Harvest: A Year in the Life of an Organic Farm

This book was fantastic! I really enjoyed this documentary-type book about a year in the life of an organic farm. It really put everything in perspective by way of the effort and time that is required to successfully, or unsuccessfully, operate a traditional farm.

Harvest describes the struggle of so many small family farms these days -- how to survive while hanging on to your ideals and the way of life you treasure. In gorgeous prose and stunning photographs, Nicola Smith and Geoff Hansen tell the story of a year in the life of a very special farm family. There is a wonderful sense of suspense to the story -- Smith makes excellent use of the life and death struggles that come with raising animals and food. Most highly recommended!

Then read this book. Not only does it provide a window into farming life and its relevance to all our lives but it is also a great read. It is well-conceived, artistically rendered and extremely well-written. Organic farming is the antidote to our toxic, super-sized culture and this book presents a realistic picture of what it means to be a modern-day farmer. If you are part of the food chain, this is a book you need to read.

Rarely do you find a combination like husband and wife team Geoff Hansen and Nicola Smith who can put out a book that is both beautiful and delightfully written. A boring account of farming this is not. This is a heartfelt story about a family's adventure. The pictures alone are worth buying the book, but the dramatic text makes this a superb package. How many of us have dreamed of chucking it all and going back to the farm? In this book you find out what that's like, how hard it is and what the various rewards are. It would make a great gift since the pictures and paper are such high quality that it could easily serve as a coffee table book.

While this is the story of one year in the life of one farm, it is really more than that. It is the story of how food gets grown and delivered to the table. Their Fat Rooster Farm is small, only twenty acres is operated organically and produces enough food to feed the family and to have a surplus to sell for admittedly subsistance income. The story begins with searching for a farm, buying it and learning to be a farmer. It was not an easy task, farming never is. And when you have regular off farm jobs, have never farmed before, and are starting out organically you learn from mistakes. Mistakes cost time, effort and money. But they made it. And when the year was past, the next year began and it continues.