The second half of Growing a Farmer is no longer about Kurt the urbanist or the underdog. In my opinion, it's about a farmer who understands the hardships as well as the pleasures of bringing good food to the table.
What was once a romanticized dream - leaving the city for a life on the farms - has now come true for Kurt. For the most part, I enjoyed the vivid imagery in his writing as it transported me back to simpler times. Yet, the pages on slaughtering and butchering were difficult to read because of Kurt's tendency to not leave out the details. In the chapter titled "The Slaughter," he shares his admiration for guns, takes pride in shooting pigs himself, and vividly explains maggots entering carcasses. In the chapter titled "Butchering", he talks about the importance of slitting the throat to drain out blood when killing goats. This level of detail was avoidable in my opinion, as it took away the curiosity and awe I once had for his profession.
In the last chapter of the book "The Table", Kurt finally appears to be content with the scale and variety of food at Kurtwood Farms. I was happy to read one sentence in particular that resonated with his initial goal of becoming more involved with food and nature: "I need to see the animal that will eventually be my inner. I want to pull the carrots from the soil the morning they will be cooked for the evening meal. The cream, the milk, the cheese, the butter that grace the dinner table come from a cow with a name familiar to me: Dinah, Boo, Lily." Timmermeister, Kurt. Growing a Farmer. Page 292-293.
What was once a romanticized dream - leaving the city for a life on the farms - has now come true for Kurt. For the most part, I enjoyed the vivid imagery in his writing as it transported me back to simpler times. Yet, the pages on slaughtering and butchering were difficult to read because of Kurt's tendency to not leave out the details. In the chapter titled "The Slaughter," he shares his admiration for guns, takes pride in shooting pigs himself, and vividly explains maggots entering carcasses. In the chapter titled "Butchering", he talks about the importance of slitting the throat to drain out blood when killing goats. This level of detail was avoidable in my opinion, as it took away the curiosity and awe I once had for his profession.In the last chapter of the book "The Table", Kurt finally appears to be content with the scale and variety of food at Kurtwood Farms. I was happy to read one sentence in particular that resonated with his initial goal of becoming more involved with food and nature: "I need to see the animal that will eventually be my inner. I want to pull the carrots from the soil the morning they will be cooked for the evening meal. The cream, the milk, the cheese, the butter that grace the dinner table come from a cow with a name familiar to me: Dinah, Boo, Lily." Timmermeister, Kurt. Growing a Farmer. Page 292-293.
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