Growing a Farmer: Final Thoughts

Although I did not enjoy the second half of the book as much as the first, I still really liked Growing a Farmer. I think one of the reasons why I didn't appreciate the second part of the book as much was the fact that Timmermeister's writing became repetitive. The first couple of "how to" chapters were fine, but when they carried over into most of the second part of the book as well it just became too much. At times, I found myself skipping a paragraph or two just to get through those parts as quickly as possible, and that is not something I do very often. And as opposed to many in our class who thought the "The Slaughter" and "Butchering" chapters were disgusting and repulsive, I rather thought they were just plain boring.

I am really glad that I stuck with the book until the end however, because the final chapter was great and definitely worth waiting for. Maybe the fact that I was sipping on my second glass of red wine at this point had something to do with it, but nonetheless, I really liked the chapter. In this chapter, he went back to what had initially pull me in---those personal reflections that explore his deep appreciation for the little things in life. Timmermeister expresses his respect for the animals that graze his land and provide him and his guests with food at the end of the day. He also takes a moment to appreciate the traditions and food conservation techniques of past generations, which have provided us with the delicious recipes that we take for granted today. Lastly, I want to finish off by saying that I really think that Timmermeister has a great attitude and approach towards life, and I applaud him for his success in building up his farm over the past decades and learning to live off the land.

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