Essex on Lake Champlain
\"Essex
  • About
    • Essex, New York (Town)
      • Essex Maps
      • Essex, New York Weather
      • Town of Essex Government
      • Close
    • Essex on Lake Champlain (Blog)
      • Contributors
      • Sponsors
      • Testimonials
      • Get Involved
      • Close
    • Close
  • Books
  • Blog
  • Calendar
    • Add an Event
    • Upcoming Events
    • Close
  • Essex on Lake Champlain
  • Connect
    • Social Media
      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • Google +
      • Pinterest
      • YouTube
      • Flickr
    • Newsletters
    • GET INVOLVED
    • CONTACT
        • Your Name (required)

          Your Email (required)

          Subject (required)

          Your Message

      • Close
    • Shop
    • Search
        • Search
          • Close
        • Categories
            • Agriculture (518)
            • Architecture (76)
            • Arts (353)
            • Business (122)
            • Daily Doodle (62)
            • Dining (151)
            • Doodle Quotes (5)
            • Doodlebomb (3)
            • Education (296)
            • Entertainment (369)
            • Environment (28)
            • Essex Doodles (62)
            • Events (1705)
            • Exercise (54)
            • Government (247)
            • Health & Wellness (134)
            • Heritage (397)
            • History (183)
            • Hyperlocal (29)
            • Landscape (35)
            • Lifestyle (197)
            • Lodging (16)
            • Music (276)
            • Nature (258)
            • News (1217)
            • Nightlife (18)
            • Obituary (9)
            • Opinion (45)
            • Outdoors (177)
            • People (115)
            • Philanthropy (86)
            • Real Estate (3)
            • Recreation (214)
            • Resources (7)
            • Services (7)
            • Shopping (96)
            • Sports (22)
            • Transportation (71)
            • Worship (17)
          • Close
        • Archives
            • June 2018 (21)
            • May 2018 (30)
            • April 2018 (28)
            • March 2018 (30)
            • February 2018 (31)
            • January 2018 (26)
            • December 2017 (23)
            • November 2017 (25)
            • October 2017 (22)
            • September 2017 (32)
            • August 2017 (35)
            • July 2017 (30)
            • June 2017 (30)
            • May 2017 (35)
            • April 2017 (31)
            • March 2017 (33)
            • February 2017 (30)
            • January 2017 (35)
            • December 2016 (30)
            • November 2016 (37)
            • October 2016 (43)
            • September 2016 (53)
            • August 2016 (49)
            • July 2016 (59)
            • June 2016 (70)
            • May 2016 (57)
            • April 2016 (64)
            • March 2016 (69)
            • February 2016 (56)
            • January 2016 (46)
            • December 2015 (39)
            • November 2015 (43)
            • October 2015 (61)
            • September 2015 (57)
            • August 2015 (61)
            • July 2015 (54)
            • June 2015 (41)
            • May 2015 (67)
            • April 2015 (66)
            • March 2015 (72)
          • Load More
          • Close
        • Contact us
          • CONTACT US

              Your Name (required)

              Your Email (required)

              Subject (required)

              Your Message

            • Close
        • Close
      • Log In
        • Log Into Calendar
        • Log Into Blog
        • Close
      • Skip to primary navigation
      • Skip to main content
      • Skip to primary sidebar
      • Skip to footer

      Essex on Lake Champlain

      Essex, New York Community Blog Since 2011

      • Lifestyle
        • Agriculture
          • CSAs in Essex, NY
            • Essex Farm
            • Full and By Farm
          • Farmstead Catering
          • The Hub on the Hill
          • Reber Rock Farm
        • Outdoors
          • Champlain Area Trails (CATS)
          • Pok-O-MacCready Outdoor Education Center
        • Entertainment
          • Champlain Valley Film Series
          • Whallonsburg Grange Hall
        • Arts
          • Adirondack Art Association
          • Essex Community Concerts
          • Champlain Valley Film Series
          • Essex Poetry Open Mic
        • Music
          • Essex Community Concerts
        • Shopping
        • Recreation
          • Champlain Area Trails (CATS)
        • Health & Wellness
          • Lake Champlain Yoga & Wellness
          • NEW Health
        • Nature
          • Champlain Area Trails (CATS)
        • Education
          • CFES Brilliant Pathways
          • Pok-O-MacCready Outdoor Education Center
        • Nightlife
        • Worship
      • Events
        • Christmas in Essex
        • Downtown Essex Day
        • Fourth of July in Essex, NY
      • Dining
        • Chez Lin & Rays
        • Essex Ice Cream Cafe
        • Essex Inn on the Adirondack Coast
        • Farmstead Catering
        • Old Dock Restaurant
        • The Pink Pig Cafe
      • Lodging
        • Essex Inn on the Adirondack Coast
        • The Cupola House and Cottage
      • Transportation
        • Essex-Charlotte Ferry
      • Heritage
        • Architecture
          • Essex, New York Architecture: A Doodler’s Field Guide
        • Historic Essex
        • History
        • People
        • Government
          • Essex Post Office
          • Town of Essex Government
        • Vintage Essex Trivia
        • Vintage Essex Artifacts
      • Directory
        • Adirondack Art Association
        • Champlain Area Trails (CATS)
        • CFES Brilliant Pathways
        • The Cupola House and Cottage
        • Essex-Charlotte Ferry
        • Essex Farm
        • Essex Ice Cream Cafe
        • Essex Initiatives
        • Essex Post Office
        • Farmstead Catering
        • Full and By Farm
        • Historic Essex
        • Lake Champlain Yoga & Wellness
        • NEW Health
        • Pedal Power
        • Reber Rock Farm
        • The Hub on the Hill
        • Town of Essex Government
        • Whallonsburg Grange Hall
      • Show Search
      Hide Search
      You are here: Home / Agriculture / The Dirty Life – A Barncast by The Wild Center

      The Dirty Life – A Barncast by The Wild Center

      February 6, 2012 By Katie Shepard 2 Comments

      Author, Kristin Kimball and husband Mark, owners of the Essex Farm provide a glimpse into their lives and how they came to their unique calling. During The Wild Center’s first-ever remote “barncast”, Kristin read excerpts from her book, The Dirty Life.

      At the end of the video Mark and Kristin answer some questions from the viewers. This webcast originally aired 9/15/11 directly from their barn in Essex, New York, with customary hay and animals in attendance.

      Essex Farm is a CSA (community supported agriculture) farm, which is something Mark Kimball describes as something like a subscription, sometimes paying a farmer in advance or sometimes monthly for a supply of food, usually vegetables. Essex Farm is unique in that it offers a wider variety of food. Essex Farm offers vegetables, as well as grains, beans, dairy, meat, eggs, and berries. They would like to offer more fruit in the future. “We wanted to have a farm that offered all the food we wanted to eat, and we figured that was something our members would be interested in” (Mark Kimball). 170 members belong to the Essex Farm CSA as of this video. It is $6,000/yr for a couple to join, and each child is $100/yr of age/yr (ie a 6 yr. old=$600 for one year).

      Transformation to Farmer

      Kristin Kimball reads two excerpts from her book. The first describes her initial meeting with her future husband Mark. At the time she was a journalist preparing to write an article about the growing popularity of local and organic food, and she met Mark to interview him because he was a farmer who specialized in those areas. That day and the next inexperienced-vegetarian-city-girl Kristin helped out on the farm. She hoed rocks and cooked her own freshly picked ingredients for lunch and even helped to butcher a pig, and then she ate sausage! Vegetarian no more. Those days gave her a taste of farm life, and she liked it.

      “It all seemed so much simpler than I’d imagined. Dirt + Water + Sun + Sweat = Food. No factories required, not a lot of machinery, no poisons or chemical fertilizers. How is it possible that this abundance had always existed and I had not known it?” (Kristin Kimball, A Dirty Life) 

      The Dirty Life cover

      Runaway Horse

      The second excerpt Kristin reads from her book describes a horse related mishap that occurs during the first year the Kimballs are getting established at Essex Farm. She and Mark are putting compost on one of the fields and two drafts horses are pulling the contraption that deposits the compost in the ground. They load it by hand for a while, but it gets late and they get tired, so they decide to use the tractor to put the final load of compost in the horse drawn machine.

      The horses spook at the sound and proximity of the tractor and take off across the fields and eventually into the road. Dramatic thoughts and worse-case scenarios go through Kristin’s head as she runs after them, and Mark takes off on a bike leaving her behind. Thankfully Mark catches up and manages to slowly guide the horses to the edge of the road where they stop and their training kicks in; the horses and no one else is hurt.

      Farming Difficulties?

      Questions at the end of the video ask about the difficulties of running a CSA farm. Mark explains that if there is some type of crop failure for any reason that is significant enough to affect the amount of food that they and their customers eat, then the Kimballs will work with another producer who uses similar techniques and buy crops to make up for Essex Farm’s lack. They also prepare ahead of time and plant double the amount of crops needed when they know weather conditions will affect the amount produced.

      So far there hasn’t been a year where there wasn’t enough to eat (Kristin Kimball). Thinking about the people who are depending on them to get food week to week helps them get through the hard times when they do occur (Kristin Kimball). Also, personally they both like to cook and eat, which is another reminder to keep working despite difficulties (Mark Kimball).

      Mark Kimball says that they farm because it’s difficult. Humans have been working to make things easier forever. He says, “I wouldn’t say things have gotten too easy, but for me I think the excitement is often just in the challenge itself. I think they [challenges] bring out the most in humanity.”

      “I think once anyone has farmed, it’s sort of a special universal language on some level, and even if it’s a small vegetable plot or a 10-thousand acre corn plot that, especially in a city setting, it’s almost like finding somebody from your home town.” (Mark Kimball)

      “It’s a constant struggle to balance family time, farming time, and the rest of life, whatever that might be” (Kristin Kimball). But for Kristin it’s worth it. Also it’s apparently an inspiration. There will be a sequel to The Dirty Life sometime in the future. Right now it’s just an untitled work in progress. Though Mark (jokingly?) wants it to be called The Dirty Wife. 

      Related articles
      • The Dirty Life, By Kristin Kimball (independent.co.uk)
      • Horse Power at Essex Farm (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • End of the Year at Essex Farm (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • Moving the Cows at Essex Farm (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • Essex Farm Updates (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)

      Share this:

      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • Pinterest
      • Email
      • More
      • Print
      • LinkedIn
      • Pocket
      • Reddit
      • Tumblr

      Filed Under: Agriculture, Lifestyle Tagged With: Activities, CSA, draft horses, Essex Farm, Essex Farm New York, Essex Farm NY, Essex NY, farm share, farmers, Kristin Kimball, Mark Kimball, The Dirty Life, The Wild Center

      About Katie Shepard

      Passionate about reading and writing stories, Katie Shepard enjoys discovering more about her home while writing and editing for Essex on Lake Champlain. Katie graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh in 2011 where she studied English literature, philosophy, and Asian studies. Her first book Essex, New York Architecture: A Doodler's Field Guide was published in 2015. Connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, or at Linked.in. Or email her at katie [@] essexeditions [dot] com.

      Reader Interactions

      Comments

      1. destiny kinal says

        September 29, 2012 at 10:25 am

        I am really resonating to your blogs associated with your farm in Essex. Our early warm and then frost ensured that we have not a single apple or pear in our valley this fall. We had our pilot year of Project GROW, a community wide collaboration in the penn-york valley on the upper susquehanna to restore our local food system, was a success. But I love the dirty life and don’t think I will be able to go back! “Dirty wife” talk ranges from our gorgeous cabbages, to the fact I couldn’t grow a radish to save my life this summer (!), to our heirloom tomatoes, our two highschools growing seeds for us to seedlings, our 93 year old italian nurseryman mentor…we could talk gardens nonstop. Stopping by just to say: enjoy your blog! Knew John Davis back in the day. Are you associated with The Wildlands Project? (My author website is http://www.destinykinal.com.)

        Reply
        • G.G. Davis, Jr. says

          October 11, 2012 at 6:50 am

          Thanks for stopping by to say that you enjoy the blog. Essex on Lake Champlain is not directly associated with The Wildlands Project (now called The Wildlands Network), but some of us are supporters (and friends) of John Davis, TrekEast and The Wilderness Network. Project GROW sounds fascinating! Appreciate hearing about all of the resonance.

          Reply

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

      Primary Sidebar

      40×41: Midlife Crisis Postponed 

      Essex, New York Architecture: A Doodler's Field Guide

      View all Essex Editions books...

      Follow Essex, NY on FacebookFollow Essex, NY on TwitterFollow Essex, NY on PinterestFollow Essex, NY on YouTubeFollow Essex, NY on FlickrFollow Essex, NY on RSS

      Search

      Top 10 Contributors

      • Katie Shepard (595)
      • Geo Davis (394)
      • Whallonsburg Grange Hall (259)
      • Avatar photoChamplain Area Trails (CATS) (208)
      • Avatar photoEssex Farm (205)
      • Olive Alexander (190)
      • Sara Kurak (165)
      • Avatar photoTom Mangano (142)
      • Avatar photoFort Ticonderoga (142)
      • Avatar photoLakeside School (116)

      Footer

      Resources & Policies

      • About Essex on Lake Champlain
      • About Essex, New York
      • Essex, NY Weather
      • Disclosure Policy
      • Privacy Policy
      • Submit a Story
      • Contact Us

      Popular Essex, NY Searches

      • Essex, NY
      • Essex, New York
      • Essex on Lake Champlain
      • Essex Charlotte ferry
      • Essex ferry schedule
      • Essex Charlotte ferry schedule
      • Full and By Farm
      • Essex Farm
      • timber rattlesnake
      • Essex NY fireworks
      • Christmas in Essex, NY
      • Champlain Area Trails

      Local Links

      • Adirondack Art Association
      • Belden Noble Memorial Library
      • Champlain Area Trails
      • Champlain Valley Film Series
      • Essex Community Concerts
      • Essex Theatre Company
      • Historic Essex
      • Rosslyn Redux
      • The Crater Club
      • Town of Essex Information
      • Whallonsburg Grange Hall

      Copyright © 2023 Essex Editions

       

      Loading Comments...