I had never heard of Julia Rothman or her latest book Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life
I enjoyed reading her story of expanding her knowledge base from city to farm folk. How her and her husband got back to his roots while visiting his family’s farm in Tabor, Iowa (I live in Ames, Iowa btw, Just saying Julia, next time you roll into the midwest we should hang out)…. annnnyway. She set about gathering up and illustrating all the things she learned about farming.
Like the different types of equipment. Little known fact, my Dad (the best dad), works for John Deere and spent many of those years building machines just like those illustrated above.
She also shares all kinds of interesting tidbits like what “a cord” is (firewood stack of a certain size). OR how to properly stack a pile of wood. This was honestly really useful for me since Jason and I got all lumberjack and cut down some trees this summer… that are still waiting to be stacked into nice piles just like these. We probably have a cord worth. Ha, I just learned that.
There’s also some classic Iowa Farm recipes, like freezer dill pickles. Yum! I just made some of these this month with my small garden harvest of 3 cucumbers.
And she even goes into some interesting facts about animals. Like parts of beef and pork. Oddly enough Jason and I just got a quarter cow and a half pig of organic beef from our friend’s father-in-law.
And the different kinds of rabbits you can raise for meat and fur.
Or the types of flowers you can grow for their prettiness and your plate.
And towards the ends of the book she moves indoors and shows you fun things like cheese making.
Better still, it’s all illustrated in her clear, fun style. And, Storey’s also offered up a second copy for a giveaway (because there’s no way I’m giving away MY copy, ha!). One lucky reader will get a copy of this great book in their hot little hands. Everyone else can buy it from Amazon here
Happy Crafting (and farming!),
Kristin M Roach
Wow, this looks really interesting – I love the idea of this. . I was bought up on various farms in New Zealand (My Dad worked for John Deere at one stage as well). My favourite memories were getting the Dairy cows in for milking in the morning and then riding our horses to school. They had a ‘pony paddock’ as school and there were probably a dozen or so of us who rode to school. Happy days (although trying to catch the ponies after school used to be a bit difficult as they all used to gather together and play up! I also used to love helping Mum make cottage cheese and butter (much nicer than store bought)
Oh my goodness, I love this book! I really do (: And what is my fave thing about farming…? I would say the overall wholesomeness of a simple, country existense & the beauty of self-sustainability. We just moved to a country spot and have been taking the brave steps toward starting a small farm of our own ~ so far we have a large garden, a few chickens, two horses and a goat, and my husband has been busy cutting all our winter wood. All of this done in less than a year! Did I mention that I really hope to win this book?! (-; Thank you so much for the giveaway!
Bless her heart! I live on a dairy farm and NEED this to pass around to friends who are NOT farm savvy…what a great great book and the illos are just peachy. My favorite farm thing is my three farmers…husband and two boys…they are messy, dirty, hardworking, kind, generous and honest….I always say I live in a crop circle of craziness and it’s true, but I wouldn’t trade it…would LOVE a copy of this book!
This is awesome. My husband and I are gearing up to move out to the country and we’ll be helping out with his family’s garden and orchard and we’re planning to have chickens, goats and maybe sheep. I love the slower pace of life on a farm – not that it’s less work. I like the idea of being able to take the time to do things right.
What an awesome giveaway! Thank you for hosting it; this book looks so dreamy. My favorite think about farming currently is researching goats; I’m planning on getting two or three in the next year and can. not. wait.
This book looks awesome! Thanks for your in-depth review. I read about this book on a couple of other websites but I didn’t realize it had so much useful information and recipes!
My favorite farm thing is wool from sheep, since I am a knitter and spinner.
gorgeous book! thank you for hosting the giveaway. my favouite thing about farming is watching things grow :D
This book is on my wish list! What a great book to give away!
My favorite farm thing…er, event….is trying to figure out how to drive down farm roads when cattle are in the way. Cattle just don’t move unless they want to. I loved running out in the country as a teenager, but the cattle scared me to death.
My favorite farm thing is consuming the things you grow!
I grew up on a dairy farm and when I left for college swore I’d never have anything to do with farming again. Well you know how that turned out! I love the rhythm of the seasons and the work that goes with it. At the moment I’m a bit overwhelmed, but loving all of the gardeny goodness that is being put up for the coming winter.
I have a small backyard flock of chickens and I love everything about them ! We also volunteer at a local farm and I was able to foster a baby goat…Oh, my goodness, I love baby goats and one day hope to raise Nigerian Dwarf Goats. But, my absolute FAVORITE thing about farm life are the smells…the smell of a baby goat’s fur, the smell of fresh tilled soil, the smell of fresh cheese, the smell of fresh veggies picked right off the vine, and yes, the smell of manure which I lovingly refer to as ” Cow Smell” !!! Thanks for such a wonderful book !!!
My favorite farm-thing is our farmhands! In the interest of full disclosure, we can’t actually afford to hire farm hands, so I had to give birth to them. ;)
My favorite farm thing is my memories of my grandmother’s farm (no longer there) – things like helping her snap massive quantities of beans or walking through her orchard or watching my great-uncle make things on the big belt-driven machines in one of the barns or waking up early in the morning and hearing the mourning doves coo out in the west field or “planting” discarded seed potatoes and receiving a shoebox full of tiny potatoes from my grandmother in October. I loved it all!
oh, this book is amazing!
thank you for this opportunity :)
I live in the country, so I have a lot of favourite farm things, like… seeing in a clear way how seasons changes, fresh vegetables and fruits (so yummy), nature’s good smell, silence :)
I love making things by hand and knowing where the food and items I use come from.
Great giveaway! My favorite farm thing is the chicken coop. I dream of designs in my sleep.
My favorite farm things are lambs. They are so adorable when they scamper arond.
My favorite thing about farming is the pride of knowing you helped nurture and grow what is around you. I also really miss bottle feeding calves!