Would you give up your career as a journalist in Manhattan to start a cooperative, self-sustaining farm with the man you love? That is what happened to Kristin Kimball, author of The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food and Love, this month's Reading Green selection.

 

It is a candid and poignant chronicle of Kimball and her new husband's journey to grow everything needed to feed a community on a 500 acre farm near Lake Champlain. It was an ambitious idea, a bit romantic, and it worked. Now, every Friday evening, all year round, a hundred people travel to Essex Farm to pick up their weekly share of the "whole diet"—beef, pork, chicken, milk, eggs, maple syrup, grains, flours, dried beans, herbs, fruits, and forty different vegetables—produced by the farm. The book is an irresistible read filled with vivid descriptions of landscape, food, cooking and marriage. 

 

You can read more about the author and an excerpt from the book here; then come join us for the discussion on August 18 or August 27.  You don't have to read the book to attend but you might certainly want to after the discussion.

 

Learn more about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Illinois here. To find CSAs in our local area click here.

 

How is your garden growing? Have so much produce that you could feed your whole neighborhood? Consider donating your extra fruits and vegetables to the Daily Herald’s Giving Garden program. Food pantry officials across the suburbs are seeing an increased demand, so they are relying on local gardeners to help out in providing nutritious fruits and vegetables to families struggling to make ends meet. Be a giving garden by dropping off your produce at one of these local sites. It’s a green idea that’s good for everyone.

 

Where’s your favorite place to get the best of summer’s bounty?  Let us know here or on our Facebook page.