Growing a Farmer: Post II

I enjoyed Growing a Farmer more than I expected I would. Kurt Timmermeister offers a narrative of a man who is transformed into a farmer through pursuing his life passion of cooking. Kurt initially worked at a restaurant in Seattle where frozen and packaged food was served. As he searched for a home outside the city, he found his twelve-acre plot with “room for animals and row crops and a woodlot” where he began to understand the relationships between food and its origin. We have strayed away from having a true connection to our food and that’s a sad idea. This is a story of a man that chose to pledge his life to only grow, prepare, and serve food from Kurtwood Farms to his customers. 

Kurt’s story and his journey to turn a job into a lifestyle is a fantasy many readers would dream of living. I would love to quit my job after graduation and pursue a career in music but that just seems unrealistic at this point. The novel offers commentary on ethics, animals, crops, and most importantly cheese-making. One of the main goals of the farm is to “make the farm a closed system.” This is an interesting idea and one that should make readers think as they most likely buy foods created in mass quantities. I hope local and organically grown foods continue to gain popularity after reading Growing a Farmer. Even though one of Kurt’s carrots may be “better, fresher, and tastier than those produced by commodity farmers” many consumers ignore thinking about from where their food is coming and instead choose the less expensive options sold in supermarkets. This story is not meant to convince readers to quit their day jobs, buy a farm, and start cooking for a living. Instead, Kurt Timmermeister’s simple wish is for readers to become more aware of where their food is coming from which is a reasonable request.