Growing a Farmer: Part 2

Overall, I enjoyed reading Growing a Farmer. While it is not a very complex read, it did interest me and make me think. The concept of moving from the city out to a farm is thought and talked about theoretically, but rarely is it done successfully. Reading about this move was intriguing and although the writing was simple, I often found myself reading multiple chapters at a time to see what challenges Timmermeister would face and how he would learn from his mistakes to overcome them. Picking up something new is not easy and takes plenty of perseverance and commitment.

Timmermeister does a great job explaining his learning curve in the chapter "The Slaughter." When I buy meat or get a steak at a restaurant, rarely do I think about the process of actually slaughtering the animal. It was fascinating to me how Timmermeister dealt with this dilemma. Initially, he did what most would do, by avoiding it altogether and using the mobile slaughter system. Then, when a sow broke her leg, he asked his neighbor Larry to kill the animal, but proceeded to butcher the meat himself. From there, he was finally able to conduct the whole process himself and preferred a crowd around to believe that it was still acceptable. For me, this chapter and slaughter situation is a great example of Timmermeister's progression as a farmer and how he had to conquer tasks rarely even thought of in city life.