Growing a Farmer (Part 2)

In this post, I want to highlight some of the lecture notes I've noticed from Writing for Work while reading Growing a Farmer and comment on my favorite parts of the book. Overall, I think it was a great read and was different than what I would usually pick up.

In chapter 3 of Writing for Work, we learned about using effective examples. Timmermeister has a beautiful example where he compares getting bees into a hive with eating a chocolate bar. He describes exactly what he expects to see, smell, and feel when he unwraps his favorite chocolate bar, and compares it to releasing the bees. I could totally envision the whole bee release process! Additionally, in lecture we have talked several times about making your topic or point easy to find. Each of Timmermeister's chapter titles tell me exactly what I will be reading about and make the book easy to flip through. In chapter 15, the Cookhouse dinner menus are easy to find (and look really tasty). Timmermeister could have easily just listed them in a paragraph, but the format here makes me feel like I'm reading his actual menu. 

While reading "The Slaughter" chapter wasn't exactly pleasant, I wasn't as disturbed as some other classmates. Growing up in California, I can remember tons of road trips up and down the 5 freeway and always feeling bad for the livestock (mostly because of the way they are kept). Surprisingly, I think that Kurt's description of his farm and how he raises his animals lessened the slaughter blow for me. My favorite chapter was "Pigs." I just thought it was so genuinely written and made me feel different emotions. It was cute to hear the description of the piglets popping their heads out of the box in the back of Kurt's truck, sad to hear that the mamma pigs often sit on their babies, and funny to hear that Junior (the boar) got fat and was an unsuccessful breeder.

After living in Seattle this past summer, I can totally envision the type of markets farmers like Kurt participate in. Local markets are basically part of the pacific northwest culture. After reading this book, I will definitely spend more time exploring different markets and vendors when I move back to Seattle in August. 

Maybe I'm feeling a little sentimental and metaphorical with graduation right around the corner, but my favorite quote from the book reads, "I spent the years working here on one project or another, making decisions that felt right on a day-to-day basis. Only years later would I be able to walk out my front door and realize that my goal was a farm; that each day's decisions led up to a farm (25)."

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