The Dirty Life

　　雞飛、狗跳、馬狂奔、人暴走的農場，讓初為農婦的她過得鮮活札實，像在泥土裡生了根，再也不捨得離開……

　　■本書是當今關鍵議題CSA（即「社區協力農業」，消費者知道手中食物的來歷，能夠認識農人、認識所吃的食物、甚至參與生產）最寫實又爆笑的真人實境記事，關注有機生活與飲食健康的讀者不可錯過。

　　■下鄉務農是恬靜浪漫還是純屬瘋狂？回歸自然的風潮正盛，這是了解有機、永續、在地綠生活真貌最需要的一本書，幫助讀者體會人與人、人與食物、人與土地的緊密連結。

　　三十多歲的單身女作家克婷住在繁華的紐約都會，有天她開了六個小時的車到小鎮農場採訪農夫馬克，這位渾身污泥的忙碌農夫不但讓穿著當季時裝的克婷捲起袖子鋤菜，竟還叫素食主義的她幫忙殺豬，這是怎麼回事？

　　兩個來自不同世界、個性南轅北轍的人因為這個機緣而相識、相戀。克婷與馬克決定移居小鎮，開設一個堅持有機農法、回歸馬匹犁田、鄰里互助耕作的CSA（Community Supported Agriculture，社區協力農業）農場。一一幕幕雞飛、狗跳、馬狂奔、人暴走的場景讓初為農婦的克婷好氣又好笑，卻死心塌地愛上這樣鮮活札實的每一天，像在泥土裡生了根似的，再也不捨得離開……

　　克婷與馬克創辦的愛瑟農場堅持有機天然的方式種植，由農人駕馬兒拉曳耕種，而非藉助電動曳引機，肥沃的土壤則來自堆肥。農場種的作物用來自食，且供給社區居民認購股份、每周取用，產品可能有牛肉、豬肉、雞肉、牛奶、蛋、楓糖漿、穀物、麵粉、乾豆、香草、水果和四十種不同的當季蔬菜，全部由農場生產。消費者能目睹、且參與食物化育過程，品味到原汁原味的美食。開農場這主意 聽來浪漫、卻有些冒險，經過一年努力，他倆竟然成功了！但中間發生過多少衝突，又有多少無厘頭的突發事件，還有多少難關要闖……

　　《我的耕食生活》是克婷與馬克在愛瑟農場第一年的感動記事，從北地的寒冬直到秋季的豐收，以他們在穀倉閣樓舉辦的爆笑婚禮作結，讓人捧腹之餘，克婷也誠摯分享在農耕中學到的人生功課，她說：「以前，我不了解什麼是婚姻、什麼是永恆的承諾，現在，我認為農耕是了解承諾最好的方式，就像結婚一樣，你種什麼、就會得到什麼，農耕和婚姻都需要很多心血和經營。如果你讓一塊地荒蕪，雜草會叢生、樹也會長出來，很快的地就荒廢了，我想婚姻也一樣需要用心照顧。」

　　過去清晨四點才回家，穿高跟鞋、拎著時尚包包的克婷，如今卻是清晨四點起床，穿工作服、拿工具刀。「就像你用耕作改變土地，」她說：「耕作也一樣會改變你。」就像兩人齊心將荒地化為遍野鮮蔬美果，《我的耕食生活》告訴讀者，永恆的愛情不需璀燦的鑽石或是昂貴的豪宅來見證，兩心相繫、協力灌溉田園，才能找到一生最渴望的契合與承諾，無論對自己、對伴侶、對這片土地，都能愛得那麼安穩踏實。

　　"This book is the story of the two love affairs that interrupted the trajectory of my life: one with farming—that dirty, concupiscent art—and the other with a complicated and exasperating farmer."

　　Single, thirty something, working as a writer in New York City, Kristin Kimball was living life as an adventure. But she was beginning to feel a sense of longing for a family and for home. When she interviewed a dynamic young farmer, her world changed. Kristin knew nothing about growing vegetables, let alone raising pigs and cattle and driving horses. But on an impulse, smitten, if not yet in love, she shed her city self and moved to five hundred acres near Lake Champlain to start a new farm with him. The Dirty Life is the captivating chronicle of their first year on Essex Farm, from the cold North Country winter through the following harvest season—complete with their wedding in the loft of the barn.

　　Kimball and her husband had a plan: to grow everything needed to feed a community. It was an ambitious idea, a bit romantic, and it worked. 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 work is done by draft horses instead of tractors, and the fertility comes from compost. Kimball’s vivid descriptions of landscape, food, cooking—and marriage—are irresistible.

　　"As much as you transform the land by farming," she writes, "farming transforms you." In her old life, Kimball would stay out until four a.m., wear heels, and carry a handbag. Now she wakes up at four, wears Carhartts, and carries a pocket knife. At Essex Farm, she discovers the wrenching pleasures of physical work, learns that good food is at the center of a good life, falls deeply in love, and finally finds the engagement and commitment she craved in the form of a man, a small town, and a beautiful piece of land

　　★本書中譯版《我的耕食生活：關於耕種、食物與愛情》由大塊文化出版。

作者簡介

克婷．津寶Kristin Kimball

　　是一位農人兼作家，定居紐約北部。哈佛大學畢業的她，尚未務農前從事自由寫作，曾是寫作老師，並於出版經紀公司擔任助手。自二○○三年起與她的先生馬克一同經營愛瑟農場。

　　Kristin Kimball is a farmer and a writer living in northern New York. Prior to farming, Kimball worked as a freelance writer, writing teacher, and as an assistant to a literary agent in New York City. A graduate of Harvard University, she and her husband Mark have run Essex Farm since 2003, where they live with their two daughters.