THE BUCOLIC PLAGUE: HOW TWO MANHATTANITES BECAME GENTLEMEN FARMERS

My dear friend Jenn got me a signed copy of THE BUCOLIC PLAGUE: HOW TWO MANHATTANITES BECAME GENTLEMEN FARMERS by Josh Kilmer-Purcell - she is a librarian at a school in Manhattan that, awesomely, brings in adult book authors to speak to their staff in the name of professional development.

Did you read ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE by Barbara Kingsolver?  Well, this is a grittier, yet slightly more fabulous, and gayer version of that book - all in a good way.  Like lots of people, I read THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA and thought how great it would be to leave my city life behind and live off the land. Hell, I still harbor fantasies of leaving New York and moving to a farm to make my own cheese and preserve my own vegetable harvest.  Luckily, there are books that remind me of the realities of such a plan:

1. ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE reminds me that it is really hard, back-breaking work to grow all your own food.
2. A PIG IN PROVENCE by Georgeanne Brennan reminds me that, by raising goats (or any living thing, for that matter), you face death and sickness regularly (there's a goat-birthing scene in that one I'll never, ever be able to get out of my head. Ever.).
3. THE BUCOLIC PLAGUE reminds me that buying a farm and working it could, quite possibly, put my marriage in jeopardy.

Kilmer-Purcell and his partner are successful Manhattanites who buy a farm in upstate New York on a whim and, basically, become weekend farmers.  It's exhausting and amazing to read about how they juggle their demanding corporate jobs in New York City, a fledgling entrepreneurial business, and the nitty-gritty responsibilities of running a farm on the weekends.  As you can imagine, it does begin to crack their 10-year relationship and the unraveling is sad and real.

What I appreciated about this book was the honesty and authenticity of Kilmer-Purcell's voice; at no point did I feel like he sugar-coated anything.  I felt like I got a real glimpse of his life: funny, heartbreaking, ironic, difficult, and serendipitous.  I mean, aren't all our lives like that?

One of my favorite scenes takes place in Martha Stewart's vegetable garden and Kilmer-Purcell says this:

The problem with perfection, I realized, is that it leaves others with nothing to do but search for flaws.  In the Beekman garden, which had been sorely neglected lately, guests can wander and admire the plants and occasionally pull a weed or two.  It made them feel useful, helpful, a part of a bigger picture.  If the portrait was already completely painted, then there would be nothing left to do other than pick it apart.

Yes.  As someone who struggles with perfection issues, I found this endearing and poignant.  And it reminded me I should relax and let my dinner guests help me in the kitchen every once in awhile...

The food writing is superb, of course, and the birthday salad scene starting on page 220 is worth the price of admission alone.  Trust me.

This book is for those of you looking for a new perspective on the farming experience.  And think you might want to chuck it all and become a farmer?  You might want to read up first.  It can be beautiful, peaceful, and rewarding...but it ain't a walk in the park either.

Eat, drink, and be an armchair farmer.

Let's hit the links!

• Georgeanne Brennan, who I fell in love with after reading Pig in Provence , has some great suggestions for using leftover bread. I've already used a couple of her ideas to great success. I love that she mentions breadcrumbs tossed with pasta: carbs on carbs is one of life's great but simple pleasures. Don't think about it - just do it.
  
• The Washington Post had an article about the growing number of recreational cooking schools. I also recently read about one in NYC. This is actually something I was thinking I'd like to do post-culinary school. But not if everyone else is doing it...
  


• Mark Bittman writes about having dinner with Patricia Wells. Which is only a dream of mine. One day - mark my words - I'm going to attend one of her cooking classes in Provence.
  


• I've mentioned my local cheese shop, Cheese of the World, before: Zagat said it was the best place for cheese in Queens. Well, apparently their supplier didn't let them in on the 300% tariff on Roquefort news. My husband mentioned the tariff and our favorite guy (nicknamed by us "Handsome Guy") had no idea what we were talking about. Handsome Guy gave Adam a bar of chocolate (Cafe-Tasse!) as a thank you and was calling his supplier as Adam walked out the door. Read this at Murray's Cheese too. Now there's word that the tariff has been delayed a month while the U.S. and France negotiate.
  


• I'm currently reading The Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000 Year Old Delicacy Inspired the World's Fiercest Food Fight by Mark Caro. Thus far, it's a fascinating read. Caro takes a journalistic approach, much like Michael Pollan and Jennifer 8. Lee. For an interesting argument, read this review.
  


• Want to take better food photos? For the Love of Food has some terrific suggestions and hints, and not all of them require expensive equipment.
  


• I was rather surprised to see Alice Waters smiling at me from my NY Times Sunday Business section this past weekend. Civil Eats posted an interesting personal reflection, inspired by the article (note: it's decidedly pro-Alice...and it's a shame that I feel I need to state that as a disclaimer. Sigh).
  


• Lest we get too precious and foodie-like, I'll post this link. Thanks to Adam for sending this to me - he inspired my stomach bile to rise while sitting at my work computer this morning.
  

And in a complete departure, I'll link to something children's literature-related. Collecting Children's Books discusses a science book from the 1940s, and I think you'll want to take a look at the illustrator. Reading this post was an exceptional way to start my morning.

REVIEW: A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France by Georgeanne Brennan

I’m a Francophile. I suspect this is some sort of residual frustration over my two-week trip to Paris and Northern France when I was 17 years old: naturally, I didn’t appreciate the culture as much as I could have and was more excited to just hang out with my friends and eat lots of pastries. So now I’m an adult and it’s incredibly complicated to get back to France, which is ironic since I would “get it” so much more now. And, in my more self-pitying moments, I think about the wasted opportunity. In my more generous moments, I'm happy to have had the opportunity at all!

So I read. And I cook. I’m fascinated by those people who have gone to France and had a culinary epiphany: Julia Child, Alice Waters, MFK Fisher. Curiously, Georgeanne Brennan hasn’t made it into the canon of cooks who have had a “conversion experience” in France (unless I’m just running in the wrong circles and more people know of her work than I’m aware). Either way, her name deserves to be spoken in the same breath as these other fine women.

A Pig in Provence is a lovely, cozy read with an exquisite sense of place. It begins with Georgeanne, her then-husband Donald, and her 3-year-old daughter Ethel (all Californians) moving to Provence to raise goats and make goat cheese in the old-style that was no longer being made in the village at that time. Donald had studied animal husbandry at UC Davis, but Georgeanne was more inexperienced, and their initial bumbling steps to achieve their dream are amusing and heartwarming.

On the other hand, Brennan doesn’t sugar-coat things: think twice before owning goats – it ain’t just a walk in the park. Brennan makes it clear that a simple life, like simple food, doesn’t necessarily equal an easy life: the people of the village, Brennan included, work incredibly hard to provide sustenance for themselves and others.

In the midst of all this hard work, though, there is great joy…and food….oh, yes, there’s food. Brennan does a remarkable job of describing food and the meals they eat; you can taste the textures and hear the hiss of fat on the fire. Respectful of les arts de la table, Brennan also describes place settings, lighting, and ambience and all you want to do is be at that table underneath the trees with Georgeanne and all the lovely people she befriends in Provence. Or, better yet, I want to go mushroom hunting with Georgeanne after reading her incredible chapter on gathering wild mushrooms in the forest.

There are recipes included, but I have to confess that I’m reluctant to try them. It’s clear that Brennan makes them from the freshest ingredients imaginable, and I hesitate to make the poor urban version I would no doubt create. There are a couple of recipes, though, where I know I can get fresh, local, seasonal ingredients at Union Square: Tomato Tart (tarte aux tomates) for summer and Braised Pork Shoulder with Mustard and Capers (porc à l’ancienne avec moutarde et câpres). Brennan also has additional recipes posted on her website.

I highly recommend this book for fans of Child, Waters, and Fisher. Or, quite frankly, for those who love France and food. If you haven't been to France, this book will make you want to go. If you've already been, then you'll be longing to go again.