Quotes from The Dirty Life

I read a book recently - The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball.  Sadly I missed the opportunity to hear Ms. Kimball do a reading from her book while we were at the NOFA-NY conference this year as I was still learning how to read the schedule of events and was overwhelmed with the options of things to do.  Anyway, I highly recommend the book.  For an extremely brief summary that does not do justice to the book here you go:  city girl meets farmer boy..they fall in love with each other..she falls in love with their farm.... 

Two quotes from the book really hit home to me and I wanted to share...

Quote 1:
In speaking of her then boyfriend, now husband:  "His love of food is what partially led him to farming.  The only way he'd be able to afford the quality food he craved, he said, was to become a banker or grow it himself, and he couldn't sit still long enough to be a banker."

I remember my dad saying to me once when I was younger that he couldn't see me as an account, he just couldn't picture me behind a desk all day.  Why hadn't I figured that part out long before now for myself?

Quote 2:
In speaking of her work on the farm:  "I was in love with the work, too, despite its over abundance.  The world had always seemed disturbingly chaotic to me, my choices to bewildering.  I was fundamentally happier, I found my focus on the ground.  For the first time, I could clearly see the connection between my actions and the consequences.  I knew why I was doing what I was doing and I believed in it.  I felt the gap between who I thought I was and how I behaved begin to close, growing slowly closer to authentic."

I just read this last quote over and over and am mesmerized by its honesty and reality and how much I want it to be true for myself.  I think back to my time as a volunteer at Poplar Ridge Farm (PRF).  That is where this passion I now have got it's kick start.  Thanks to Joe, JP, Kevin, Matt, Shawn and the rest of the crew at PRF I found my focus on the grown under the warm North Carolina sun.  Spending a day talking about nothing of importance (to the world I had come from), leaving educated on the mess that is the current US food system and feeling tired and fulfilled, knowing that for the first time in a long time I had actually done something that mattered.  Each week I volunteered 2 days, helping provide food to over 100 member shares for the week by cutting greens, picking blueberries, thinning carrots, weeding okra, tossing mellons, or whatever else was needed....  I did this for free.  I did this because I wanted to.  I did this because I needed to.

This last passage from the Dirty Life is my mission statement for this next phase of my life - I want to be authentic in what I do, I want to see the consequences of my actions, and I want them to be possitive for those around me.  Thank you Kristin Kimball for sharing with us!