Leading the dirty life

Kristin Kimball's memoir The Dirty Life follows her from an apartment in Manhatten to the 500-acre Essex farm and the love affair (with a man, his food, and a dream) that led her from one to the other.

By Amanda Kimble-Evans

Kristin Kimball and her husband Mark run Essex Farm near Lake Champlain in New York. The incredibly diverse CSA is powered by draft horses and feeds over a hundred families a whole diet year round--from milk to meat to vegetables to grains and even sweeteners. But Kristin wasn't always a farmer. Kristin is a journalist by trade (she even wrote for the Rodale Institute back in 2004) and recently released her first book, The Dirty Life, documenting how this former city girl ended up slaughtering chickens and milking cows by hand. The Dirty Life is definitely a love story. But while the hook may be the romance that develops between Kristin and Mark (her crazy muse-farmer), the more captivating tale is that of a woman falling in love with real food, real work, and real dirt.

Tell me a little bit about how you found yourself farming.

I was living in New York City and had read Eric Scholsser’s book Fast Food Nation when it came out in 2001. I got very interested in the part of the food system that he wasn’t writing about; how small farmers are doing it. I started poking around the Hudson Valley, talking to farmers, and eventually met this tall, intelligent farmer in State College, PA who was running a vegetable CSA. I was there for an interview, but instead found myself hoeing his broccoli patch and slaughtering a pig. I simultaneously fell in love with the work of farming and him.

What inspired you to write this book?

I find writing and farming are two jobs that go extremely well together—the physical work of farming and the sedentary work of writing. I used to be travel writer and there is something about farming that has the same texture as the world of travel. Writing about farming is really about explaining a world that has become foreign to most people. I love writing about what we do.

Back in 2005 (the second year at Essex, I believe) you wrote, “There are about ten projects on the do-list that are just as time-sensitive right now, and just as important, and the weight of them on our minds keeps us working these days from five in the morning until ten at night. In ten years (if you're a pessimist) or two years (if you're an optimist), I know it won't be like this. We'll have an established rhythm, and all the machines will be in good repair, and we will have acquired all the tools we need to work efficiently, and perhaps have another hand, and we will certainly have a deeper understanding of this land and climate.” We’re six years out now. What is your rhythm like?

It’s great to remember how it felt back then! Well, we have five full time people working here and that changes everything. I have two children now and that changes everything. I’d say my days are just as full but more flexible than they use to be, and less driven by urgency. But we’ve also grown in many other ways. We have 140 members in our CSA and our herd is bigger. Last year we had 60 acres under cultivation. There is certainly no lack of things to do, but it is spread out among more hands. I’m less involved in the day-to-day work of the farm, which makes me a little sad. But I have a 3-year-old and a 3-month old that require time and attention, and they are just as rewarding.

What was the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a farmer and what was the key to overcoming that challenge?

The first year it was a tie. One challenge was surviving physically—getting my body used to the work was rough. I was sporty, but that doesn’t compare to the work of farming. And it is amazing that your body responds and builds itself up to where it needs to be. The other big challenge was holding it together financially. We were adamant about not taking on unnecessary debt so we were extra cheap about everything. If anything could be made to do without buying, we did. We skimped on things that would have made our lives easier, but it kept us out of debt and that was healthy.

How has the agricultural community changed over the last 10 years?

We’re just in our seventh season, so I haven’t been farming for 10 years yet, but there has  certainly been enormous change. We’ve seen a surge of young people interested in farming. When we started, everyone my age thought I was crazy. This year, we had 40 applicants for one position on the farm. And it is the same with the market for locally grown food. The town of Essex consists of about 700 people and we’ve got 140 CSA members. We were one of the first farms in the area that was direct marketing and now there are several.

What do you think about the competition? Do you think there is a ceiling to how many local farmers or how much local food an area can support?

Right now there really is room for everyone. People coming into the market might need to find a different angle, but farming is so scalable. And there is plenty of market to go around. The more farmers there are selling locally, the more it raises the awareness of eating locally. And every farm is slightly different. There is a farm to fit every eater.

The idea that farmers are a dying breed is thrown around a lot. What do you see as the biggest hope for farmers?

The idea that farms are dying has just not been my experience in the last several years. Maybe ten years ago you could have said that, but not now. If you go to any conference, they are just bursting at the seams with young vibrant farmers. Every small farmer that I have talked to has had a fantastic year.

Granted, conventional farmers still feed 95% of us, and if you’re in a medium-sized conventional dairy farmer right now, the world is real tough. But if you’re direct marketing and diversified, it is really hopeful out there.

What do you think is the most important thing for consumers to understand about where their food comes from?

Understanding the real cost of food. We live in a place and time where food costs less than it ever has. There are a lot of artificial props that hold up that system. People have gotten used to paying very little for their food. You have to look very closely to see the cost, and that is unfortunate.

Were there any organic pioneers that inspired you when you were starting out?

The first set of books I grabbed when I was eager to learn about what I was doing were Wendell Berry’s. And the whole generation of crazy homesteaders in the 70’s who dropped out to go back to the land—we wouldn’t be here without them. Our generation is more focused on maintaining a business out of it and sustaining it in the real world on a long term basis. But they were the early adopters. Mark’s parents left New York City right before he was born and starting growing food on a little piece of shale in the Catskills. I really believe that was the beginning of his path to becoming a farmer.

Who are some organic pioneers today you admire?

Anne and Eric Nordell are just artists of weed control. And we’re horse powered like they are. We’ve learned so much from them and been so inspired by them.

What is your opinion on organic versus local?

I’ve been surprised and dismayed by how local has trumped organic in the last few years. For the consumer, they are no long willing to pay the price point for local and organic. They think local is good enough. In the long run, that is not such a good thing. If you’re buying a local chicken, but there is a ton of conventional grain going into that chicken, then the small, organic grain farmers are going out of business. And many consumers see local and think organic.

Just to be clear, we’ve never felt the need to become certified. But we’ve never sprayed anything (organic or synthetic) on our fields, but compost. We only feed our animals what we’ve grown ourselves or is certified and local. Our members are very aware of what we do and our methods. We do occasionally use an antibiotic on our animals. When we have a sick animal, it is nice to have the freedom to do that, but in the last seven years, we’ve only done it five or six times. And we’re okay with not doing the extra paperwork!

What would you tell a new farmer interested in the CSA model?

Well, that’s tough. This is the only farm and the only model I know really well. But I can say a couple of things from a consumer’s perspective—from before I was a farmer. I had joined a CSA when I was still living in the city and for weeks all we got was purslane! That is a good way of putting people off CSAs in general. It is your responsibility to have really good training before you start. The last thing you want to do is disappoint people. In this model it is very personal.

What tool couldn’t you live without?

The garden cart. We didn’t have one our first year and we lost way too much energy moving things from here to there. A lot of farming is just hauling heavy things around!