It is a pleasant sight to see horses in lieu of heavy machinery for my environmentally aware eyes. Essex Farm is unique in that it uses draft horses to power the field machines. Draft Horse Farming Draft horses at Essex Farm (Image courtesy of Essex Farm)ĭriving through the Champlain Valley during the summer I am bound to see farmers cutting or baling hay with trucks and tractors, and if not I will see the finished bales of hay sitting in the fields. At different points in a farm’s life, produce and husbandry may change as time and trials pass by, but there is generally a specialized or restricted focus at any given time to maximize efficiency at the cost of diversity.

Typical farms that I have observed in our regions of the Adirondacks produce hay, corn, apples, milk, and/or eggs as their main product and usually a smattering of vegetables to sell at a stand or the local stores. Although the CSA model is still relatively new to the North Country, farming is intrinsically woven into our local culture and history. Kimball gives the reader a view into life on a farm including the hardships and the joys. And while I have never lived or worked on a farm, Kimball’s agricultural drama is familiar.

It portrays a picturesque lifestyle in a small rural Adirondack village, and it captures the unconventional and often quirky character of our Champlain Valley community. The Dirty Life is quintessentially an Essex creation. Running since 2003, it’s going strong and increasing in both members and output. But the CSA at Essex Farm has demonstrated far greater endurance. I only went there for a tree once or twice because that venture was short lived.

I remember visiting it with my mother, and my clearest memory there is watching my feet as we walked around on the farm to pick out a tree. The Dirty Life, by Kristin KimballĪt one point in my childhood Essex Farm was briefly a Christmas tree farm. The Dirty Life is a memoir about Kristin Kimball’s transition from an urban life and career in New York City to launching a bootstrap CSA ( Community Supported Agriculture) farm in rural Essex, New York with her then soon-to-be husband, Mark Gunther.

Essex, New York Architecture: A Doodler’s Field Guide.

Pok-O-MacCready Outdoor Education Center.

The dirty life by kristin kimball