Kurt Timmermeister’s Growing a Farmer is not quite the comprehensive manual to start a farm, but it definitely has everything you need to get hyped about starting one. From site selection to equipment preparation, from honey to dairy to vinegar, from bees to cows to apples, Kurt covers his ups and downs of his urban to farmer transition. We follow his hesitation and anticipation as he settles into the little farm he now calls home, and revel in his excitement as he finally drinks the first gulp of apple juice personally pressed from his homegrown apple tree. The book is full of interesting anecdotes about a city dweller, through research, trial and error, making it work in a little farm. Kurt was an established Seattle chef who grew tired of the disconnect between the land and the food that he serves and made the big decision to relocate to Vashon Island, creating Kurtwood Farms. Little by little, what started as just a personal garden grew on him, and his passion and confidence grew as he adds more and more variety of animals to his farm.
The book is a fun read, although a little scattered at times. Kurt never complicates things or event; he just tells it as it is. As a result, sometime the narration feels a little stale, as he describes almost every tree in his orchard, but his down-to-earth writing style with lots of descriptive and tangible action words reels readers back in. I enjoy that his emotion is so relatable; it is as if I am there to share his enthusiasm when he first learned how to milk a cow, and his internal turmoil when he had to slaughter one. It is a little bit of an escapist piece in that it celebrates the farmer lifestyle through stories, setbacks, contemplation and I love being a part of the ride. 
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