are villainized. I'm sure this is in part to factory "farming", but what about the rest of us? The real farmers? We work hard, we do it because we love it. We do it because we love the outdoors, the land, the animals, eating the best food ever. Read both of Kristen's books, you'll see how hard it is & why it is the best life ever.

To sum it up, Kristen manages to show both the beauty & the misery of farming. She is my hero.

The Dirty Life: A Memoir Of Food, Farming, And Love by Kristin Kimball

When I first came across this book, I thought it might be interesting. I was looking for books about small farms whose owners choose to do it the old fashioned way. I didn't need to read another farm porn book with pretty pictures that set up the armchair farmer to believe that farming is really as simple as poking a seed in the ground & then you eat. In a way, it is this simple if you pretend the labor involved in between doesn't exist.

As with anything that catches my interest, I look for reviews. At that time, the negative reviews painted a picture of exactly what I didn't want. A rich couple who know nothing try to start a farm, the language is obscene & the book is too whiny. After seeing several reviews along those lines I decided to give The Dirty Life a pass. What a mistake.

Several years later I came across a book titled Good Husbandry. It hadn't been reviewed yet. I noticed it was by the same author who's previous book, I'd given a firm pass. This time was different for me. Good Husbandry appeared to be years down the road after the rose colored glasses came off - or so I imagined having never read the first book. Now this had my interest. How did this woman & her husband fare after all these years? I immediately put in a request for the book & also immediately contacted my wonderful local library to see if they carried The Dirty Life. I picked it up that day. I wanted to read it first so I would have a better understanding of the story behind Good Husbandry.

In my humble opinion, The Dirty Life is the best non fiction book ever! I have never read another person's accounting on farming that I have connected with so deeply. This book is raw & dirty. Kristin was a New York City thirty something writer. She dated but not seriously & didn't feel connected, but loved her apartment & her life. Or did she?

The beginning of the book she introduces the reader to how she ended up where she is now & we can blame it all on a man. In this story, that man is Mark. Kristen wanted to explore the budding local food movement & found a farm she wanted to interview. Her brief time at this farm & with Mark left her craving more. She wasn't sure exactly what she wanted, just that something was missing. Kristen & Mark start to date. Eventually Mark convinces her that they should marry & have a local environmentally responsible farm that provides a full diet. A full diet meant not just your typical vegetables, but also grains, milk, butter, cheese, meats, eggs & sugar (in this case, maple syrup). To their knowledge, this had never been done before.

There relationship was very rocky but something must have clicked with them because through it all, they stuck it out. Eventually they found Essex Farm. This was a huge bit of land that hadn't been farmed in ages. It had many outbuildings in disrepair & a variety of fields & pastures as well as a very old farmhouse that needed some serious TLC.

They put everything they had in their dream of a full diet farm. Everyone thought they would fail. After all, who makes money farming? For them, it wasn't just about making money though. It was about creating something local that would be of benefit to the locals. They wanted to produce real wholesome food that didn't come neatly wrapped & placed on shelves in florescent lighted stores from... well who really knows? They wanted real.

The purchased draft horses to plow the fields, Jersey dairy cows for the best milk you could ever hope to drink, pigs, chickens, sugaring supplies (to make maple syrup), & Scottish Highland cattle for meat, & plenty of seeds.

The picture Kristen paints of their adventure into farming is both beautiful & disturbing. For myself, I find it incredibly easy to relate to both. While my farm is nothing like Essex Farm, it is also exactly the same. I'm not providing a full diet CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), raising pigs, tapping maples, beef cattle or working with my husband. Nor do I have hundreds of acres. But it doesn't matter. It's the heart of it that matters. It's the land. It gets into you & it doesn't let go. Going out into "civilization" is jarring. Everything is so clean, people are dressed so nicely. It's like an entirely different world. Farming is dirty, sweaty, labor intensive & sometimes heartbreaking. Farming is also rewarding, addictive, & beautiful. Plus, you eat the healthiest freshest foods. Farmers get to eat like kings.

I was (am) so smitten with this book, that after reading the borrowed library edition, I found a signed copy on Amazon & purchased it. I also got the audio book version. I begged my husband to listen to it on audio & he did. He liked the book, but it didn't resonate with him like it does with me. Perhaps this is because he's a part time farmer. Perhaps because it's from a woman's point of view. Maybe a little of both?

The world needs more authors like Kristen to show what farming really is like in all it's beauty & struggles.

Arkansas green cotton is a rather interesting cotton to grow. This cotton has the longest growing season of all the organic heirloom cottons I've grown so far - 135 days. It is also the first time in all my history of growing cotton that I've had a one hundred percent germination rate (see resources for my suppliers). Needless to say, I've had huge Arkansas Green cotton crops. Note to self, stop starting so many seeds!

In an attempt to reduce my need to hand water & weed, I decided to try weed barrier cloth for the first time. This plan worked beautifully for about the first month. After that, the cloths began to break down. Some areas broke down more quickly than others, while some actually did the job all the way until the end although they ended up very brittle. None of the cloths blocked 100% of the light, so weeds did manage to grow, but not like they would have if the soil was left uncovered. They didn't help with moisture retention as much as I'd hoped, but they did work well enough that I only had to water well & daily the initial first two weeks after transplanting. The types of weed barrier cloth I experimented with were all locally purchased. One was a black plastic type from Walmart (apologies, I do not remember the brand), the other two were more of a black type of fabric. They were from Lowe's. One of the Lowe's brand cloths was much larger. I used it to cover the compost pile over the summer & to cover a section where I had zucchini planted. It let in an incredible amount of light considering I doubled it up. The more narrow fabric cloth (Sta-Green Premium Landscape Fabric) did a better job but broke down the most quickly out of all three types. I'm currently experimenting with a different brand that I ordered for garlic. It is a 12 year fabric by Dewitt. So far it is holding up.

The immature plants tend to host a generous amount of aphids with their happy ant farmers keeping them well cared for. To deal with the aphids, I use natural & organic neem oil by Neem Aura. I rub the thick oil on the plants spindly stems & on the leaves, crushing aphids in the process. When I'm done I stink like neem, but it's worth it as it helps to keep the ants off the plants (bugs hate neem) & thereby the ants aren't farming the aphids for their sweet nectar. Once the plants are established I do not concern myself further with aphids. The plants do get them, but it isn't anything that has ever caused a problem with any of my cotton harvests so far.

In my experience, organic heirloom cotton needs to be staked. To be fair I've never grown conventional cotton or cotton that wasn't heirloom so I cannot compare heirloom to conventional. No cotton has been more in need of a good staking than Arkansas Green. Even at a young stage, the littlest breeze comes along & these plants are determined to lie flat. Initially I used my usual bamboo stakes to hold them up. This worked well enough while they were still relatively small. By mid summer, they needed actual fence stakes to keep them upright. Once they were all properly re-staked, the problems aren't over. The plants also tend to loose their limbs. I don't know if it's simply due to my growing area or if this is common for this cotton no matter where it is grown. Should you choose to grow this cotton, it's best to err on the safe side & invest in strong, high quality fence stakes rather than traditional garden stakes.

Towards the end of a growing season, one half of my Arkansas Green cotton crop looked like a tornado touched down. Clearly, there were differences in light & soil compared to the other area as it didn't look like this. The "tornado" section grew much larger, easily reaching it's 7' foot height. It also had much more dense growth. The normal side didn't grow as tall, had less breakage, was less dense, and the bolls matured sooner. The space between the two growing areas was maybe 20' feet apart at most, so this noticeable difference was rather remarkable.

One sunny afternoon while I was working in the cotton I suddenly noticed the weed cloth lifting up & the young cotton plants getting whipped around. I stopped working & stood open mouthed as I watched a wind funnel tear through my young crop, travel across the pasture to whip about my peach trees, then pass on to my neighbors to shake the leaves of one of their trees. From that point on, I could no longer track the destructive little wind storm. In the aftermath I was left with shredded weed barrier fabric & the loss of some leaves, but no other damage. The juvenile cotton plants were all staked up with their garden stakes & survived the storm. I did have to repair the cheap weed cloth, but thankfully, that was the worst of it. If I hadn't staked up the plants, a lot of them would have been laid flat. If I hadn't been out working at that moment, I would have been very confused to find the area torn apart. The day was sunny & clear, there wasn't much of a breeze to speak of. The wind funnel that tore through didn't even ruffle my long hair as it made its journey.

Like the plants before it, the flowers are very attractive to the bees. At one point, I was stunned to find a worker bee so loaded with pollen, she could barely move! Tomorrow is another day my girl, tomorrow is another day! Advice we all need to remember when times get crazy & you just cannot get enough accomplished in the day. Arkansas Green loves to keep me on my toes. That is the beauty of farming, you always learn something new.

Growing Guide

Cotton is an annual plant that requires a long, warm growing season to mature properly. It needs full sun. In zones 8–10 it can be sown directly after the last frost. In zones 5–7, treat like tomatoes, start seed indoors and transplant out 4–8 week-old seedlings after last frost. Seed germinates in 7–21 days at 70°F. Plant 20–32" inches apart in rows 6' feet apart. Plants start flowering in mid-summer. Bolls take a few more months to mature; warm late summer weather is necessary for a good crop. Plants grow to 5-7' feet tall.

135 days.

Direct Sowing: Sow seed in a light, well drained, slightly acid to neutral soil. Supply soil generously with compost or other organic matter, especially in clay. Sow no deeper than 2 - 4 times the seed diameter. Do not sow in waterlogged soil or heavy clay.

Transplanting: Use a good quality sterile seed starting mix. Sow pots or flats 4 - 8 weeks before transplanting. When several leaves have developed, harden off the seedlings by placing them outdoors in direct sunlight for no more than an hour. Gradually increase the outdoor exposure over a period of several days. Transplant to the garden after the last frost.

Harvest: Wait for bolls to split open before harvesting.

Seed Savers: Isolate varieties by 1/8 mile for home use, or 1/4 to 1/2 mile or greater for pure seed.

A few considerations: This is a long season (135 days) crop. Arkansas Green produces green cotton with short fibers & dark green seeds. I have noticed that the green color can be rather rich or faded to a brownish green. If it is not harvested quickly after the bolls have open, the green color will fade to a lighter brownish green. To help reduce fading, keep out of direct sunlight. Wash in cold water and use vinegar rather than fabric softener in the fabric softener dispenser of your washer (fabric softener is traditionally loaded with toxic chemicals, so you are better off without it. You can use happily use vinegar in it's place for all of your laundry). Alternately, you can also try adding a half cup of salt to the wash water. Overall, green lint is more prone to fading & fades faster than the brown lint. I have also found it to be one of the harder lints to hand gin. Sea Island Brown being the most easy.