Growing a Farmer Post #2

I am not a vegeterian given my love for dishes that contain meat. At the beginning of Growing a Farmer: How I Learned to Live Off the Land, I did not expect to change my approach and beliefs regarding the consumption of meat. I never thought about where my food originates from and how a nonhuman animal is killed simply to satisfy my desires. But after reading chapter twelve, “The Slaughter,” Kurt vividly describes the processes and techniques that he uses to slaughter nonhuman animals on his farm, which showed me the realities of the food industry and led me to reduce the amount of meat I eat.

"The throat will be slit, the blood collected" (Page 241). I found this quote to be eye-opening and it made me feel guilty because it illustrates how nonhuman animals sacrifice their lives to satisfy human appetite. I concluded that killing nonhuman animals to be morally impermissible given that they are sentient beings who can experience both pleasure and pain. This taught me to appreciate the value of life and changed how I think about meat-related products.

The most important lesson I learned from Kurt Timmermeister is to be perseverant in times of crisis. I truly respect the fact that Mr. Timmermeister would not let short-term obstacles influence his long-term vision of being a small-scale farmer. An example of where Kurt embraced adversity was when he sold vegetables that he had grown to the farmers market and a Community Supported Agriculture Group. Kurt took on a considerable level of risk because in his first year growing and selling vegetables he only generated $17,500 worth of revenue while the cost of operating his farm was approximately $20,000. This reflects Kurt's level of determination to pursuing his passion regardless of the challenges he was faced with while still considering himself to be a privileged individual for simply having the opportunity to pursue his dream as a small-scale farmer.

In my opinion, an admirable aspect of Kurt Timmermeister's approach to writing Growing a Farmer: How I Learned to Live Off the Land is the fact that he does not preach for people to become farmers. Mr. Timmermeister, a detail-driven storyteller, simply describes his journey as he evolved from an urban restaurateur to a small-scale farmer in a transparent and uncomplicated manner without judging other people who do not embrace his values or approach to life. I encourage soon-to-be-farmers to read this revealing and informative account of how an inexperienced urbanite gradually pursued his passion of becoming a successful farmer due to his curiousity to understand where the food he eats comes from.